February 23
Senators Birthdays
Today we add to the ranks of “Senators Short Timers” with 3 players who collectively would play in less than 300 games in a Senators uniform.
Robert Anthony Boken B Feb. 23, 1908 D Oct. 6, 1988
Infielder Bob Boken joined the Senators in April of 1933 as a 25 year old rookie. He’d hit .278 in 55 games during his rookie campaign.
Returning with the Senators in 1935, Boken would play in 11 games for Washington before he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Red Kress in mid-May. Boken would finish the season, and his major league career, hitting .236 for the White Sox in 81 games.
Ivoria Hillis Layne B Feb. 23, 1918 D Jan. 12, 2010
Joining the Senators in mid-September of 1941, 3rd baseman Hillis Layne would hit .280 in 13 games. Out of the major leagues during the World War II years of 1942 & 1943, Layne would rejoin the Senators in 1944, playing in 33 games, hitting .195.
Layne would play in 61 games for the Senators in 1945, his last major league appearance coming in late September.
James Leo O’Neill B Feb. 23, 1893 D Sep. 5, 1976
Jim O’Neill, another infielder, put on a Senators uniform at the relatively late age of 27 in 1920. Playing in 86 games for Washington that season, O’Neill would hit .289 with 17 doubles, 7 triples, 1 home run and
40 RBI’s.
O’Neill wouldn’t return to the Senators roster until 1923 when he’d hit .273 in 23 games. He’d make his last appearance in the majors in late July.
Note: Jim O’Neill is the brother of Mike O’Neill who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1901 through 1904 and the much more well known Steve O’Neill who played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and St. Louis Browns between 1911 and 1928 and would go on to a managerial career with the Indians, Detroit Tigers (where his team would win the 1945 World Series), Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies.
