July 1
1908 – Concluding a 30 game road trip, the weary Nats are shutout in Philadelphia, 2-0. The Nats go 8-22 during their 30 game road swing.
1911 – Enduring one of the poorest outings of his career, Walter Johnson is slammed for 13 runs in a 13-8 Athletics’s rout in Washington. Johnson nemesis Frank Baker collects his 2nd career home run off the Big Train.
1920 – 13 years into his stellar career, Walter Johnson finally pitches a no hitter. Only an e
rror from 2B Bucky Harris prevents Barney from throwing a perfect game. Johnson strikes out 10 in the 1-0 victory at Boston.
1926 – Behind a Lou Gehrig solo homer in the bottom of the 6th, the Yanks nick the Sens, 3-2, in game one of a doubleheader. The Bombers are bombed in the second game, 12-5.
1938 – C Bill Dickey is a one man wrecking crew in New York’s 8-0 pasting of the Nats in the Bronx. Dickey wallops a grand slam and drives in 7 of the Yankee’s 8 runs.
1956 – The Nats fail to put the Yankees away in the opener of a twinbill at Yankee Stadium, losing 3-2. Aided by 2 Senator baserunners getting picked off and 5 Washington double plays, the Yanks are able to escape numerous jams. New York 1B Joe Collins rips a 2-run homer in the 8th off Camilo Pascual to provide the winning margin. In the nitecap, Mickey Mantle homers from both sides of the plate, including the game winner batting right handed in the 9th, to hang an 8-6 defeat on the Nats.
1960 – Senator minority stockholder H. Gabriel Murphy’s first-refusal option to buy the holdings of Calvin Griffith expire. Murphy will file 2 separate lawsuits to prevent Griffith from moving the franchise to Minneapolis, but Murphy loses both.
1961 – The expansion Senators continue to blow late inning leads, this time in New York. Unable to preserve 3-0, 5-1 and 6-5 leads, the Nats fall to the Yankees, 7-6. In the bottom of the 9th, with the Sens ahead 6-5, manager Mickey Vernon summons reliever Dave Sisler to get the final 3 outs. A leadoff Tony Kubek single and a 2-run homer from Roger Maris abruptly ends the affair in the Yankee’s favor.
1962 – Washington fans may have been mumbling “what if” after today’s game against the Twins. Former Senators Lenny Green, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and Bernie Allen all homer for the Twins in a 9-0 shelling of the struggling Sens. 1955 blindfolded, wheelbarrow race champion Camilo Pascual improves to 12-4 on the year with a dominant 5 hit, complete game effort.
1969 – The Indians prove to be no match for the visiting Senators on this day. Eddie Brinkman, Frank Howard and Mike Epstein all homer to make P Casey Cox the game one winner, 4-1. The Sens stage a spirited, 3 run, top of the 9th inning comeback in the second contest to upend Cleveland, 7-5. Frank Howard 2-run single off the Tribe’s Horatio Pina in the 9th puts the Senators in the win column. The sweep puts the Senators at 40-39, the latest date that the expansion Senators have been over .500 in their 9 year existence.
Senators Birthdays
John Jacob Atz (Born Jacob Henry Atz) B Jul. 1, 1879 D May 22, 1945
Jake Atz was a native Washingtonian who appeared in his first major league game with the Senators in September of 1902. Playing 3 games at second base that season he made no errors in the field but only went 1 for 10 at the plate.
Atz would return to the major leagues in 1907 with the Chicago White Sox, playing in 4 games. He remained with the Pale Hose through 1908 & 1909. His best year at bat was his last, when he hit .236 in 119 games.
Kenneth Lanier Wood B Jul. 1, 1924 D Nov. 22, 2007
Ken Wood began his major league career with the St. Louis Browns in 1948, spending 4 years in St. Louis. He began the 1952 season on the roster of the Boston Red Sox.
In June of ’52 he was traded by the Red Sox to the Senators for Archie Wilson. Wood would appear in 61 games for the Senators in 1952, hitting .238. His career would end in 1953 after 12 more games in a Washington uniform.
