Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

(Thanks for the encouragement, Val, and for showing the cool Myer item.)

. . . An old rookie at 27 whose years exceeded his maturity, Jake Powell hit .312 and produced 98 runs, just two short of Myer's output of exactly 100. Powell wouldn't be kept on, though, and by mid-June of the following season would be traded to the Yankees. After starring in the 1936 World Series, his life would unravel quickly. Daring on the ballfield and prejudiced off it, Powell had a reputation of not getting along well with his teammates. In 1938, he was suspended for slurring black people during the course of a radio interview. In 1948, at the age of 40, while being detained in a Washington police station on a charge of passing bad checks, Jake Powell shot himself to death.

In terms of the discussion of the 1935 Senators, we have saved the worst for last. The pitching staff continued its slide, allowing an appalling 903 runs. The team ERA was an eye-popping 5.25, an iota better than the 5.26 of the Browns. Southpaw Earl Whitehill was by far the best of the starters, at 14-13, 4.29. Stocky curveballer Bump Hadley followed up his 10-16, 4.35 totals in '34 with 10-15, 4.92. A year after leading the league in saves and appearances, Jack Russell's days as an effective reliever seemed pretty much over. He wound up 4-9 with an abhorrent 5.71 earned run average. Ed Linke did manage his 11 wins, but with an ERA over 5.

To sum up the 1935 season for the Washington Senators -- teams with lousy pitching and no power don't go anywhere in the game of baseball. The pitching staff did provide, however, the best comic relief in an otherwise relatively dull season. This came in the person of one Norman Louis "Bobo" (or "Buck") Newsom. The brash Bobo, a tall chunky fellow from Hartsville, South Carolina, had seen limited action with the Dodgers and Cubs before winning 30 games in the Pacific Coast League in 1933. Bobo liked to say he'd actually won 33 in '33 and, when challenged and told the record books said 30, he'd respond "Who are you going to believe?" (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) We will hear more from Deveaux regarding Bobo as we progress.

1935 was also the last time Walter Johnson wore an MLB uniform as part of his job: he was fired as manager of the Cleveland Indians in August: