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#1
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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#2
08-10-2023, 04:17 AM
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Sam Rice
Player #74N: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.
Carroll sets the stage for Rice's 1929 season: Rice and (his wife) Edith were spending the winter in San Diego. As usual, Rice was taking advantage of the warm Southern California climate to work on his golf game (an article of the time identified Rice, Brooklyn's Arnold Statz and Chicago Cub "Speed" Martin as baseball's best golfers). . . . . . . What frightened Griffith and made him believe that Rice might carry through with his retirement comments wasn't just his advancing age, but how well Rice had managed his meager salary through the years. The Senators' boss was well aware that Rice had taken care of his money and invested it wisely. Any return to the baseball field wouldn't be undertaken out of financial necessity, that was for sure. . . . . . . The drama began to build in late January, and finally came to an end a few days later, when Rice ended the speculation by signing his Senators contract for the 1929 season. . . . . . . But just because Rice was returning to the roster didn't mean that he was promised his traditional starting spot in the Senators' outfield. (We will continue this tomorrow.) https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691658953
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#3
08-11-2023, 04:12 AM
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Sam Rice
Player #74N: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 2. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.
Unbelievably, despite the fact that he would be playing for his longtime teammate (new manager, Walter Johnson), Rice's .328 average and 202 hits in 1928 weren't enough for him to secure a starting outfield spot for the following season. For the last few years, the Senators had constantly been aquiring a parade of young outfield prospects who were supposed to push Rice out of his accustomed patch in right field. As the 1929 season approached, the brain trust of the organization thought they had finally found one up to the challenge -- Red Barnes. . . . . . . Initially Barnes was looked at as competition with (Sam) West for one of the Senators' outfield slots, but when both had productive seasons in 1928, the organization began to look at them as dual cornerstones of a possible outfield of the future -- and present -- for the Senators. . . . . . . It was one thing to talk about an outfield youth movement, another thing entirely to take the drastic leap of replacing a franchise mainstay like Rice while he was still, despite advancing age, at the top of his hitting prowess. But in late March, with the season still weeks away, that's what Johnson did. . . . . . . After a two hundred-hit season, Rice had been demoted to utility man. But Johnson's decision came with a caveat -- if either West or Barnes failed to perform at the kind of pace they had set during their torrid springs, he would replace either of them with Rice. It took all of five games for Rice to earn his old job back. After making only a pair of pinch-hitting appearances in the first four games, including three Senators losses, Rice was back in the lineup on April 23 at Philadelphia. He played right field and batted third. Barnes' slow start was attributed to a knee injury he suffered in a late exhibition game in Charlotte. But whatever the reason, as it turned out, Rice was back in right field to stay. He wouldn't miss a game until August 17. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.) https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691744943
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#5
08-12-2023, 04:12 AM
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Muddy Ruel
Thanks again to rc for posting a rare Rice card. Some competition for Val, who recently showed off his Leader Theatre rarity in another thread.
Player #87F: 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'll go to Ruel's SABR biography to reprise his glory days in Washington: In Ruel’s own words after clinching the Series, with his boyish excitement coming through: “Don’t tell me the breaks of the game don’t either make you or break you. If Gowdy had caught my foul—an easy one—in the twelfth, I’d never have gotten a change to double and later bring in the winning run. But he did, and I did, and that’s why we’re champs. Hot doggie.” Through the years, Ruel marked this day as his greatest day in baseball. Scoring the winning run in extra innings in Game Seven of the World Series does make for a fond memory. Almost as soon as the Series was over, Ruel left for a tour of Europe with a team of American League barnstormers traveling with and competing against a team of National Leaguers headed by John McGraw, the manager of the recently-vanquished Giants. In 1925 the Senators were back in the Fall Classic but this time the glory went to their opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Series again went a full seven games and Muddy Ruel again caught in all seven contests. On September 30, 1927, Ruel was again present for one of baseball’s famous historic moments. Ruel was the catcher for the Senators in the eighth inning when Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season. https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691831270
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#6
08-13-2023, 04:10 AM
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Sam West
Player #122A: Samuel F. "Sam" West. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1927-1932 and 1938-1941. 1,838 hits and 75 home runs in 16 MLB seasons. 4-time All-Star. His career OBP was .371. In 1931 for Washington he posted an OBP of .369 with 91 RBIs in 559 plate appearances. In 1934 for the St. Louis Browns he posted an OBP of .403 with 91 runs scored in 554 plate appearances. His last season was 1942 with the Chicago White Sox.
West's SABR biography gets us started: Playing the last month of the 1925 campaign for the (Birmingham) Barons (of the Southern Association), West hit .265 in 24 games. In 1926 he burned up the league, and played so well that the caught the eye of the Washington Senators’ super-scout, Joe Engel. Convinced that West would prove to be the center fielder of the future for Washington, Engel began to arrange for his purchase. His scouting report noted West to be a good hitter but, surprisingly, a poor fielder. Engel would have been surprised to know that this prospect would become one of the best defensive center fielders in major-league history. . . . The Senators were not discouraged (as West recovered from a fractured scull caused by a HBP). On August 13 (1926) they arranged for the purchase of his contract for $10,000. The team instructed him to remain in Texas until he had fully recovered. West was well enough to report to the Senators’ spring-training camp at Tampa, Florida, in 1927. The rookie was assigned to back up all-time great Tris Speaker, but he did not mind. “Tris Speaker, he helped me more than anybody I guess,” West recalled. “I worked with him every day.” (Speaker, who had been player-manager of the Cleveland Indians, had joined the Senators after being cleared, along with Ty Cobb, by Judge Kenesaw M. Landis in a gambling scandal. Landis had reinstated Speaker with Cleveland, but the Indians allowed him to make a deal for himself.) . . . In 1929 pitching great Walter Johnson became the new Washington manager, and that was fine with West. “Oh, he was a fine, fine, fellow,” West later said of Johnson. “One of the finest fellows I ever met.” In spring training Johnson made it no secret that he liked his center fielder. “I am particularly sweet on West because he was so many good points,” Johnson said. “He is as fast as lightning. He has one of the best throwing arms in baseball, and I know he will be a good hitter once he gets his stride. And above all, he has a good attitude. He is always out there hustling and giving it his all.” We'll return here the next time we see West. https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691917693
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#7
08-14-2023, 04:08 AM
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1930 Washington Senators
The 1930 Washington Senators won 94 games, lost 60, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Walter Johnson and played home games at Griffith Stadium.
Deveaux runs over Washington's 1930 season, which included a "murderous rivalry": Since the Washington Senators of 1930 distinguished themselves by having five pitchers with 15 or more wins (a record not to be tied for 68 years), it is readily understandable that they were able to make a remarkable turnaround. The Nats won 94, against just 60 losses. The 22-game improvement nevertheless landed the Senators a full eight games out of first place at the end of the year, second to the defending world champions, the Philadelphia A's. With the bats of young players Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, and Al Simmons supplementing the veteran arms of Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw, and Rube Walberg, the Athletics were on their way to a second straight world championship. The Senators roared through a terrific 17-2 preseason, and won ten of their first 12 to start the 1930 campaign, including six of seven against Philadelphia. But this Washington team could not win with any kind of regularity on the road, and by mid-June the club was already well off the pace set by the A's. At this time, a murderous rivalry between the two clubs, more specifically between big Firpo Marberry and Al Simmons of the A's, came to a head. Marberry was not afraid to pitch batters tight. It came out in print that Simmons was accusing him of trying to bean him, a charge that Marberry would not deny. Every game played against the A's thereafter featured a dustup, with Simmons having to pick himself off the ground. On several occasions, the eventual Hall of Famer took off after Marberry, his bat brandished high. Firpo wasn't backing off, and on each occasion, players from both clubs had had to restrain the two from coming to blows. Al Simmons did show the Senators what a Hall of Famer is made of in the Fourth of July doubleheader in Philadelphia, and many Washington baseball observers felt that the season turned on that day. Hobbled by a lame ankle, Simmons sat out the first game, which in those days was played in the morning. In the ninth inning, however, he was called upon to pinch hit with the bases loaded and homered off Bump Hadley to win the game. In the afternoon, he again came off the bench to hit a home run off Ad Liska to beat the Senators. . . . . . . (manager) Walter (Johnson) lost his beloved wife Hazel on August 1, but was back with the club within four days of her funeral. The Nats won 21 of 30 in the month and left the Yankees far in their wake. They got to within 5 1/2 games of the Athletics during the first week of September before fading into a .500 pattern over the rest of the month. They finished eight games behind the A's, and eight ahead of the Yankees. Their 94-60 record was two games better than that of the Washington team which had won the World Seies six years before. Early reports to spring training in Biloxi in 1930 -- Mike Martin, Fred Marberry, C. Moore, Lloyd Brown, and Clark Griffith: https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1692003984
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