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#1
08-02-2023, 04:09 AM
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Muddy Ruel
Val: Thank you for keeping the pilot light on in my absence.
Player #87E: Herold D. "Muddy" Ruel. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1930. 1,242 hits and 61 stolen bases in 19 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1915. He was the Yankees catcher in 1920 when Ray Chapman was hit and killed by a Carl Mays fastball. He scored the tying run in regulation and then the winning run in the 12th inning of game seven in the 1924 WS. His best season was 1923 with Washington as he posted a .394 OBP with 54 RBI's and 63 runs scored in 528 plate appearances. His final season as a player was 1934 with the Chicago White Sox. He was manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1947. He was GM of the Detroit Tigers in 1954-1956. We return to Ruel's SABR biography as it recounts Muddy's role in integrating baseball: Part 2 -- Meanwhile (in 1947 as newly hired Muddy Ruel began managing the St. Louis Browns), (Hank) Thompson and (Willard) Brown were attempting to earn a spot on the team and make good in their opportunity in the American League. Thompson played second base regularly during the absence of Johnny Berardino who was out with a broken hand. Brown, however, did not see much playing time and was used mostly as a pinch hitter. Unfortunately for Brown, his batting average likely suffered from not seeing American League pitching on a daily basis. Sam Lacy, a prominent sportswriter in the African-American press and future inductee of the baseball Hall of Fame, interviewed Muddy Ruel a couple of weeks into the Browns’ experiment with integration. Lacy wrote that it was “refreshing” to see firsthand that Ruel was giving Brown and Thompson every opportunity to prove themselves as ballplayers, not as black ballplayers. Ruel told Lacy that he was watching Brown and Thompson “just as I watch every man on the team.” Ruel further stated that Brown and Thompson were “no different than Vern Stephens with me,” referring to one of the Browns’ best players. Lacy walked away from this interview feeling Ruel never hinted at the fact that Lacy was interested in Brown and Thompson because of their race. Lacy added, “. . . each time he spoke of Brown or Thompson, it was as though either or both were just two new men—not two COLORED men.” After approximately six weeks of integration, the Browns released Thompson and Brown. The two players passed through on waivers with no other takers in either league. They returned to the Kansas City Monarchs and the Browns were once again an all-white ballclub. Though the Browns road attendance was up, the attendance at home in St. Louis remained low during the period that Thompson and Brown were with the team and the team remained in last place in the standings and that is where the Browns finished the season. https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1690967254 
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#2
08-04-2023, 04:15 AM
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1929 Washington Senators
The 1929 Washington Senators won 71 games, lost 81, and finished in fifth place in the American League. They were managed by Walter Johnson and played home games at Griffith Stadium.
Deveaux kicks off 1929: All good wishes aside (regarding Walter Johnson's appointment as Washington manager), things would not go well, as Johnson himself was not pleased with the team he had inherited for 1929. This displeasure proved well founded when the Nats became firmly ensconced in the second division. The youngsters touted as replacements for Harris at second, Jackie Hayes and Stuffy Stewart, were unimpressive to Johnson, and the Big Train did not think Bobby Reeves was the long-term answer at short. The new manager proposed moving Ossie Bluege to short and benching young Cronin, a future star. He wanted the ballclub to reacquire Buddy Myer, who'd been transformed into a top-notch third baseman with the Red Sox, to patrol the hot corner. Barny figured second base could be handled by committee for the time being, but the sooner Myer was brought back, the better. . . . . . . Walter Johnson's charges dropped three games lower in the standings (in 1929 compared to 1928) and their fate was once again sealed early, when they lost an appalling 13 of 14 games with the Philadelphia A's in the opening six weeks. One of those was the season opener, attended by President Herbert Hoover, a 13-4 debacle. Following a tongue-lashing by the normally placid manager, who made the players attend morning drills to sharpen their minds and make them think about the dumb plays some of them were making, the ballclub won 14 of 20 on the road, and 35 of their last 58 to edge Bucky Harris's Tigers by two games in the quest for fifth place in 1929. Nevertheless, this marked the first time in seven years that the Nats found themselves out of the first division. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691140442
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#3
08-05-2023, 04:42 AM
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Ossie Bluege
Player #89D: Oswald L. "Ossie" Bluege. Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1922-1939. 1,751 hits and 43 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1935 All-Star. 1924 World Series champion. He played his entire career in Washington. He was best known for his defense, but his best season at the plate was 1928 as he posted a .364 OBP with 78 runs scored and 75 RBIs in 588 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1943-1947.
Bluege's SABR biography: Bluege was known as a quiet, unassuming type of person who went about his job without much fanfare. He never popped off or brought attention to himself. He did not drink, smoke, or keep late hours. He was a virtual unknown to many. In spite of his anonymity, Bluege was a member of the Washington Senators for 18 seasons, served as a coach for two, and managed the Nats for five more. He was the franchise’s first farm director and worked as the comptroller, and later executive secretary, when the organization relocated to Minneapolis. When he retired in 1971, Bluege had worked 50 years for the same franchise. Indeed he was a company man. Whenever American League President Joe Cronin was asked to rank big-league third basemen, he always gave the same answer: “Well, you start with Bluege.” Of course shortstop Cronin was referring to his old partner on the right side of the Washington Senators teams of the 1920s and ’30s, Ossie Bluege. At the 1970 World Series, watching Baltimore’s Brooks Robinson make one outstanding play after another, Joe would remark “That’s another Ossie Bluege play.” He would often comment that he never had to worry about a ball that was hit to his right side with Bluege manning the hot corner. Luke Sewell, a catcher for the Senators in the later years of his career, described Bluege as “the two greatest infielders who ever played in my time.” Sewell explained: He played third and short at the same time, and nobody could come up with a bunt and snap it to first base as fast as Bluege.” https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691228314 https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691228319
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#4
08-06-2023, 04:06 AM
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Goose Goslin
Player #90F: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin. Left fielder for the Washington Senators in 1921-1930, 1933, and 1938. 2,735 hits and 248 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1936 All-Star. 1924 and 1935 World Series champion. 1928 AL batting champion. 1924 AL RBI leader. 1968 inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. He drove in the game-winning, walk-off run to win the 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. With Gehringer and Greenberg, was one of the Detroit "G-Men". In 1936 he had an inside-the-park HR when both outfielders (Joe DiMaggio and Myril Hoag) collided and were knocked unconscious. He had one of his best seasons for the WS-winning Washington Senators in 1924 as he posted a .421 OBP with 100 runs scored and 129 RBIs in 674 plate appearances.
Goslin’s average shrank to .288 in 1929, with 18 homers. The incredible power generated by his muscular shoulders was illustrated by a home run that cleared the high right-field fence at Griffith Stadium. It traveled an additional 75 feet into the backyard of a home where it struck the unsuspecting homeowner, who was hanging laundry. The ball struck with such force that it dislocated the woman’s shoulder. Shirley Povich of the Washington Post commented: “Even when Goslin wasn’t meeting the ball, he was an exciting hitter. He emulated the Ruthian custom of swinging himself off his feet and depositing himself in the dust when he whiffed. He was the least plate-shy guy who ever lived. Umpires used to threaten to banish him unless he stopped crowding the plate.” He also had remarkable hand-eye coordination: so good that he once beat the New Jersey skeet shooting champ by hitting 50 out of 50 clay pigeons during a match. https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691312628 https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691312632 https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691312635
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#6
08-07-2023, 04:27 AM
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Walter Johnson
Thanks for posting rc. No worries regarding timing -- always a good time to show a great card.
Player #54R: 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 addresses Walter's advent as Washington manager: It was perhaps inevitable that the man Clark Griffith would settle on (to replace the departed Bucky Harris as manager) was Walter Johnson. The Big Train signed a three-year contract at $25,000 a year to manage the Senators, on October 15, 1928, a year to the day following his retirement as a player. Griffith had succeeded in convincing Newark owner Paul Block to give Walter his release. Block acknowledged that Griff had been instrumental in delivering Johnson to Newark in the first place, and reluctantly agreed to grant the Old Fox the favor. Walter Johnson, Griffith realized, may have been too nice to manage a big-league ballclub, particularly in these more promiscuous times. But Walter, who did not drink nor smoke, definitely had the respect of his peers. And he had shown how tough he could be by suspending some of his Newark players in his one season as a manager. The Big Train had known no equal as a player and by anyone's scorecard in the game of life, very few as a person, and the hopes of baseball fans around the nation were with him. In hiring Walter Johnson, Clark Griffith scored a public relations coup and absolved himself of a great deal of criticism for having dropped Bucky Harris. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691400367
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#7
08-08-2023, 03:58 AM
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Sad Sam Jones
Player #121B: Samuel P. "Sad Sam" Jones. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1928-1931. 229 wins and 31 saves in 22 MLB seasons. 2-time World Series champion: 1918 with the Boston Red Sox and 1923 with the New York Yankees. He went to Boston in 1916 as part of the trade that sent Tris Speaker to Cleveland. He pitched a no-hitter in 1923 without striking out a batter. He debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1914-1915. One of his better seasons was 1921 with Boston as he posted a 23-16 record with a 3.22 ERA in 298.2 innings pitched. Another was 1928 with Washington, 17-7/2.84 in 224.2 innings pitched. His final seasons were with the Chicago White Sox in 1932-1935. His 22 consecutive years pitching in the same league is an MLB record, shared with 4 other players.
We go back to Jones' SABR biography for his time in Washington: In early February 1927, Sam was swapped to the St. Louis Browns for Cedric Durst and Joe Giard. In his one season with St. Louis, Jones was 8-14 with a 4.32 ERA. Right after baseball wrapped up postseason play, St. Louis sent Sam and Milt Gaston to Washington for Dick Coffman and Earl McNeely. Sad Sam pitched four years for Washington, rebounding nicely with a 17-7 (2.84) in 1928, despite the Senators finishing 26 games out of first place. His hopes for another strong season in 1929 were dashed when he sprained his back on May 22. He returned to Woodsfield for a month and next started in early July. He finished the season with a 9-9 mark and a 3.92 ERA. . . . https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691485049
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#8
08-09-2023, 03:57 AM
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Joe Judge
Player #73G: Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.
Judge's SABR biography: Judge continued his high production for the remainder of the decade. He hit over .300 in each season, and led the league in fielding in both 1927 and 1929. But the Senators were getting old. One example was Harris, who at 32 years of age hit .204 in 1928. Despite Judge’s excellent production, his job was put in jeopardy when Harris purchased George Sisler from the St, Louis Browns prior to the 1928 season to play first base. Sisler was a year older then Joe, and received every opportunity in spring training to claim the job. Judge persevered, and Sisler ended up being used mostly in pinch-hitting situations, and spelled Judge at first base until he was sold to the Boston Braves on May 27. https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691571273 https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691571277
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