Washington DC Baseball

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Player #69: James A. "Jim" Shaw. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1921. 84 wins and 16 saves in 9 MLB seasons. He was nicknamed "Grunting" Jim Shaw because of the distinct grunting noise he made every time he threw a pitch off the mound. Shaw had a career ERA of 3.07. In 1919, he posted a 17-17 record with a 2.73 ERA in 306.2 innings pitched.

Shaw's Sabr biography: Only 20 years old when the Washington Senators broke camp in spring 1914, right-hander Jim Shaw was deemed a can’t-miss pitching prodigy. The youngster had impressed the previous September during a brief late-season audition with the club, and his spring work had left some onlookers near-swooning, with favorable comparison to renowned staff ace Walter Johnson coming from no-less-informed an observer than Washington manager Clark Griffith. Good-sized (6-feet, 180 pounds) with broad shoulders and noticeably long arms, Shaw bore a striking physical resemblance to Johnson and reputedly threw just as hard, with a nasty, sharp-breaking curve besides. Greatness, it seemed, was destined for Jim Shaw.

A century later, any comparison of the long-forgotten Shaw to the immortal Walter Johnson would be ludicrous. Handicapped by chronic control problems, nagging injuries, and an often complacent attitude, Shaw was never able to fully harness his natural talent and proved a disappointment. But he was far from a bust. Despite his shortcomings, Shaw gave the Senators almost a decade of useful service, posting five double-digit-win seasons. At times he even managed to lead American League hurlers in certain secondary pitching statistics, some positive — game appearances (1919); innings pitched (1919), and retroactive saves (1914 and 1919), others not — walks (1914 and 1917) and wild pitches (1919 and 1920). In the end, Jim Shaw was neither phenom nor flop. Rather, the descriptive that perhaps best suits him is: underachiever.

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Player #39E: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography takes us through his rise to MLB: The son of a blacksmith, Jesse Clyde Milan (pronounced “millin”) was born on March 25, 1887, in Linden, Tennessee, a quiet hamlet of about 700 residents nestled in the hills above the Buffalo River, 65 miles southwest of Nashville. He was one of eight children (four boys and four girls), and his younger brother Horace also took up professional baseball, briefly joining him in the Washington outfield in 1915 and 1917. Another younger brother, Frank, became a noted Broadway actor, co-starring alongside Humphrey Bogart in the famed original staging of The Petrified Forest. Baseball was almost unknown in rural Middle Tennessee where the Milans grew up, and Clyde told Lane that he didn’t play much of the sport as a youngster. “To show what little experience I really had, I will say that in 1903 I played in just nine games of baseball, and the following season I didn’t play the game at all,” he recalled. Clyde’s chief sporting interest in those years was hunting for quail and wild turkey with his two setters, Dan and Joe.

Deveaux talks about Horace: Clyde Milan managed to improve to .294 after an off year in '16, and was joined by his brother Horace, who had been brought up for a second cup of coffee. Between the '15 and '17 seasons, Horace Milan got 32 hits in an even 100 at-bats, for a cool .320 career average, frozen forever in time. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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The 1914 Washington Senators won 81 games, lost 73, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

The threat of the First World War hovered over and then descended upon the United States in 1914, but the little ball club (Griffith's pet description of the Senators) remained intact and reached first place for one day, on June7, only to fall back to third by the end of the year, behind the A's and Red Sox. The Nationals were just about as good as the previous year, but as a team did not lead in any category except the number of strikeouts by the pitching staff.

Walter Johnson, now making $12,000 a year (which represented a $5,000 raise on his expired three-year pact and as much money as Ty Cobb had made in 1913), was still himself, but things did not go his way on many occasions. Barney wound up with a 28-18 record despite a golden 1.72 ERA. He pitched more innings, 372, than in any other year of his career. He led the league in wins, games (51), complete games (33), strikeouts (225) and shutouts (9). The baseball player who had put the Washington Senators on the map was by now widely recognized as the best pitcher baseball had ever known.

Again in 1914, the Senators lacked hitting, particularly from a power standpoint. Deerfoot Milan hit .295, best on the team, but missed 40 games after sustaining a broken jaw on July 17 as a result of an outfield collision with Danny Moeller in Cleveland. Only third baseman Eddie Foster, at .282, excelled offensively. There were an inordinate number of low-scoring losses, making it impossible for Walter Johnson in particular and the team in general to remain successful for any extended period. There were a crushing 11 1-0 losses, three absorbed by Johnson.

The infield was composed of a bunch of crackerjacks, so the pitchers had great support from that standpoint. In this season, infielders Morgan, McBride, and Foster led the league in double plays at their respective positions. The other infielder, first baseman Chick Gandil, was also a slick gloveman, but his batting slipped to .259 from .318 in '13. The Senators batted .244 as a unit, below the league average, and barely crawled into third, losing a full nine games off their record of the preceding year.

While gathering war clouds dampened the spirits of baseball partisans all over the country, there was still at least some fun to be had at the old ballpark. Cleveland outfielder Jack Graney had a bull terrier named Larry who served as the team's mascot. Larry was also acrobatic and did tricks to entertain the fans at all big-league venues. This was all well and good until Larry refused to give up the ball to the umpire, Big Bill Dinneen, at League Park. Back then, fans, let alone dogs, had to return balls batted into the stands. Larry's obstinacy was not appreciated, and he was banned from attending any more Washington games by no less an authority than League president Ban Johnson. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #70A: J. Joseph "Joe" Boehling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 56 wins and 4 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 2.97. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a 17-7 record with a 2.14 ERA in 235.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1916-1917 and 1920.

In 1913, Boehling was used primarily as a starter alongside Walter Johnson in what was his best season. He pitched in 38 games, starting 25 of them, and finished the season with 18 complete games and three shutouts. He finished with a 17-7 record and an ERA of 2.14. His ERA of 2.14 was sixth in the American League, better than the ERAs of Hall of Famers Chief Bender (2.21) and Rube Marquard (2.50). During January 1914, Boehling signed a one-year contract to continue playing with the Senators. Boehling played 34 games during the 1914 season, and finished the season with a 12–8 record and a 3.03 ERA.

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Player #71: Jay Carl Cashion. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1911-1914. 12 wins and 1 save in 4 MLB seasons. In 1912 he posted a 10-6 record with a 3.17 ERA in 170.1 innings pitched.

"...Carl Cashion... is perhaps the biggest man in the major leagues, but being all muscle and sinew, without as much flesh on him as a spring chicken, is fast nonetheless, and is something of an athletic phenomenon. This big youngster is a natural batter. He has hit .300 to date..." - Sporting Life of May 18, 1912, while Cashion was still primarily a pitcher, after Carl had hit .324 in 1911 in the majors and over .300 in the minors.

"Another boxman who had Rusie's speed, but in this instance never gained control, was Carl Cashion, a giant tried out by Griffith a few years ago. Cash had so much stuff that it was hard to follow the pill as it flashed across the plate. The pity is that he was unable to tame it..." - Baseball Magazine in 1919

Carl Cashion pitched four seasons in the big leagues, most notably going 10-6 for the 1912 Washington Senators, a team on which Walter Johnson won 33 games. Cashion was three years younger than Walter. Carl occasionally played the outfield for the Senators, and when his pitching arm gave out, he became a minor league outfielder. Carl made his major league debut not long after he turned 20.

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Player #72A: Charles A. "Chick" Gandil. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1912-1915. 1,176 hits and 151 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. 1917 World Series champion. He led AL first baseman in fielding percentage 4 times. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1910. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a .363 OBP with 72 RBI's and 22 stolen bases in 603 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1917-1919. He is best known as the "ringleader" of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Gandil's SABR biography reviews his time in Washington: Gandil got off to a solid start in 1912 (for Montreal in the Eastern League), batting .309 in 29 games, after which he was traded to the Washington Senators. This time, the big first sacker was ready for the major leagues, and in 117 games with Washington he hit .305 and led American League first basemen in fielding percentage.

Gandil was highly regarded by Washington. In 1914 Senators manager Clark Griffith wrote, “He proved to be ‘The Missing Link’ needed to round out my infield. We won seventeen straight games after he joined the club, which shows that we must have been strengthened a good bit somewhere. I class Gandil ahead of McInnes [sic] as he has a greater range in scooping up throws to the bag and is just as good a batsman.”

Gandil continued to perform well with Washington both at bat and in the field. In 1913 he hit for a career-high average of .318. He was also tough and durable, averaging 143 games during his three full seasons with Washington, despite knee problems that haunted him throughout his career. When asked by a reporter after the 1912 season what his greatest asset was, he replied “plenty of grit.” He reportedly used the heaviest lumber in the American League, as his bats weighed between 53 and 56 ounces.

Gandil was sold to Cleveland before the 1916 season for a reported price of $7,500. One of the main reasons for the sale was supposedly the fact that Gandil was a chain smoker, occasionally lighting up between innings, which annoyed Griffith.

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Player #28G: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

How the Old Fox helped start the American League -- Part 1: (Account taken from Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.) In September of 1900, Griffith, Chicago Colts owner Charles Comiskey and businessman/baseball entrepreneur Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson met in a Chicago tavern, the West Side's Polk Street Cafe. Johnson had founded the Western League, enjoying some success, but carrying dreams of developing it into another major league. For that, he'd need major league-caliber players, and the National League was not about to give up its primary product, its talented players. At first, Johnson had tried to reach a profitable compromise with the National League. He had two requests. First, he wanted to limit the number of players that the National League could "draft" from American League squads. The best American League teams were simply being dismantled in short order because of the contract between the leagues that said the National League could purchase American League players, no bargaining necessary. Also, Johnson wanted to move American League franchises into vacated National League cities, including Washington.

The National League denied his demands, however, setting the stage for a showdown.

Griffith was part of the meeting because of his connection to Comiskey, aa well as his role as vice president of the Ball Players Protective Association, a precursor to the modern Major League Baseball Players Association, or the union. For example, he had spent the preceding months attempting to get the National League to increase its maximum salary from $2,400 to $3,000. And he wanted the league to pay for player uniforms. He was interested in joining Johnson and Comiskey on one condition -- that the American League pursue major-league status. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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