Washington DC Baseball

GeoPoto · #1 12-06-2022, 04:11 AM

Player #81: Earl H. Yingling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1918. 25 wins and a 3.22 ERA in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1911. In 1913 with the Brooklyn Dodgers/Superbas, he posted an 8-8 record with a 2.58 ERA in 146.2 innings pitched.

Yingling's MLB experience was not extensive and his time in Washington was the least of it. He is remembered now, if at all, as an example of a player who's name would have inspired the use of nicknames that would not be considered politically-correct today.

The following is an Author's Note to Yingling's SABR biography. Author's Note by Chris Rainey: Baseball-reference.com mentions that Yingling had the nickname of �Chink�. In my research this nickname was never used in any game stories or articles about him that I read. The Encyclopedia of Minor Leagues uses the nickname in their 1993 edition for the 1915 season. I reached out to SABR member Stew Thornley, who is highly knowledgeable about Minneapolis baseball. He had never seen the name in use and checked the 1915 season without finding any usage. I did find one article poking fun that Yingling and Siglin (Paddy) sounded like a menu item in a Chinese restaurant.

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GeoPoto · #2 12-07-2022, 04:04 AM

The 1918 Washington Senators won 72 games, lost 56, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux takes us through the 1918 season: Crippling to baseball at this time was the reality of war and the government's refusal to yield to Ban Johnson's pleas for draft deferments for baseball players. On May 23, 1918, baseball was shocked to learn that Secretary of War Newton D. Baker's "Work to Fight" order meant that all able-bodied men of draft age either had to enlist or otherwise engage in work considered essential for the war effort. Washington catcher Eddie Ainsmith, granted a deferment earlier, was now ordered to sign up, and his became the test case on which the fate of the game depended. On July 19, War Secretary Baker announced that baseball was not adjudged to be an essential war activity.

League president Ban Johnson shocked everyone by announcing that the season would end, and suddenly, in just two days. By now, the owners had had enough, and Clark Griffith stepped into the breach. Griffith was friendly with the Secretary of War. Even though the war was dragging on, Griffith was able to convince Newton Baker to allow baseball players, who were in shape anyway, to do military drills prior to games, with baseball bats instead of weapons no less. In Washington, young Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt led some of these drills.

Griffith obtained assent from War Secretary Baker for baseball to continue until Labor Day, with an extra two weeks allotted for the World Series. No doubt riding a patriotic wave, Griff reciprocated by sponsoring a fundraising drive which netted $100,000 to buy baseball equipment for servicemen in Europe. The first supply of gear reportedly ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic, sunk by a German U-boat. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson was the one bright spot for the club early in the season, and the Nationals were struggling to stay out of seventh place as late as June. Following a two-week slump in July, the club was hot from then on and finished within four games of the Red Sox and first place, the best showing for the Washington franchise to this point. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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GeoPoto · #3 12-08-2022, 03:02 AM

Player #54H: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux reports on Johnson's 1918 season Part 1: Walter Johnson shaved over a run a game off his earned run average, and with a minuscule 1.27 reclaimed the ERA title he had not won since 1913. At 23-13, he was tops in wins in the big leagues for 1918 and led the majors in strikeouts with 162, his lowest number among the eight league-leading totals he'd had to date. Incredibly, he finished every single game he was in: 29 starts and ten relief appearances. Always a good hitter, he was getting even better, batting .267 in 150 official at-bats and playing four games in the outfield, which he'd also done three years earlier.

On May 7, 1918, Babe Ruth homered off Walter Johnson at League Park, the first of his ten career dingers off the great one, although Barney prevailed in this game, 7-2. The day before, Ruth had appeared in the lineup for the first time at a position other than pitcher or pinch hitter, in a game at New York. He had hit a home run in that game, and Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert had wanted to buy Ruth's contract from the Red Sox right then and there.

On May 9, Walter picked up a win by pitching the tenth inning, and Ruth, the starter that day who'd gone all the way for Boston, was the loser. It was the last official matchup between the two, as Ruth was soon going to be an everyday player exclusively. He hit his last homer of the year against the Senators on September 27, although the Nats swept a doubleheader from the Yankees that day. Almost exactly nine years hence, the Babe would make even bigger headlines versus the Washington Senators. . . . (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Kawika · #4 12-09-2022, 12:53 AM

This team RPPC is designated as circa 1915 on the flip. A tip of the Kawika cap to Mark Fimoff for pointing out the presence of Wildfire Schulte (front row, 4th from right) which narrows the year to 1918, his only season with the Senators. I will stand corrected if I am wrong but I believe the player in the front row at far right is Merito Acosta which fine tunes the photo's date to sometime prior to May 25th when he was traded to the Phila Athletics. The absence of Sam Rice can be explained by the fact that he spent part of the season in the US Army in that war year.

GeoPoto · #5 12-09-2022, 04:42 AM

David, great 1918 team photograph. Thanks for posting it to complete the introduction to 1918. 1918 did not see the issuance of any cards involving Senators (at least none that I have acquired); nor do I have any photos of the team (or of Walter) that are sourced to that year. But it was a good year for the team (and Walter), so I decided to include a couple of entries for that year in this thread. I am delighted that you were able to deliver an item that ties in to 1918. Today's post completes my input regarding 1918 (with another photograph from a different year, but "what are you gonna do", as Tony S. would say). 1919 will be richer, I believe.

Player #54H: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux reports on Johnson's 1918 season Part 2: . . . Walter Johnson's durability was being put to the ultimate test in 1918. Two days after defeating Ruth, he shut out Jim Bagley and the Indians (the league's best hitting team in 1918) by a 1-0 score. In his next start on May 15, he pitched the longest shutout in history. It took 18 innings before the Nats finally scored a run courtesy of a wild pitch by Claude "Lefty" Williams, another who would become implicated in the Black Sox scandal. Johnson gave up ten hits and a walk and fanned nine.

There were an extraordinary number of long games for Walter as the season wore on. While teams would play 17 percent fewer games in '18, the Big Train pitched exactly three fewer innings (325) than he did the previous year. On July 25 at St. Louis, he took another 1-0 decision, this one slightly shorter than the one in mid-May, in 15 innings.

Ten days later, on August 4, the Big Train pitched his second-longest game of the season, not to mention ever, going 17.1 innings only to lose 7-6 in a bizarre contest on a scorchingly hot day in Detroit. He faced a career-high 64 batters, giving up 16 hits and eight walks. Eleven innings intervened between the sixth and seventh Detroit runs, both driven in by Ty Cobb. Of Johnson's 88 career extra-inning decisions, an astonishing 15 took place in this season. Barney completed nine of them, including five which went 13 innings or longer. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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GeoPoto · #6 12-10-2022, 04:14 AM

The 1919 Washington Senators won 56 games, lost 84, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux looks at the 1919 season: Nineteen nineteen was not so successful. Despite some good elements -- solid bat production from the outfielders, and strong pitching performances from Johnson and Grunting Jim Shaw -- the Senators sank to seventh, their lowest standing in ten years. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson's best years had coincided with the decade now ending. He had led the league in strikeouts nine times during the period, and in shutouts and complete games six times. His 265 wins during the decade represented 35 percent of Washington's victories. Now 32, Johnson was supplanted as staff workhorse by Jim Shaw, who logged more innings and appearances than any pitcher in the league. For all of his superior work, though, Shaw finished with a 16-17 slate. While the Washington pitching staff was third-best in the league, the offense lacked punch and Clark Griffith was determined to get some. Clyde Milan and Eddie Foster had slowed down. In finishing seventh, the Senators together hit fewer home runs (24) than Boston's young Babe Ruth (29). (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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GeoPoto · #7 12-11-2022, 04:19 AM

Player #82A: Edward P. "Patsy" Gharrity. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1916-1923 and 1929-1930. 513 hits and 20 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He also played some first base and outfield. He had a career OBP of .331. His best season was 1921 as posted a .386 OBP with 55 RBIs in 455 plate appearances.

We will follow Gharrity's SABR biography as it traces his time in Washington: Ed Gharrity was a player, manager, umpire, scout, and coach during his professional career. Invited to spring training with the Washington Senators in 1916, he made an immediate positive impression. Catching for the rookies in an intrasquad game against the regulars in Charlottesville, Virginia, he threw out four would-be base stealers in the 1-1 tie. That started an eight-year stretch with the Senators. The highlight came on June 23, 1919, in Boston. In a battle between two second-division teams, Gharrity went 5-for-5 with a single, two doubles, and his first two major-league home runs. His total of 13 bases set an American League record that was broken by Ty Cobb in 1925. . . .

. . . Gharrity returned to the Senators in 1919 and found both Henry and Ainsmith gone. Val Picinich and Sam Agnew now headed the catching corps. Even so, Gharrity saw action in 60 games behind the plate. Judge was healthy, meaning Gharrity played very little first, finding himself in the outfield for 35 games. In 111 games, he batted .271 and launched his first home runs. It should be noted that Baseball-Reference calls him �Patsy.� That nickname did not become prevalent until 1921. He was �Eddie� for the first part of his career. . . .

Which doesn't explain how "Joe" got on his card!?

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