The 1934 Washington Senators played 154 games, won 68, lost 86, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Joe Cronin and played home games at Griffith Stadium. In the eighth inning of their game against the Boston Red Sox on June 9, the Washington Senators hit 5 consecutive doubles – the most ever hit consecutively during the same inning.
Deveaux takes us into the 1934 season: In the real world, FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover's G-men (short for Government men) made significant inroads into bringing down a criminal element that had become increasingly prevalent in American life during the desperate depression. As for Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd, the fate met by baseball's G-men (short for Griffithmen) in 1934 was a miserable one. While the gangsters paid with the price of their lives, our Senators incurred physical injury on such a widespread basis that the club dropped further in the standings in just one year than any other pennant winner in major league history.
The history of the Senators became once again intertwined with that of the Yankees during this (1934) campaign. Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak, begun against the Senators on June 1, 1925, was placed in jeopardy on June 29, 1934, when he was hit in the head by a pitch during an exhibition game with the Yank's Norfolk affiliate. As Gehrig was taken to hospital, manager Joe McCarthy moaned that the pennant was surely lost. Diagnosed as a concussion, not a fracture, the injury did not keep Gehrig down. He traveled to Washington by steamboat and made it on time for the next game against the Senators. Equally amazing is the fact that the Iron Horse hit three triples in three at-bats, one to each field. Happily for the Senators, who were trailing as a result of this onslaught, the game was washed out by heavy squalls before it became official. Gehrig of course kept the streak going until it reached 2,130 games, an all-time record no one thought would be broken. But it was, of course, by Cal Ripkin, Jr., on September 6, 1995.
On September 29, 1934, Babe Ruth hit his last American League home run at Griffith Stadium. The 708th of his career was off of Sid Cohen, a rookie and younger brother of Andy Cohen, a middle infielder with the Giants in the late twenties. The following day marked the last time Babe Ruth appeared in the pinstripes that he, more than anyone, had made famous. With Ruth's wife and daughter on hand, Senators fans presented him with a scroll of appreciation. The band from St. Mary's Industrial School in Baltimore, where Ruth was raised, provided music for the occasion. With 0-for-3 on the day, the Babe flew out to Nats prospect Jake Powell in center to end the game. He left the field crying. In this way, an era drew to a close.
I don't have an image for 1934, so, before we leave Washington's pennant-winning 1933 season completely, one last image from 1933 -- manager and owner celebrate winning the American League, a pennant they would struggle to defend in 1934:
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1702896535
12-18-2023, 04:52 AM
1934 Washington Senators
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