Washington DC Baseball

[kcohen]

I attended my first ballgames at Griffith Stadium in 1959. This man was the manager,

[GeoPoto]

(I don't have any Cookies. I don't think I made any baseball games at Griffith Stadium, but I do think I saw the Redskins play there once, presumably in 1960. I would have been 7 years old. It was the Santa Claus (final) game, I think.)

Player #172: Joseph V. "Joe" Krakauskas. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1937-1940. 26 wins and 4 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His most productive season was 1936 with Washington as he posted a 11-17 record with a 4.60 ERA in 217.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1941-1942 and 1946. He is best remembered for giving up the final hit in Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941.

Baseball in Wartime provides an overview of Krakauskas' time in Washington: Blessed with blazing speed but control problems, 1937 saw him with the Syracuse Chiefs in the International League, and he joined the Washington Senators in September – one of the few Canadians in the major leagues. In his debut against the Philadelphia Athletics on September 9, 1937, Krakauskas gave up one hit in a seven-inning relief performance. On September 28, the young Canadian threw a 7-hitter against Yankees, winning 2-1. Krakauskas finished 1937 with four wins and one loss in five appearances for the Senators.

In 1938, he was 7-5 as both a starter and reliever. In 1939, his 11-17 record in 39 appearances gave him the second most wins on a Washington team that finished sixth in the American League.

When Canada entered World War II in September 1939, Krakauskas made an application for American citizenship. "Ever since I have been in organized baseball," he explained, "I have intended to become an American citizen. I may be drafted by Canada, but I do not plan to enlist."

In 1940, Krakauskas dropped to 1-6 in mainly a relief role with an inflated ERA of 6.44. On Christmas Eve 1940, Krakauskas was traded to the Indians for Ben Chapman. He split the season between Syracuse in the International League and the Indians.

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Player #169B: Emil J. "Dutch" Leonard. Knuckle-ball pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1938-1946. 191 wins and 45 saves in 20 MLB seasons. 5-time All Star. Pitched complete game to beat Yankees in 1st game of doubleheader, after which Lou Gehrig gave "luckiest man in the world" speech. In 1945, part of four-man rotation, made up by four knuckle-ball pitchers. Debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933.

We return to Leonard's SABR biography -- Part 2: Leonard’s first four seasons in Washington (1938-1941) were nearly identical, with ERAs around 3.50 and about two walks and three strikeouts per game. Because he struck out few batters, he was more dependent on his defense than the average pitcher. His fluctuating won-loss records reflect the quality of the Senators’ fielders as well as the whims of luck. In his 18-13 year in 1941, he was the league’s best in fielding independent pitching, a statistic that measures a pitcher’s performance without regard to the fielders behind him.

His 1942 season ended in his second start, when he was hustling to beat out an infield hit and broke his left ankle sliding into first base to dodge a tag. He tried to come back four months later but couldn’t.

The military draft began taking large numbers of big leaguers in 1943. Leonard was deferred from service because he and Rose had two children (a third came later) and he was supporting his mother and a sister.

He raised his game against weak wartime competition, lowering his ERA in each of the next three years. He started the 1943 All-Star Game at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. The National League’s first two batters, Stan Hack and Billy Herman, singled. Stan Musial’s sacrifice fly brought Hack home. Then Leonard set down eight of the next nine batters (one reached on an error). He finished his three-inning stint with a 3-1 lead, thanks to Bobby Doerr’s homer, and was the winning pitcher. Although he was picked for four All-Star teams, this was his only appearance.

The Senators opened the 1944 season with four knuckleball pitchers. Roger Wolff, Johnny Niggeling, and Mickey Haefner joined Leonard to give 38-year-old Rick Ferrell nightmares. Each knuckler was different. Niggeling gripped the ball with one fingertip. Leonard and Haefner used two, Wolff three. Contrary to legend, Ferrell did not set a record for passed balls in either ’44 or ’45, but he did allow more than anyone since catchers began wearing shin guards. Ferrell compared the knuckleball to a butterfly: “Did you ever try to catch one with your hand? Well, that’s the way it is catching the knuckler.” He and the Yankees’ Bill Dickey were the first to use a flexible mitt, rather than the conventional pillow, which allowed them to receive pitches one-handed and protect their bare fingers. Ferrell always wore his full gear when he warmed up his nemeses and said he suffered his only broken finger when he got careless while warming up Leonard.

[GeoPoto]

Player #170B: John K. "Buddy" Lewis. Third baseman/right fielder for the Washington Senators in 1935-1941, 1945-1947, and 1949. 1,563 hits and 71 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He played his entire career in Washington. 2-time All-Star. He had a career OBP of .368. His most productive season was 1938 as he posted an OBP of .354 with 122 runs scored and 91 RBIs in 724 plate appearances.

Lewis overcame defensive struggles at third base to forge a fine career, hitting .297 in 11 seasons with the Senators. His career was interrupted in his prime during World War II but when he returned in 1945, he nearly drove the Senators to the American League pennant, hitting .333 to lead the club to within one game of the flag.

He was one of the most popular players in Senators history, and he was a personal favorite of team owner Clark Griffith. His best season came in 1940 in his first season as a right fielder. Lewis, then able to concentrate almost exclusively on his offensive production, hit .317 in 148 games, with 101 runs scored and 63 RBI. He set a career high with 38 doubles, collected 10 triples, and had 6 homers. He also drew 74 free passes, hitting primarily in the #2 spot in the order, giving him an OBP of .393. Lewis made 9 errors in the outfield, but that was less damaging than the normal basketful he made at the hot corner.

He was selected to the All-Star team as a third baseman in 1938 and as an outfielder in 1947.

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Player #136F: Henry E. "Heinie" Manush. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1930-1935. 2,524 hits and 110 home runs in 17 MLB seasons. Had a .330 career batting average. 1934 All-Star. 1926 AL batting champion. Had more than 200 hits four times. In 1964, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1923. Leading batter on the 1933 Washington Senator team that won the AL pennant. First and last player to be ejected from a World Series game. Had 241 hits in 1928. Coach for the Washington Senators in 1953-1954.

A brief revisiting of Manush's SABR biography: Mastering the art of the line drive but unable to master his own temper, Heinie Manush burst onto the major league scene with the Detroit Tigers and quickly became one of the fiercest and most feared hitters in the game. . . .

. . . It was 1923 when Manush made his first appearance in the major leagues. He quickly blossomed under the tutelage of teammate Ty Cobb, who holds the career record for batting average (.366), and was a fellow Southerner with a strong temper who was then player-manager of the Tigers. The two, along with four-time batting champion Harry Heilmann, formed perhaps the best outfield in the history of baseball from 1923-27. . . .

. . . Heinie’s final career numbers are often overlooked, but he was one of the most dominating hitters of his time. He slapped 200 hits four times, 40 doubles five times, and finished his 2,008-game career with a .330 batting average, 2,524 hits, 491 doubles, 1,288 runs scored and 1,183 runs batted in.

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Player #39L: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography sums up his place in MLB history: He was a left-handed hitter who batted .285 over the course of 16 seasons, and Clark Griffith called him Washington’s greatest centerfielder, claiming that he played the position more shallow than any man in baseball. Yet Clyde “Deerfoot” Milan achieved his greatest fame as a base stealer. After Milan supplanted Ty Cobb as the American League’s stolen-base leader by pilfering 88 bases in 1912 and 75 in 1913, F. C. Lane of Baseball Magazine called him “Milan the Marvel, the Flying Mercury of the diamond, the man who shattered the American League record, and the greatest base runner of the decade.” It was hyperbole, of course; Cobb re-claimed the AL record in 1915 by stealing 96 bases and went on to swipe far more bases over the decade than Milan, but Deerfoot stole a total of 481 during the Deadball Era, ranking third in the AL behind only Cobb (765) and Eddie Collins (564).

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Player #139I: Charles S. "Buddy" Myer. Second baseman with the Washington Senators in 1925-1927 and 1929-1941. 2,131 hits and 38 home runs in 17 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .389. 2-time All-Star. 1935 AL Batting champion. 1928 AL Stolen Base leader. His best season was 1935 for Washington as he posted a .440 OBP with 115 runs scored and 100 RBIs in 719 plate appearances. He was involved in one of baseball's most violent brawls when he was spiked and possibly racially derided by the Yankees' Ben Chapman.

We will follow Myer's SABR biography as we track his career -- Part 9: Myer retired with a .303/.389/.406 batting line and 2,131 hits. Fifteen of his 38 lifetime home runs were inside the park, 13 of those hit into Griffith Stadium’s vast outfield. His speed and ability to draw walks made him a model leadoff man.

Myer settled his family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he joined a mortgage bank. He enjoyed a prosperous life as a banker and real estate developer, golfer, and country club member. His elder child, Charles Stevens (Stevey) Myer, followed him into the real estate business. His younger son, William Richard (Dick), played on the professional golf tour in the 1960s. Buddy Myer had a heart attack in May 1974 and died on October 31 at age 70.