Washington Senators

World Series Title: 1924

American League Pennants: 1924, 1925, 1933

Ballparks: American League Park I (April 29, 1901-September 27, 1902), American League Park II (1904-1910), Griffith Stadium (July 24, 1911-September 21, 1961), Robert F. Kennedy Stadium (April 9, 1962-September 30, 1971)

Franchise Ballplayers: Joe Cronin, Goose Goslin, Bucky Harris, Frank Howard, Walter Johnson, Joe Judge, Joe Kuhel, Firpo Marberry, Camilo Pascual, Sam Rice, Mickey Vernon, Eddie Yost

[edit] Team History

Washington: First in War, first in Peace, last in the American League

The Washington Senators is a name that was used by three baseball teams. The first first Washington Senators franchise began play in the American Association in 1891 as the Washington Statesmen, and then continued as the Senators until 1899 as a member of the National League, when the team was one of four franchises contracted from the circuit.

Two teams in the American League have been called the Washington Senators, and both have been largely unsuccessful on the field.

The first AL Senators team began play in 1901 when owner/manager Jim Manning moved the Kansas City Blues to Washington DC. They were moderately competitive from 1912, when Clark Griffith became manager, until 1933. Led by Hall of Fame hurler Walter Johnson, they won the World Series in 1924, and the club won the American League pennant two other times, in 1925 and 1933, losing the World Series both times. For the next several decades, however, they routinely finished toward the bottom of the standings. The Senators moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season and became the Minnesota Twins. Although commonly known as the Senators, the team was officially the Washington Nationals from 1905 to 1956, although few persons used that name, except as part of the nickname "Nats", which was often applied to the team.

The last Washington Senators were created in the expansion of 1961. This team replaced the original Senators who had moved and become the Minnesota Twins. General Pete Quesada was the team's first owner. He owned the team for only two years before selling to James Johnston, James Lemon and George Bunker. In 1965, Johnston and Lemon bought out Bunker. In 1968, the Senators got their third ownership group as Bob Short purchased the club. In 1969, the club named Hall of Famer Ted Williams as its manager. The team spent one season at the old Griffith Stadium, before moving to D.C. Stadium, which was later renamed R.F.K. Stadium.

On the field, the club struggled to their highest finish of the decade. It was still only a 4th-place finish in 1969 and was helped by the realignment that season which made 6th place the new last. One of their few highlights was pitcher Dick Bosman leading the league in ERA during that 1969 campaign. Another star for the club was outfielder Frank Howard who became the team's first and only real power threat, hitting at least 44 home runs every season from 1968 to 1970. Other noteworthy Senators during the decade were Claude Osteen, Darold Knowles, Camilo Pascual, Dick Donovan, Pete Richert, Moose Skowron and Don Zimmer.

The team started the 1970s struggling in Washington and ended it competing in Texas. After two more seasons of subpar baseball in the nation's capital, Short recevied permission to move the club to Arlington, Texas for the 1972 season, where it was renamed the Texas Rangers.

In 2005, major league baseball returned to Washington, DC, when the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals of the National League. This time, the name Nationals was truly used by everyone concerned.

[edit] Further Reading

• Francis Kinlaw: "Plenty of Stars, but Few Victory Cigars: the Washington Senators of the 1950s", in Bob Brown, ed.: Monumental Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Capital Region, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 39, 2009, pp. 84-88.
• Andy McCue and Eric Thompson: "Mis-Management 101: The American League Expansion of 1961", in Jean Hastings Ardell and Andy McCue, ed.: Endless Seasons: Baseball in Southern California, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 41, 2011, pp. 42-45.
• Shirley Povich: The Washington Senators, Kent State University Press, Kent, OH, 2010 (originally published in 1948).
• Gary Sarnoff: "Stories in Washington Baseball History", in Bob Brown, ed.: Monumental Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Capital Region, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 39, 2009, pp. 63-66.
• Mark Stang and Phil Wood: Nationals on Parade: 70 Years of Washington Nationals Photos, Orange Frazer Press, Wilmington, OH, 2006.
• Douglass Wallop: The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, Norton, New York, NY, 1954.

Sources:

• Eugene C. Murdock: Ban Johnson: Czar of Baseball, Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture,

Greenwood Press; annotated edition, 1982.

• Peter Filichia: Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebrations of All 273 Major League and Negro League Ballparks Past and Present, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1993.