[Eric72]

What’s in a name?

Upon first seeing this card, acquired in my second BST purchase, I wondered about the team name. The Washington Nationals sounded odd to me, especially considering the fact they played in the American League. Guess I wasn’t the only one.

“The team officially changed its name to Senators in 1956, prompted by Charlie Brotman, who at the time was the newly hired stadium announcer for Washington’s major league ball club.” (John Kelly, Washington Post, June 11, 2016)

The card itself yielded a few other interesting details. For starters, unlike the Giants team card, the players here are listed in same order which they appear.

Carlos Paula, first man to break the color line for the Washington Senators, is shown (and listed) at far right of the front row. In the second row, at far left, the man in the plain shirt is almost certainly Trainer George Lentz. And the man at far right of the back row is more than likely Juan Delis, who played all 54 of his Major League games for Washington in 1955.

Another thing that caught my eye was the scoreboard behind the team. It appears to be set up correctly for a home game against Detroit. For you Net54 sleuths out there, is this an image from Griffith Stadium, or was it creative license taken by an artist in the mid-50s?

Lastly, there are three people seated in the front. According to the card, these are the batboys. It might just be my imagination or the artist at work; however, the one in the middle (Hoover) looks bigger than most of the players. If nothing else, he is definitely the largest batboy I’ve ever seen.