Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Great card Val, and quite right about his crucial role in Washington's 1924 World Series success. Without Zachary's heroics in games 2 and 6, it would not have been possible for Walter Johnson to finally don the Hero's mantle in game 7. And with that we have reached 1924:

We begin our coverage of the 1924 season with these excerpts from Smiles: At 2:47 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was president. President Warren G. Harding had died of a heart attack in San Francisco. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administrated the oath of office as Vice President Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible. . . .

. . . In 1924, as the beneficiary of what was becoming known as the "Coolidge Prosperity," he polled more than 54 percent of the popular vote. His 25.2-point victory margin in the popular vote is one of the largest ever.
Coolidge was nearly as popular as the capital's baseball team, which he went to see on Thursday, June 26, 1924, as the first-place Washington Senators began a 34-game, 29-day homestand that would include 11 double-headers. The stand opened with a double-header against the A's. Griffith Stadium took on a festive atmosphere to rival a World Series opening. Fans lined up at the box office beginning at 7 o'clock that morning. . . .

. . . At 1 P.M. the Navy band led the Senators onto the field to a tremendous ovation. "A bevy of beautiful girls from the Pemberton Dancing school wearing nothing you couldn't write home about on a postcard, but probably wouldn't, glided onto the field strewing garlands in the path of the players. Some of the fathers on the club thought the girls ought to go home and put something on. The younger members thought it was good stuff." . . .

. . . Approximately 20,000 fans turned out for the first game and 3,000 more for the second, including President Coolidge and four secret servicemen. The presidential box behind the Senators' dugout was empty until the First Lady and her children arrived in the seventh inning of the first game. The president arrived just before the second game. The band played the national anthem as he entered the box. . . .

. . . Altrock and Schacht went through their repertoire of comedy acts, dancing with the dance school girls, rowing and fishing in front of the president's box, and performing their famous slow-motion pitching and batting act. Stringer (Washington Post scribe Harry,) seemed to be obsessed with the dancing girls' attire, writing, "First the clowns participated in athletic dancing with the girls, though their uniforms seemed to hamper their movements, while the fair ones were under no such handicap. The president applauded vigorously."

Johnson, who hadn't pitched in five days, won the first game, 5-0. It was the team's 10th straight win. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676369024

[GeoPoto]

The 1924 Washington Senators won 92 games, lost 62, and finished in first place in the American League. Fueled by the excitement of winning their first AL pennant, the Senators won the World Series in dramatic fashion, a 12-inning Game Seven victory.

Some highlights from Deveaux's account of the 1924 season: . . . During the early weeks, though, there were no real signs that this would be a very special season. Right off the bat, the burdensome term "Griffith's Folly" was used, but only by certain baseball writers; when the Senators sank to the second division, the phrase gained currency.

Then something happened. All the key men started to click on all cylinders. Harris was playing well, not at all affected by his double duties. His partner Peckinpaugh was rebounding from a mediocre 1923, and he and Harris were again formidable as a double-play duo. All of a sudden veterans Johnson, Rice, and Judge were simultaneously enjoying their best periods of sustained good play in years. The scholarly Muddy Ruel, credited with coming up with the term "tools of ignorance" to describe the equipment worn by catchers, was again solid at the plate and behind it. The rookie reliever, Firpo Marberry, was so effective that he would set a record for relief appearances. . . .

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676455874

[GeoPoto]

. . . Over the last four days of August, the Nats were to play the Yanks (who they were neck-and-neck with in the pennant race) a single game each day at one-year-old Yankee Stadium. In the opening match, Babe Ruth socked a pair of home runs and Bob Meusel another, but that wasn't enough for the Yankees to reclaim first place. The Nats slaughtered the pitching of Herb Pennock, Goose Goslin hit for the cycle, and Washington scored eight in the eighth, prevailing 11-6. All of a sudden, the Senators were in first place. What's more, the New York fans had cheered Washington's victory unabashedly. It became obvious on this day that the nation truly stood behind the capital's team, and everyone knew why.

When Walter Johnson struck out Babe Ruth to end the first inning the following day, there was bedlam. Barney was good enough on this day to keep New York off the scoresheet for seven innings, working out of a bases-loaded jam and two situations with baserunners on the corners. Twice he snuffed out potential rallies by striking out the dangerous Bob Meusel with two men on. All the while, his mates were amassing a healthy lead off Joe Bush. Goose Goslin, who would end up eclipsing Ruth, Meusel, Pipp, and the rest, to lead the league in runs batted in (129, to go with a .344 average), was on a tear. He went 3-for-4 with a home run and scored three times. Washington won again, the final score 5-1.

In the eighth, everyone got a scare when Johnson reached for a Wally Schrang liner and had the ball bounce off his pitching hand. Bucky Harris decided to not take a chance and immediately pulled the living legend from the contest. One writer described the ovation that followed as the loudest ever accorded any baseball player in New York City.

The third game was a setback, particularly since the Nats got 11 hits off Waite Hoyt, while Curly Ogden gave up just five. The Yankees won 2-1. The finale was a classic. George Mogridge, who would finish the season at 16-11, 3.76, got into plenty of trouble early but held New York to two runs until the eighth, when Firpo Marberry came in to relieve. Joe Judge hit one of his three homers this season, off Sam Jones, setting up some tenth-inning heroics by Sam Rice, who doubled to drive in two runs for a 4-2 decision. Rice led the league in hits (216) and at-bats, and hit .334. The pesky Nats had taken three out of four; within four weeks, their 13-9 overall record against the Yankees in this campaign was to prove of the utmost significance. . . .

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676541978

[ValKehl]

Pennant fever swept Washington, DC, after the Senators took 3 games out of 4 from the Yankees at Yankee Stadium at the end of August, as George aptly described in the above post. On September 2, 1924, the team was invited to the White House by President Coolidge, and this team photo with Coolidge was taken on the grounds of the White House on this date. BTW, I will have this photo on display at this Saturday's No. Va. Net54 get together - hoping for a great turnout.

[GeoPoto]

Fabulous picture Val! Early "Ken Rosenthal" look being sported by Walter and Bucky.

. . . The Senators were to end the season on the road, with a three-week road trip starting September 8. Walter Johnson won 8-4 that day in Philadelphia, his tenth win in a row and 20th of the year. Taking three of four in Philly, the Nationals moved on to Detroit, where Johnson decisioned rookie Earl Whitehill, a future Washington player. The victory was coupled in the newspapers the following day with news that Barney had been named the league's most valuable player for 1924, getting 55 of a possible 64 votes. The Nats, however, lost the last two games of the Detroit series and were now only three games up on the Tigers. Worse still, the feared Yankees had now caught up with them, with both teams at 82-59.

The Senators swept three games at Cleveland, where they had lost seven of eight games in their first two visits. Fans cheered wildly for Walter Johnson when he took the middle game 3-2 on September 17. On the 19th, the Nats ran the score up to 9-0 before the Browns even got up to bat in stifling St. Louis heat. But the Yankees were keeping pace, and Bucky Harris decided to call upon his 36-year-old ironman on just two days rest. The strategy didn't work, and Johnson was kayoed in the first inning. Five pitchers gave up 18 hits, but the Nats managed 18 safeties of their own and nearly pulled it out. Goose Goslin homered in the top of the tenth inning, his second of the day, but Washington blew the lead in the bottom of the inning and lost 15-14 when Firpo Marberry, who could have opted for an easy play at the plate, threw wildly past second base instead.

On September 21, the Senators won when the game was called in the seventh because of rain, and with the Yankees having lost two straight in Detroit, the Nats were now two ahead. A three-game series began against the hated Chisox the next day. With Harris urging his Nats to insult the White Sox and THEN beat them, Walter Johnson won his 13th consecutive game, his 23rd victory of the season. Playing 20 games over .500 during the last month of the season, the sizzling Nationals swept Chicago. But the Yankees, champions of the world and winners of the pennant by 16 games in 1923, could not be shaken off. While the Nats were sweeping Chicago, the Bombers were doing the same to Cleveland, so Washington could do no better than to hang on to its slim lead. Everything would be decided back east after all.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676628734

[GeoPoto]

Ahead by two games with four left to play, the Senators might have seemed, on the face of it, to have had a slight advantage -- their last four games would be contested at Fenway Park against last-place Boston. But the Yankees' opponents weren't much better. They were to face the Athletics, fighting for sixth place, in Philadelphia. The Senators quickly dispensed with half their advantage when Walter Johnson's consecutive-win streak was broken at 13 in a 2-1 heartbreaker on September 26, despite the fact that Boston fans were openly rooting for the Senators. In the same game, Sam Rice's team-record 31-game hitting streak (broken by Heinie Manush in 1933) was brought to a halt. At the same time, New York was pounding the A's, 7-1. Once again, Johnson was struck on the arm, this time by a pitched ball on the elbow. Earl McNeely had a bad game, and the rookie admitted to being downright scared about what could happen to the Nats' World Series prospects.

The following day, George Mogridge gave up four runs in the first inning, and disaster lurked and seemed imminent. Bucky Harris brought in Fred Marberry, Allen Russell, and Tom Zachary, who held the Red Sox to just one more run the rest of the way. The Senators won the game, 7-5. At one point, the Boston fans jeered their pitcher, Howard Ehmke, for striking out Roger Peckinpaugh in a key situation. When the news came that a Bullet Joe Bush wild pitch had cost New York a 4-3 decision in Philadelphia, the Nats had their two-game lead back. More importantly, with two games left in the season, the worst the Senators could do was to finish the season in a dead heat atop the standings.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676713674

[GeoPoto]

On a Sunday off-day, which arose from baseball's adherence to the so-called blue laws which banned playing on the Sabbath day -- the Nationals had time to contemplate the prospect of doing no worse than going into a play-off with the Yankees. That play-off was not in the cards. On the Monday, September 29, Zachary and Marberry teamed up in a 4-2 win over Boston. The offensive hero was Wade Lefler, a 28-year-old refugee from the Eastern League whose big-league experience up to then had consisted of one solitary at-bat. Lefler had driven in the only run in the 2-1 loss the previous Friday and, pushed into a crucial situation by Harris in this game, delivered a three-run double to determine the outcome. In all, Lefler went 5-for-8 for the Nats, including three doubles, before disappearing into eternal obscurity with the enviable career major-league batting average of .556.

The Yankees were rained out in Philadelphia, although it made no difference. The improbable had finally happened. The Washington Senators, last in the league in home runs, had fought off Goliath and were the new champions of the American League. There were tears in Walter Johnson's eyes -- he kept his head down as he made his way to the clubhouse from the bullpen. There were many tears in the clubhouse following the game, including some shed by Clark Griffith and Bucky Harris, who was hoisted up on the shoulders of Johnson and Altrock and paraded around the clubhouse in celebration of what he had been able to achieve up to this point. Washington baseball fans finally had a champion.

When Babe Ruth found out that Washington had won its game and the pennant, he began rousing his teammates in a Philadelphia hotel. He added to the cheerlessness of an already gloomy day by shaking his teammates out of their slumber to announce that not only were they sleeping, but they were now also dead. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676801504

[ValKehl]

After managing and pitching (24 7 won-loss record with a 2.67 ERA) the Chicago White Sox to the A.L. pennant in 1901, Clark Griffith endured a long drought until his team next won a pennant, this time as team owner of the Washington Senators, in 1924. Let's honor Mr. Griffith with a Besta Cake in recognition of his team's achievement.

[GeoPoto]

Another great card, Val! Thank you. And now, Griffith's Folly:

Player #83E: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 1. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Deveaux relates an example of the type of relationship Harris cultivated with his players: In years to come, Harris would promote the notion that there were really only two things a manager had to know: when to change pitchers, and how to get along with his players. At spring training '24, Bucky showed he had a grasp of that philosophy very early on by employing a novel approach among big-league managers -- one brought on by necessity, as he was being asked to lead a bunch of former teammates, most of whom were older than he was. He informed his players in clear terms that he was not going to tell them how to play baseball. He implored them to simply make him a good manager. Walter Johnson and Joe Judge, good leaders of men, had been approached by him already, and they had pledged their allegiance.

Harris relaxed bed checks and invoked the honor system during spring training at Hot Springs, Arkansas. He turned the comradeship he had with his teammates to his advantage. On one occasion, on his way back east from Hot Springs with the main squad, he plotted with his underlings to get even but good with the team's resident clown, the comedic buzzsaw, Al Schacht. Harris hatched a plan designed to bring the prankster to his knees. Schacht was a real ladies' man, and when Bucky and the rest of the team reached Orlando, Florida, he told Schacht that there were a couple of fine-looking southern ladies who were going to be catching up with them later on in the week. And . . . they wanted to meet Al Schacht.

Intrigued, Schacht asked a number of questions. One of them was whether these ladies were single. Harris said that indeed they were, that both women were applying for divorce so there was nothing to worry about. Harris also reassured Schacht by telling him that he, manager of a big-league ballclub, knew what he was doing and was not about to get himself involved in any sort of scandal. On the appointed day, Schacht eagerly went looking for Harris at the team dinner, reminding him of the date they had for that evening. Harris encouraged Schacht to spend a few dollars, for a bottle of liquor and some oranges for the ladies. . . .

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676887790

[GeoPoto]

Player #83E: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 2. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

. . . They were chauffeured along a lonely side road before coming to a cottage nearly completely secluded in a thickly wooded area. Schacht paid for the cab too; Bucky fumbled for money in his pockets, then humbly let the Clown Prince cover the tab. When they got to the door, to Schacht's very sudden dismay, a man answered their knock and Schacht saw and heard a gun. He also saw Bucky Harris go down, and then did what might have come naturally to anyone -- he ran. He ended up making his way on foot five miles along a desolate stretch of road, back to where he and Bucky had been driven from.

Along the way, cold and fear-stricken, Schacht wondered if Bucky had died. He considered going back, but thought again. The Clown Prince, recounting the incident in his book Clowning Through Baseball, wrote that he walked back with his hat pulled over his eyes and his collar turned up on an exceedingly dark night. Hardly any cars went by. It did occur to him, for perhaps a minute of that time, that the whole horrible thing could have been a hoax, a big setup, but no, that was just his irrational mind racing away, he thought.

When he finally arrived back where the team was staying, a number of players were waiting for him at the doorway to the residence. One of them remarked that he looked a little pale, which drew some laughs. Schacht instinctively decided to laugh too, and then there was an uproar. Then he understood that he'd been had. He found out that half the team, including the great Walter Johnson, had been hiding in the bushes observing the goings-on back at the cottage. For years, Schacht heard taunts like: "Hey Al, how's Tampa Margie?" Al Schacht may have been a clown, but no one ever accused him of being stupid. On that day, he said later, he found out that the stage had lost a great actor when young Bucky Harris had decided to take up baseball.

This is the type of relationship that Harris cultivated with his players, and his enthusiasm also would help in earning the respect of key guys like Walter Johnson, Roger Peckinpaugh, George Mogridge, and Joe Judge. The Nationals would be a group of highly committed and combative ballplayers in 1924. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1676976357

[ValKehl]

A bit more about Al Schacht. He pitched for the Senators for 3 years, 1919-1921, compiling a 14-10 won-loss record and a 4.48 ERA in 53 appearances. But he suffered an arm/shoulder injury in the middle of the 1921 season that effectively ended his pitching career. Schacht then became a Senators coach for many years, and along with fellow coach Nick Altrock formed an entertaining baseball comedy duo, even though the two didn't much like one another. The SABR bio of Schacht is an interesting read: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Al-Schacht/

The only baseball card that I am aware of for Al Schacht that was issued around this time is this 1925 Universal Toy & Novelty Mfg. Co. W504 card that pictures both Schacht and Altrock. Unfortunately, this card is in rough condition, but there are no examples of this card in the pop reports (all of the W504 Senators cards are very scarce/rare). Also, below is a photo of Schacht and Altrock by National Photo - this photo appears in the 1924 Senators' World Series program.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

The only baseball card that I am aware of for Al Schacht that was issued around this time is this 1925 Universal Toy & Novelty Mfg. Co. W504 card that pictures both Schacht and Altrock. Unfortunately, this card is in rough condition, but there are no examples of this card in the pop reports (all of the W504 Senators cards are very scarce/rare).

Here is a W504 Schacht/Altrock card that an alternate Net54 Brian has posted on several occasions. Looks like this comedic coach team duo hadn't quite earned the second 'n' in 'Funny' yet.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Thanks to Val and Brian for the W504 additions. Funy how poor proof reading was in the 1920's, at least when it came to baseball cards.

Player #54M: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 1. "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 takes on Walter's 1924 season: Fast approaching age 37, Walter Johnson made it known to Griffith following his contract signing in January that 1924 would be his last year. The Big Train intended to buy the Vernon (Los Angeles) franchise of the Pacific Coast League. At spring training, though, Walter had discovered that his arm was totally pain-free for the first time since 1920. There had been a knot above his elbow which had gotten smaller in size each year since then. Now, it was gone. When the Nats faced the New York Giants in a preseason game, the National League champions' shortstop, Travis Jackson, commented that if Walter Johnson had been faster, he was glad he'd been in kindergarten at the time.

On opening day, doubt that the Big Train was all the way back evaporated. With President Calvin Coolidge presiding and providing Johnson with another autographed presidential baseball, Barney shut out the A's 4-0 before the home crowd. The Big Swede would have his best campaign of the past five years, and toward the end, on August 25, he would no-hit the St. Louis Browns in a game shortened to seven innings because of rain. This would be Barney's league-leading sixth and last shutout of the season, the 107th of his career. Would the Big Train really retire? (Hint: the record shows he had six more shutouts in him.) Certainly, Johnson's excellent 23-7 performance in 1924 militated against that. As well as in shutouts, Barney was also tops in the A. L. in wins (23), games (38), strikeouts (158) and ERA (2.72).

While Walter was solid all year, the club had floundered at first. Those who had dubbed Griffith's hiring of Harris "Griffith's Folly" definitely had the upper hand by mid-May, as the Nats were cowering in the depths of the second division. On May 23, Walter Johnson pitched one of the great games of his career, facing 28 batters and striking out 14 in blanking Chicago 4-0 on one measly hit and one measly walk. He tied a league record by striking out six in a row. By this stage of the new season, the Big Train already had four shutouts.

Within a couple of weeks the Nats were back at the .500 level, prompting Babe Ruth to quip that he'd never seen a team turn things around so quickly. In late June, the club was red hot and built a four-game lead by month's end. By now, one of the nation's foremost sports scribes, Grantland Rice, was writing about how most Americans, if they could vote for such a thing, would want to see the Senators win the pennant. If only, many felt, Walter Johnson could finally make an appearance in one World Series before calling it quits. . . .

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677060449

[ValKehl]

Unfortunately for Senators' collectors, 1924 was a sparse year for card issues.

[GeoPoto]

Thanks again Val for helping us avoid a shutout. As you say, 1924 did not see a lot of cards issued.

Player #54M: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 2. "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.

. . . Johnson told the editors of Baseball Magazine that he longed for the days when his arm had been able to bounce back on a daily basis. Now he preferred to pitch every four days. If he could do now what he could then, he said, he knew that he would have even more success, considering the quality of the teams which had usually backed him up in the past. But Walter Johnson was not one to get too caught up in reverie, and he proclaimed himself still good enough to help a contended like this edition of the Washington Senators.

The club lost five in a row in the smothering heat of St. Louis and dropped back behind not only the Yankees, but the Tigers as well. It was Johnson who broke a six-game losing streak for the club on August 7, keeping the Nats in the race. Washington regained second spot by taking four of five from the Tigers at home. Johnson was extraordinary on the 17th, giving up four hits, no walks, and getting the side out in order in seven of the nine innings. He struck out Ty Cobb to end the game, which the Nationals won handily, 8-1.

From now on, Walter told Bucky Harris, he wanted the ball every third day. He would do anything he could to bring a pennant to Washington, and told the skipper he didn't care what the consequences were for his arm. If he ended up knocking himself out of action and missing a World Series, then so be it. This was Walter Johnson.

Punctuated by Barney's rain-shortened no-hitter against the Browns on the 25th, a nine-game winning streak ensued. Following the seven-inning masterpiece, George Sisler, the Browns' star hitter, commented that he thought the Big Train had looked very much like his old self. Any hitter, Sisler thought, would have considered it an accomplishment just to make contact.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677147390

[Hankphenom]

Great stuff, George and Val, thanks for posting!

[GeoPoto]

You're welcome, Hank.

Player #102B: Harry L. "Nemo" Leibold. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1923-1925. 1,109 hits and 136 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. 1917 and 1924 World Series champion. He had a career OBP of .357. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1913-1915. His best season statistically was 1919 with the Chicago White Sox as he posted a .404 OBP with 81 runs scored in 523 plate appearances.

Leibold's SABR biography picks up his story as he joins Washington: Playing sparingly for new Red Sox manager Frank Chance in 1923, Leibold had a stroke of luck when Washington Senators player-manager Donie Bush, to whom he had been compared as a young player, persuaded Clark Griffith to acquire Leibold at the waiver price in late May. Installed as the starting center fielder soon after his arrival, Leibold batted .305, one of five regulars to bat over .300.

Under the leadership of new player-manager Bucky Harris, the Senators got off to a slow start in 1924. Their record on June 16 was 24-26. Then the Senators caught fire, winning 68 of their final 104 games to claim their first pennant. Harris praised Leibold’s ability to get on base and start rallies. With a .293 batting average and a .398 on-base percentage (trailing only Goose Goslin), Leibold was part of an outfield The Sporting News considered one of the strongest in baseball.

A steady, dependable, and experienced leader on the field, Leibold was thought to be finished as a player when the Senators acquired him. However, Clark Griffith said during the final days of September, “The splendid playing of Leibold has proved one of the season’s surprises in the American League.”

Facing the powerful New York Giants in the World Series, the Senators took the National League champs to Game Seven. Down 3-1 with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Leibold pinch-hit for third baseman Tommy Taylor and responded with the biggest hit of his career: a double to left field, which put him in position to score along with Muddy Ruel on Harris’s two-out single to tie the game. “[Leibold’s] vitally necessary two-bagger was no surprise,” said Harris after the game. In the bottom of the 12th, Earl McNeely scored Ruel with a dramatic game-ending hit to give the Senators and Walter Johnson, who pitched the final four innings in relief, their first title.

Citing Leibold’s leadership qualities, Bucky Harris and Clark Griffith thought he would be an excellent coach or manager. They may have even toyed with the idea of naming Leibold a Senators coach for the 1926 season, his last in the major leagues. While the Senators won their second consecutive pennant in 1925 in convincing fashion, the 33-year-old Leibold was hobbled by nagging injuries to his legs and had difficulties playing in the outfield. In 84 at-bats, his lowest total since 1916, he batted .274. In the Senators’ seven-game World Series defeat by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Leibold saw action as a pinch-hitter on three occasions (hitting a double and scoring in the Game Five defeat), but did not play in the field.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677233036

[ValKehl]

I collect cards of all the 1924 Senators players, including cards for when these players were on other teams before and/or after they played for the Senators. The cards below in chronological order show Leibold with the 4 teams he played for during his 13-year MLB career:

[GeoPoto]

Great cards, Val.

Player #104A: Frederick "Firpo" Marberry Part 1. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1932. 148 wins and 99 saves in 14 MLB seasons. First prominent reliever; used as a closer. Important piece of the Washington team that won back-to-back AL pennants in 1924-1925. 1924 World Series champion. His most productive season was 1929 with Washington as he posted a 19-12 record with a 3.06 ERA in 250.1 innings pitched. He ended his career with Washington in 1936.

Smiles describes Marberry's emergence as baseball's first "closer": The next day (June 17) the Senators started (a) nine-game winning streak with a 12-6 win in the third game of the series with the White Sox. . . . The Senators were leading, 7-0, in the third when Zachary blew up. After a walk with one out, he gave up a triple, double, single, walk and single, consecutively. Bucky pulled him and brought in Marberry, who got a strikeout to end the inning. Marberry stayed in the game and was the winner, pitching the last 6.1 innings and allowing just two runs. Bucky called on Marberry to close out one-run games in the bottom of the ninth and 12th in the next two games against the White Sox and A's. In the first instance, Bucky called him in with the bases loaded and one out. The Senators had scored two in the top of the ninth with two out to take a 5-4 lead. . . . In the bottom Mogridge loaded the bases with one out on a single, his own error and a walk. Marberry came in and got Kamm and Archdeacon to ground to Shirley at first.

After a travel day the Senators won in Philadelphia, 3-2, in 12 innings, with Marberry again being called in to get the final two outs with the winning runs on base. . . .

. . . It was in this stretch of three consecutive games that Marberry, with a win and two saves, defined his role for 1924. Griffith and Bucky were decades ahead of their time with the way they used Marberry to close games in 1924. Griffith, who had been both a starter and reliever in his pitching career, had experimented with relief specialists. In 1923 Washington sportswriters called Allan Russell "the King of Finishers" after he appeared in 52 games, a record 47 in relief, and finished 26 games. . . .

We will now enjoy a brief pause. Expected restart: 27 February.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677319780

[ValKehl]

George, it was good to connect with you again at Net54 get together last Saturday that Andrew & Ryan hosted.

To keep everyone glued to their monitors until George returns to continue his wonderful thread, here's a bit more re Fred "Firpo" Marberry. What amazes me is how many years during his initial 10 years with the Senators that he led either both leagues or just the A.L. in the # of games appeared in (6 years), the # of games finished (4 years), and the # of saves (5 years) - check this out: https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...arbefi01.shtml Also, SABR's bio of Marberry is an interesting read: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Firpo-Marberry/

There weren't many cards of Marberry issued during his years with the Senators. I believe his RC is this 1925 card issued in Canada (yes, I'd love to obtain a nicer example - hint! hint!). The pic below is from the 1931 Senators team issued picture pack.

[GeoPoto]

Thanks to Val for keeping the candle burning. We now finish off Marberry, baseball's first "closer", with a card or a photograph, depending on who you ask:

Player #104A: Frederick "Firpo" Marberry Part 2. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1932. 148 wins and 99 saves in 14 MLB seasons. First prominent reliever; used as a closer. Important piece of the Washington team that won back-to-back AL pennants in 1924-1925. 1924 World Series champion. His most productive season was 1929 with Washington as he posted a 19-12 record with a 3.06 ERA in 250.1 innings pitched. He ended his career with Washington in 1936.

. . . Marberry was almost exclusively a fastball pitcher. He was nicknamed "Firpo" due to his resemblance to Luis Firpo, a heavyweight boxer from Argentina who had knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring in a championship fight in September of 1923, though Dempsey recovered and won the fight. Schacht recalled how Marberry was always anxious to get into a game. "Sometimes Bucky would go to the pitcher's mound just to talk to the pitcher, unsure about whether to take him out. But he'd no sooner get to the mound, and there would be Marberry, out of the bullpen coming in."

Throwing nothing but fastballs with a high leg kick and a rock-and-fire style, Marberry never tried to finesse batters, but he did try to intimidate them. Warming up, he would stomp around the mound while kicking up dirt. Muddy Ruel played along. He caught every pitch in the center of his mitt to maximize the sound of the glove pop and staggered back as he caught each pitch.

"We had a great relief pitcher in Fred Marberry," Bucky said after the season. "I doubt there has ever been a better one. He had a great fastball and the heart of a lion. He relieved Johnson in nine games and saved seven. He relieved other pitchers 36 times and finished 31 games."

The word "saves" was not used then, but author Bill James believes Bucky's use of Marberry in 1924 was unprecedented. In his book Bill James' Guide to Baseball Managers, James wrote: "Marberry was the first pitcher aggressively used to protect leads rather than being brought in when the starter was knocked out. Thus, Marberry is in my opinion the first true reliever." (Sam Rice by Jack Smiles.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677491982

[GeoPoto]

Player #105: Wid C. Matthews. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1924-1925. 188 hits and 19 stolen bases in 3 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1923. He had a career OBP of .348. He did not appear in the World Series. As a scout had role in Rickey's decision to sign Jackie Robinson.

Mathews' SABR biography: Matthews was back (in MLB) sooner than that (a prediction made when he was sent to Milwaukee after the 1923 season); six weeks into the 1924 campaign, the call came from the Washington Senators, who were off to a disappointing 19-20 start while Matthews was toiling in Milwaukee. Senators boss Clark Griffith thought “Spark Plug” might help push them past mediocrity. Matthews found himself playing the outfield between two future Hall-of-Famers, Goose Goslin and Sam Rice, and rubbing elbows with teammate Walter Johnson. It went beautifully for a while: In his first game, Matthews went two-for-four with a triple and a run scored, and the Senators climbed to .500. Over Matthews’ first 19 games as a Senator, he hit .382 and the team surged from fourth to first place. In late July, The Sporting News reported, “Ever since [Matthews] joined the Washington Senators the team has been sailing along with the ease of a fugitive toy balloon. Members of the Senators willingly admit that ‘Spark Plug’ has had a lot to do with generating the spirit and punch which carried the team to the top of the American League race. Matthews is an enthusiastic little fellow, bubbling over with enthusiasm and fire—his confidence in himself being irrepressible.”

He was an instant fan favorite, referred to as “Matty” by his “legions of local fans.” His initial success fell off slightly, though; according to Senators historian Tom Deveaux, Matthews got “most of his hits by pulling the ball into short right field. When defenses began adjusting, his success as a hitter diminished greatly.” Griffith loaned Matthews to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League in early August 1924. Wid had played just 53 games with the Senators. The fans were not pleased: “Griffith could not have guessed the popular outcry which resulted from the move.” Matthews finished out the year in Sacramento, and missed out while his former teammates in Washington stormed to a World Series championship. “In an unusual gesture, the Nationals agreed that (World Series bonus) payments, albeit much smaller, should go to Wid Matthews, Wade Lefler” (another part-time player no longer with the team), “the team batboy, and the team grounds squad.”

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677578823

[GeoPoto]

Player #106A: G. Earl McNeely. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1924-1927. 614 hits and 69 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His 12th-inning single drove in the winning run as Washington took Game 7 of the 1924 World Series from the New York Giants. His most productive season was 1926 with Washington as he posted a .373 OBP with 84 runs scored and 18 stolen bases in 503 plate appearances. He last played with the St. Louis Browns in 1928-1931.

Deveaux explains how McNeely became a National: Every team in the top half of the league, including the Nats, had a taste of first place during the first half of the (1924) campaign. Wid Matthews, a small, peppy player in center field hit .359 during his first three weeks after joining the club on June 5, but by the end of the season, Matthews would become Griffith's chief concern. Mathews had led the entire league in outfield errors as rookie with the A's in '23, and his hitting soon began to tail off. Later renowned as a scout, Matthews hit .302 for the Senators in 1924, but he'd been getting most of his hits by pulling the ball into short right field. When defenses began adjusting, his success as a hitter diminished greatly.

Griffith wanted someone with prowess at the plate who would be more surehanded between Goose Goslin and Sam Rice. Nemo Leibold, now 32, would not fill the bill, as his defensive skills were merely average at best. Scout Joe Engel was ordered to scan as far and wide as he had to in order to find a center fielder. The field got narrowed down to two players: Billy Zitzmann, of Newark, and Earl McNeely, of Sacramento. On Engel's recommendation, Griffith went to Buffalo to see Newark's Zitzmann, who had previously appeared in the big leagues briefly, and would resurface with Cincinnati the following season. The Old Fox was unimpressed.

Scouting McNeely would mean a lot of time and expense. Deciding he couldn't waste another two weeks in the heat of a pennant race, Griffith decided to rely on Engel's word and purchased McNeely, sight unseen. He did talk Sacramento down from the original publicized asking price of $75,000 to $35,000. In order to get McNeely, Griff gave up three lesser players, including loaning Wid Matthews for the rest of the season. (Mattews' big-league career would end following ten games with the Nats in 1925.) The fiery Mattews was a fan favorite, but Clark Griffith could not have guessed the popular outcry which resulted from the move.

The Old Fox tried to back out of it, but it was too late. His hesitation had more to do, however, with McNeely's condition when he reported to the Nats than with Wid Mattews' box office appeal. When McNeely joined the team, Clark Griffith reportedly greeted him at the club's Chicago hotel with a tongue-in-cheek comment to the effect that he was finally coming face to face with the man he'd paid so much money for. Griffith extended his hand, but McNeely was unable to take it. He told Griffith that he'd hurt his shoulder the previous week and that he couldn't raise his throwing arm above his hip. Griffith hit the proverbial roof. Right away, he was on the phone to Commissioner Landis, demanding that the deal be cancelled. But the deal stood. Barely given enough time for proper introduction to his new teammates, McNeely began asserting himself, batting .394 in his first ten games. In 45 games to the end of the season, he hit .330, and he had the range and speed of a top-flight center fielder. In a tight pennant race, Earl McNeely would make a difference for Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677664993
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677664996

[ValKehl]

Earl McNeely's earliest cards are these Zeenuts:

[GeoPoto]

Player #93C: George A. Mogridge. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1921-1925. 132 wins and 21 saves in 15 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1911-1912. His most productive season was 1921 with Washington as posted a 18-14 record with a 3.00 ERA in 288 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1926-1927. In 1917 he threw the first no-hitter in New York Yankee history. It was also the first no-hitter thrown in Fenway Park.

. . . Nineteen twenty-four was a banner year for the Washington Senators. They captured their first-ever American League pennant and World Championship. Hall of Famer Walter Johnson led the team with a 23-7 record, but the 34-year-old Mogridge made a significant contribution, going 16-11 in 30 starts. On August 14 he pitched a two-hit shutout beating Joe Shaute and the Cleveland Indians, 1-0. However, he struggled somewhat during the season with shoulder problems and was not as effective down the stretch as the Senators fought to hold off the Yankees and Detroit Tigers in the pennant race. Speculation was that Mogridge was “temporarily burned out” by the stretch run and would not be used at all in the World Series against the National League Champion New York Giants.

Manager Bucky Harris, however, chose him to start Game Four, with the Senators behind in the Series two games to one. Mogridge, described by one reporter as “a lean and hungry Cassius on the mound,” responded with 7 1/3 innings of three-hit, three-run (two earned) baseball in leading the Senators to a much needed 7-3 victory.

In Game Seven, with the series on the line, Mogridge again played a key role. Fearing left-handed hitting rookie first baseman Bill Terry more than any other Giants’ hitter (Terry was batting .500 for the Series coming into the game), Harris started right-hander Curly Ogden. The plan was to get Giants manager John McGraw to start Terry, who at this point of his career was a platoon player, so that Harris could counter with the lefty Mogridge in the first inning. The plan worked. Ogden pitched to only two batters, Freddie Lindstrom, who struck out, and Frankie Frisch, who walked. When left-handed hitting Ross Youngs strode to the plate, in came Mogridge. Mogridge pitched four 2/3 effective innings and retired Terry twice on a groundball and strikeout. With Terry scheduled to face Mogridge a third time, McGraw sent up right-hander Irish Meusel to pinch hit. Harris then countered with right-handed reliever Firpo Marberry. The ploy had worked. Terry was not a factor in the game and was on the bench by the sixth inning of a game that would go on for twelve. Washington won the game and the series when they got four innings of shutout relief from Johnson and a walk-off RBI double from rookie Earl McNeely in the bottom of the twelfth.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677752999

[ValKehl]

More Mogridge:

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

More Mogridge:

Mogridge and Tom Zachary were the real pitching heroes for the Nationals in the 1924 World Series, bringing the Nats even with the Giants each time after Walter had lost his games. And in the seventh game, Mogridge and Fred Marberry held off a ferocious Giants lineup--almost to a man in the HOF--long enough for Johnson to come in with the game tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth inning, one of the most dramatic moments in baseball history and prelude to its greatest pitcher rising to his greatest challenge to win the series.

[GeoPoto]

Player #107A: Warren H. "Curly" Ogden. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1924-1926. 18 wins in 5 MLB seasons. Served as "decoy" starting pitcher in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series. He was removed after two batters -- an early example of an "opener". He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922-1924. His best season was probably 1924 with Washington as he posted a 9-5 record with a 2.58 ERA in 108 innings pitched.

Ogden's SABR biography sums up his time in Washington: Arm trouble limited Curly to 46⅓ innings in 1923. The next season started much the same. He was 0-3 with a 4.85 ERA when Mack tried to slip him through waivers and send him to the minors. Bucky Harris sent scout Joe Engel to take a look at Ogden, and, based on a positive report, Washington picked up the pitcher for the $7,500 waiver price on May 24.

Beginning on May 26, Ogden in seven starts went 6-0 with three shutouts and a 1.58 ERA. After a loss, he won two more. Four of Ogden’s 16 starts were in the second games of doubleheaders, when pitching staffs tend to be stretched thin. Ogden won all four, pitching complete games in three and eight innings in the other. In three of those twin bills, the Senators had lost the opener.

By the time Ogden won his final game, on August 26, he was 9-3 and helping himself at bat with a .302 average. He finally wore down after losing his next start, 2-1, to the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth. Had his teammates capitalized on their 11 hits and made the plays in field — one of the Yankees’ runs was unearned — Ogden’s five-hitter might have been enough.

Instead, he essentially was done for the season. Despite the excellent results, he had worked through arm pain all year. Ogden tried to start two more games, on September 7 and September 24, but didn’t retire a batter either time. “After each day’s pitching,” Shirley Povich wrote in his 1954 team history, “he would walk the floor of the hotel suite he shared with Harris and Muddy Ruel and hold his arm in pain and wonder if he could ever work again.” “He amazed me every time he won a game,” Harris recalled.
“Only Ruel and I could appreciate what Ogden went through. He pitched his heart out.”

Ogden’s last appearance in 1924 was as a pinch-hitter on September 30. So it’s doubtful he expected to be called upon in the World Series. Yet no contemporary accounts indicate that McGraw knew that Ogden wasn’t really capable of pitching for long.

Harris told Ogden the night before of his plan and got approval from owner Clark Griffith. Curly was to face just one batter, but after he struck out Lindstrom on three pitches, Harris motioned for him to stay in. When Ogden walked Frisch, Harris put his plan into effect and brought in Mogridge.

The game turned out to be one of the most memorable in World Series history, with bad hops aiding Washington twice and the well-loved Big Train holding down the Giants in relief until his teammates pushed across a run in the 12th to win it all.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677837922
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677837928

[ValKehl]

Interestingly, Warren "Curly" Ogden had an older brother, John "Jack" Ogden, also a pitcher, who had a 5-year MLB career, mostly with the Browns and Cincy.

This 1924 Diaz card of Warren Ogden shows him with the Athletics, from whom he was acquired via waivers in May 1924, as George mentioned above.

[GeoPoto]

Great cards, Val! Thank you. I've always thought Peck's HC card was in the running for scariest portrait.

Player #95B: Roger T. Peckinpaugh. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1922-1926. 1,876 hits and 205 stolen bases in 17 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His best season at the plate was probably 1921 as he helped the New York Yankees reach the World Series and posted a .380 OBP with 128 runs scored and 72 RBIs in 694 plate appearances. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1910 and finished his playing career with the Chicago White Sox in 1927. He managed the New York Yankees in 1914 and the Cleveland Indians in 1928-1933 and 1941.

Peck's SABR biography gets us to the 1924 season: Roger Peckinpaugh was one of the finest defensive shortstops and on-field leaders of the Deadball Era. Like Honus Wagner, the 5’10”, 165-lb. “Peck” was rangy and bowlegged, with a big barrel chest, broad shoulders, large hands, and the best throwing arm of his generation. From 1916 to 1924, Peckinpaugh led American League shortstops in assists and double plays five times each. As Shirley Povich later reflected, “the spectacle of Peckinpaugh, slinging himself after ground balls, throwing from out of position and nailing his man by half a step was an American League commonplace.” The even-tempered Peckinpaugh was equally admired for his leadership, becoming the youngest manager in baseball history when he briefly took the reins of the New York Yankees in 1914. Described as the “calmest man in baseball,” Peckinpaugh’s steadying influence later helped the Washington Senators to their only world championship, and won him the 1925 Most Valuable Player Award, making him the first shortstop in baseball history to receive the honor.

In his first World Series in 1921, Peckinpaugh played poorly in the Yankees’ eight game loss to the New York Giants, as he batted just .194 and his crucial error in the final game allowed the Giants to win 1-0 on an unearned run. In the off-season Babe Ruth complained about the managerial skills of Miller Huggins (not for the first or last time) and said the Yanks would be better off if Peck managed them. Probably to avoid more conflict, New York traded Peck and several teammates to the Red Sox for a package that included shortstop Everett Scott and pitcher Joe Bush. However, three weeks later, Senators owner Clark Griffith, sensing that his team was one shortstop away from contention, managed to engineer a three corner trade in which the Red Sox received Joe Dugan and Frank O’Rourke, Connie Mack‘s Athletics received three players and $50,000 cash, and the Senators received Peckinpaugh.

The veteran shortstop teamed with the young second baseman Bucky Harris to form one of the best double play combinations in the American League. Everything fell into place by the 1924 season when owner Griffith appointed Harris the manager. Harris considered Peck his assistant manager, and together they led the Senators to back-to-back pennants in 1924 and 1925. Peck was the hero of the 1924 World Series, .417 and slugging .583, including a game-winning, walk-off double in Game Two. However, while running to second base (unnecessarily) on that hit, Peckinpaugh strained a muscle in his left thigh, which sidelined him for most of Game Three and all of Games Four and Five. But in what Shirley Povich called “the gamest exhibition I ever saw on a baseball field,” Peckinpaugh took the field for Game Six with his leg heavily bandaged and went 2-for-2 with a walk before re-aggravating the injury making a brilliant, game-saving defensive play in the ninth inning. Although Peckinpaugh had to sit out Game Seven, he had already done more than his share to bring the Senators their first world championship.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677918359

[ValKehl]

These depict "Peck" in his earlier years with the Yankees:

[brianp-beme]

And heck, speaking of Peck, here is a little W514 of him as a Yank, straight out of Brockelman's current auction.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Player #74I: 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 reports that the spring of 1924 found Rice in the middle of a battle between baseball and golf: After the tension he had dealt with playing for Bush in 1923, Rice seemed eager for an incident-free winter when he signed his contract without any degree of haggling for the following season.

But yet again, Bush found himself in the middle of a mini-controversy, and this time he wasn't alone.

Golf had become a very popular recreational activity for Americans in the 1920s, particularly among ballplayers. Rice was certainly among those smitten by the game, a love affair that would long outlast his baseball career. And he was actually a very skilled player, perhaps the top golfer among all major leaguers, as a matter of fact.

By this time eschewing Illinois/Indiana and their rough winters, never mind the constant reminders of his buried past, Rice had spent most of the winter of 1923 in Florida, taking advantage of the warm southern weather to work on his golf game during his down time. Reportedly, Rice was a good enough player to shoot even par.

"Rice, with a little luck, could enter the open golf championship and hold his own," the Post reported. . . .

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678011542

[ValKehl]

Thanks again to Doug G. (hi Doug) for gifting me this 1924 M114 Baseball Magazine poster of Sam Rice and to George T. (hi George) for trading me this nicer Witmor Candy card than the one I had. I'd really, really like to find Rice's Witmor Candy card with the vertical back,

[GeoPoto]

Great items from our Sam Rice master collector. Thanks for posting Val.

Player #74I: 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.

. . . A few baseball old-schoolers, led by Griffith and John McGraw, were opposed to players participating in the hobby (playing golf) during the baseball season. McGraw didn't even want his players to speak of golf once the baseball season began. . . .

. . . Following the lead of Griffith and McGraw, Yankees manager Miller Huggins instituted a golf ban of his own a few weeks before the beginning of spring training (in 1924). Detroit manager Ty Cobb actually went so far as to confiscate the clubs of his golf-playing Tigers. The reasoning given by the developing unified front was that golf, particularly when played on the morning before a baseball game, was an energy drain on players. . . .

. . . Tension between the two sports wasn't limited to baseball clubs' fears that star players would be affected in the field by too much time on the course. In fact, it's very probable that the stances of Griffith, Huggins and others was probably, at least in part, a sort of pre-emptive strike against a game that many in baseball feared was beginning to steal a piece of the national pastime's popularity.

For years, the arrival of baseball in the southern and western states in late winter and early spring had been a financial boon for small towns in those regions. But lately, promoters for professional golf tournaments had been approaching many of the same locales to pitch the idea of events in the out-of-the-way towns. They realized that hosting a baseball team in spring training gave locals entertainment for a few weeks, as well as the economic boost of hosting a franchise and its employees, along with their money, for that time. But while exhibition baseball might earn a town a mention in the newspapers of the team's home city, a high-profile professional golf tournament would likely earn publicity in almost every major newspaper in the country. Golf and baseball had been competing for the sports fan's summer dollar for a while. Now they were becoming combatants for the February and March discretionary income of customers, as well. Without a doubt, baseball saw golf as a potential threat. Players like Rice, pawns in this little ongoing power play, were paying the price. There was no way that men like Griffith, Huggins and McGraw wanted their star players populating America's golf courses all summer long, cast in the role of extremely effective endorsers for a sport eating into baseball's popularity as a spectator sport.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678097531

[ValKehl]

It appears that Sam Rice wasn't one to show much of a smile for photographers, not even for Mr. Conlon.

[GeoPoto]

Player #74I: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 3. 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.

As early as 1918, Philadelphia manager Connie Mack, in a conversation with golfer Jim Barnes, expressed concern that golf was threatening baseball's future popularity. What was developing, it appeared, was a battle for the hearts and mind of America's youth. What particularly concerned baseball was the lure of caddying. While summer days on baseball's sandlots provided boys with hours of entertainment, exercise and some memories to bore their own children with in years to come, working as a golf course caddy put real money in their pockets. Two of the nation's top golfers, Walter Hagan and Gene Sarazen, had been introduced to the game through caddying, and now were among the nation's most successful and well-paid sportsmen. . . .

. . . A break in the thaw between the two sports came on March 3, when Cobb agreed to except his pitchers from his own no-golf rule. Cobb said he thought that golf adversely affected "the batting eye," but since most pitchers were poor hitters to begin with, he didn't see the harm. The ban remained in place for his position players, however.

By late July, Griffith, who actually did enjoy playing the game himself, apparently had relaxed his team's golf ban. Goslin and Rice were involved in a foursome at Washington Golf and Country Club, with onlookers marveling at Goslin's unorthodox left-handed swing -- more like a baseball swing -- while at the same time admiring Rice's less awe-inspiring yet more steady game. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

Still not smiling, 35 years later.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678177509
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678177512

[ValKehl]

I'd sure like to obtain a nicer example of this Sam Rice card:

[GeoPoto]

Player #108A: Allan E. "Rubberarm" Russell. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1925. 70 wins and 42 saves in 11 MLB seasons. He also pitched for the New York Yankees (1915-1919) and the Boston Red Sox (1919-1922). For his MLB career, in 345 appearances, he posted a 3.52 earned run average with 603 strikeouts. Russell played on the 1924 World Series champion Senators, making one appearance in the World Series, giving up one run over three innings of work. He was a spitball pitcher who was allowed to throw the pitch after it was banned following the 1920 season. He was one of 17 pitchers exempt from the rule change. His brother Lefty Russell also played Major League Baseball.

Russell's SABR biography puts his career in historical perspective: One of the tenets of the Puritan work ethic was that a man finished what he started. He did not quit when the going got tough. Not all baseball players in the 19th and early 20th centuries were Puritans, by any means, but most of them held the conviction that if a man started a game, he should finish it. Terms such as long relief, middle relief, set-up man, and closer were not in their vocabularies. But times changed. During the first two decades of the 20th century the number of complete games declined drastically, from nearly 90 percent of all starts to less than 60 percent, but the era of the relief specialist had not yet arrived. When the starting pitcher ran into trouble and had to be replaced, the usual response was to bring in a fellow starter to put out the fire.

Clark Griffith, manager of the Washington Nationals, was one of the first to try a new strategy—developing a full-time fireman. Although Griffith had completed more than 90 percent of his starts when he was a moundsman, the Old Fox recognized that the times called for a new approach. He converted his spitballer, Allan Russell, into a relief specialist. The experiment he started with Russell soon came to fruition with Fred Marberry. Baseball was changed forever. . . .

. . . On February 10, 1923, the Sox traded Russell and catcher Muddy Ruel to the Washington Nationals for catcher Val Picinich, outfielder Howard Shanks, and outfield prospect Ed Goebel. Many observers thought Boston got the better of the deal because of Goebel’s potential. The New York Times was particularly enthusiastic: “Harry Frazee swung another nice deal yesterday for his new manager, Frank Chance, and now it begins to look as if the task of rebuilding the Red Sox is on the rise. … This latest deal serves notice on the baseball world that Frazee and Chance mean business. …. It is hard to see where Frazee got the worst of this latest dicker.” The article went on to say that Russell had been of little use to the Red Sox and was nearly at the end of his string. The Times wrote: “Needing pitching badly, Clark Griffith, the Washington president, decided he could develop the right hander into a regular slabster, but Russell has shown little interest in his major league career.”

As it turned out, the highly touted Goebel never played a game for the Red Sox, while Ruel and Russell helped Washington win two American League pennants.

Although Russell had been used in relief occasionally throughout his career, the Nats made him an almost full-time relief specialist, one of the first in the history of baseball. His ability to go to the mound day after day earned him the nickname Rubberarm. During the 1923 season Russell appeared in 52 games, all but five of them in relief. He led the league in saves and relief wins, and had the circuit’s third best earned-run average.

In 1924 Russell ranked second in saves in the league with eight. In addition, he won five games in relief. (We'll return to this point when we next introduce Rubberarm.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678270294

[ValKehl]

As George mentioned in the above post, Allan (you will also see his first name spelled "Alan" and "Allen") Russell led MLB in saves for 1923. His total was 9 saves! I assume some of today's closers have recorded 9 saves in one month. Oh, BTW, Russell also led MLB in saves for 1919 with 5! Russell's total saves for his entire career is 42. I find it strange that Willard's Chocolate would picture Russell in a batting pose - his career batting average is .157!

[GeoPoto]

Player #109: Ernest R. "Mule" Shirley. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1924-1925. 21 hits in 2 MLB seasons. World Series champion in 1924.

Mule Shirley had exactly 100 at-bats in regular season play in the major leagues. He came up at the right time, playing as a rookie for the winners of the 1924 World Series, the 1924 Washington Senators managed by Bucky Harris.

In Game 1 of the 1924 World Series, he came in as a pinch-hitter in the 12th inning for Walter Johnson, reached on an error, and scored a run. In the third game, he came in in the 8th inning as a pinch-hitter for Joe Martina and hit a single. He also came in as a pinch-runner in the last game of the Series.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678356418

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

Player #109: Ernest R. "Mule" Shirley. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1924-1925. 21 hits in 2 MLB seasons. World Series champion in 1924.

Mule Shirley had exactly 100 at-bats in regular season play in the major leagues. He came up at the right time, playing as a rookie for the winners of the 1924 World Series, the 1924 Washington Senators managed by Bucky Harris.

In Game 1 of the 1924 World Series, he came in as a pinch-hitter in the 12th inning for Walter Johnson, reached on an error, and scored a run. In the third game, he came in in the 8th inning as a pinch-hitter for Joe Martina and hit a single. He also came in as a pinch-runner in the last game of the Series.

BTW, "Mule" Shirley's 8th inning single in Game 3 of the 1924 WS knocked in a run, which would have been a crucial run if the Senators hadn't given up 3 unearned runs earlier in the game, a 6 - 4 loss to the NY Giants. So, with a 1924 (and career) WS batting average of .500 (1 hit in 2 ABs), Shirley had an achievement to boast about to his grandkids!

I believe this 1925 card is the only baseball card of Shirley that was issued during his brief career:

[GeoPoto]

Great card Val -- I wonder how many cards use the position description "utility man"?

Player #110: Thomas L. "Tommy" Taylor. Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1924. 19 hits in 77 plate appearances during the 1924 season, his only year in MLB. 1924 World Series champion.

Taylor played for the Washington Senators in 1924, primarily as a third baseman. He played in 26 games in his one-year career. He had a .260 batting average, with 19 hits in 73 at-bats. He batted and threw right-handed.

Taylor was a member of the 1924 World Series championship team.

We will now enjoy a brief pause. Expected date for next post: 13 March.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678442713

[ValKehl]

Clark Griffith acquired Tommy Taylor in June 1924 via a trade with Memphis, and in December 1924, Taylor was traded back to Memphis. He appeared in 3 games of the 1924 WS, and struck out in both of his at bats. Taylor did accumulate almost 1,700 hits over his 16-year minor league career, which concluded in 1935 with Greenville of the East Dixie League at age 42. As far as I have been able to determine, no cards of Taylor were issued during his playing career.

[GeoPoto]

First in War, first in Peace, and now first in the American League, the Senators were honored with a victory parade when they got back to the capital -- open cars, police escort up Pennsylvania Avenue . . . the whole nine yards. The end of the line was the White House, where the ballclub was welcomed by President Calvin Coolidge, who promised to be on hand for the first game of the World Series at Griffith Stadium between the Senators and the New York Giants. The truth is that President Coolidge had absolutely no affinity with baseball -- he found the game a bore. Mrs. Coolidge, however, was a great fan of the game and just loved the Senators.

Three days later, on October 4, 1924, "Silent Cal" and his wife became the first President and First Lady to attend a Series opener. Secretary of State Charles Hughes, as well as the Secretary of War and the Speaker of the House were also in place in the presidential box. The United States Army Band entertained during the pregame ceremonies, and a military guard paid homage to the colors. Political and military bigwigs of all stripes had shown up for the occasion. To top things off, Walter Johnson and Roger Peckinpaugh were awarded shiny new automobiles.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678698488

[ValKehl]

George, I wonder how Bucky Harris felt about not also being awarded a shiny new automobile. Not only did the first-year player-manager lead the Senators to their first-ever pennant, but he and Peckinpaugh comprised one of the best, if not the best, Keystone Combos in the American League.

Has anyone ever seen another one of these?

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

George, I wonder how Bucky Harris felt about not also being awarded a shiny new automobile. Not only did the first-year player-manager lead the Senators to their first-ever pennant, but he and Peckinpaugh comprised one of the best, if not the best, Keystone Combos in the American League.

Has anyone ever seen another one of these?

That is so cool.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by icollectDCsports

That is so cool.

Thanks! Here's how Carry's Ice Cream was delivered back in the day:

[GeoPoto]

I think Bucky was thrilled just to be the boy wonder. Johnson and Peckinpaugh were established national stars. The Carry's Ice Cream piece is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. Thanks for the show.

A week before the World series, syndicated columnist and future American icon Will Rogers, who ranched about 40 miles from the Johnson family spread in Coffeyville, Kansas, wrote that if Walter Johnson had played for John McGraw's New York Giants all those years, he would have had to be incompetent to have lost even a single game. Johnson, Rogers declared, could be sure that he caried more good wishes than any man, let alone athlete, who'd ever entered any competition in the entire history of America. After a "diligent search" of 150 years, Rogers wrote, Washington had finally found an honest man.

Nonetheless, since Walter Johnson had waited this long for his first World Series, he now had a platform for exposure that the Series could not have provided previously. The world was changing at a pace like never before. The automobile was now affordable to most Americans -- the Ford Model T sold for $260 brand new. The first coast-to-coast airplane flight had taken place in 1923. By now, the radio receiver was commonplace in the average home. This World Series would be broadcast over the airwaves of WRC in Washington, which had opened as the city's first radio station that summer. The previous year the Series had been broadcast in its entirety for the first time by the team of Graham McNamee, who'd given up a professional singing career to become a radio announcer, and Grantland Rice. By the spring of 1925, all the Nats' road games would be broadcast on station WRC.

Two days before the Series began, Walter Johnson and Bucky Harris both spoke into a radio microphone for the first time. The gratitude they expressed to their fans across the country, and their promise of a World Championship victory, were broadcast across the nation over the NBC network. Western Union had strung 75,000 miles of cable to scoreboards in cities across the U.S., and wire services were available in approximately 200 other locations.

Nats fans wait in line for 1924 World Series tickets:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678786064

[GeoPoto]

The day would be perfect if America's darling, Walter Johnson, could get his team off on the right foot with a victory over the Giants in the series opener. We get an idea of the type of opponent the Nats were up against when we consider that six of their members are today enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Those players are Bill Terry, George Kelly, Frank Frisch, Travis Jackson, Ross Youngs, and Hack Wilson. (Note: I don't know why Deveaux omits Freddie Lindstrom from this list. He was inducted in 1976 by the Veteran's Committee, but I believe Deveaux's book was issued in 2001.) Both Terry and Wilson were rookies, and Terry had seen limited action during the season due to Kelly's incumbency at the first-base position.

Ross Youngs had just won the National League batting title with a .356 average, the eighth straight year he'd batted over .300. George Kelly was tops in RBIs in both major leagues in 1924 with 136. Long George, who was 6'4", had the agility of a cat around the first base bag, and he could play the outfield, and even second base in a pinch. Team captain Frank Frisch was a recognized superstar, one of the acknowledged all-time best at second base. He'd hit .328 for the season and had tied for the league lead in runs with another of the great second basemen, Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had hit .424, a mark never matched during the entire century.

Among the other regulars were the 18-year-old lead-off hitter, third baseman Fred Lindstrom, who would hit .311 for his career, and Emil "Irish" Meusel, Yankee Bob Meusel's older brother, who would post a .310 career mark. Needless to say, the Giants, who took the pennant by a mere 1 1/2 games over the Dodgers, had far and away the best offense in the National League in 1924. They were participating in their fourth straight World Series -- they had won two of the three previous Series, all against the Yankees, but their most recent memory was of a six-game defeat in 1923. They were led by the wiliest and toughest of baseball men, the antagonistic John McGraw.

Washington catcher Muddy Ruel would say years later that the Giants had seemed like a confident bunch on the other side of the diamond during the 1924 World Series. Apart from their offensive fire power, they had the reputation of being better defensively than any club in the American League. With John McGraw glowering at them all the while, it would have been easy for the Nats to have felt intimidated. But, as Ruel put it, those Washington Senators were a tough bunch too, and they wouldn't go down without a hell of a fight.

New York had no Walter Johnson or Firpo Marberry, and in Goose Goslin the Nats had a man with incredible power, a man who put as much into his swings as Babe Ruth. The proof was that when he missed, the Goose would do a pirouette which was pretty much just like the Babe's. But it was hard to deny that the Giants had more good hitters, and had more depth in starting pitching, and with only three days' rest following the end of the regular season and a World Series game scheduled every single day, these factors could turn out to be keys in determining the outcome. There was also the nagging fact that the Giants were taking part in their fourth consecutive World Series. On the Washington side, only Roger Peckinpaugh and Nemo Leibold had ever played in the postseason. Nevertheless, oddsmakers were calling it pretty much a toss-up, and the Nats were favored to take the first game, what with Bucky Harris having promised to start Walter Johnson.

1924 New York Giants wait to board train to Washington for Game 1:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678874183