Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #104B: Frederick "Firpo" Marberry. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1932. 148 wins and 99 saves in 14 MLB seasons. First prominent reliever; used as a closer. Important piece of the Washington team that won back-to-back AL pennants in 1924-1925. 1924 World Series champion. His most productive season was 1929 with Washington as he posted a 19-12 record with a 3.06 ERA in 250.1 innings pitched. He ended his career with Washington in 1936.

Marberry's SABR biography traces his career in Washington and in the evolution of the role and importance of relief pitchers: Fred Marberry, one of the best pitchers in baseball for a decade, was the first great hurler to be used primarily as a relief pitcher. He played a large role in Washington’s only World Series triumph, and set many records for relievers that would not be bested for many years. Almost forgotten today, he has been denied larger fame by splitting his career between starting and relieving —had he done one or the other, he might be in baseball’s Hall of Fame today. . . .

. . . Legendary Washington Senators scout Joe Engel heard enough about Marberry to go to Arkansas to have a look, and he soon signed the big right-hander, bringing him to Washington in early August 1923. For the Senators, Marberry finished 4-0 in 11 games with a 2.80 ERA. He was 24 years old, still having pitched for a only few years.

Early on in Washington, Marberry acquired the nickname Firpo because of his size and facial resemblance to Argentine boxer Luis Firpo. The fighter, dubbed “The Wild Bull of the Pampas,” knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring in a 1923 title bout before losing in the second round. Marberry never liked the nickname, especially as Luis Firpo’s career fizzled out, but he would be Firpo Marberry for the remainder of his baseball years.

One of the more interesting stories on the 1923 Senators was Allan Russell, previously a pitcher for several years with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and one of the few pitchers still allowed to throw a spitball. Manager Donie Bush (likely with the urging of Clark Griffith) turned Russell into one of the first full-time relief specialists. He started five games, relieved in 47 (a new record), finished 10-7, and “saved” nine games. (Saves were not recorded in 1923, but were retroactively figured in the 1960s.) Of his 181 innings pitched, 144 came in relief (also a new record), meaning he pitched an average of three innings every time he came in as a reliever. This may have been the best season ever put forth by a relief pitcher up until this time.

Marberry began the 1924 season as an extra starter and as a second reliever to Russell. When the latter hurler struggled to repeat his 1923 success, new Senators manager Bucky Harris turned to Marberry more and more often. He responded sensationally. He pitched in 50 games, 35 in relief, won 11, saved 15 and pitched 195 innings, fourth most on the team. Harris used Marberry as Bush had used Russell the previous year: an average of three innings per appearance and as early as the second inning if needed. Russell finished second in the league with eight saves, and the Senators set an all-time team record with 25. (We will return here when Firpo next surfaces.)

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