August 28, 1924 - The Washington Senators win the first game of a four game series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium by the score of 11 to 6. The Senators were led by Goose Goslin who hit for the cycle and went 4 for 5 and knocked in 6 runs during the game.

The victory put the Senators (72-54) a half game ahead of the Yankees (70-53) in the chase of the American League pennant. With a little more than month left in the season each game is critical, especially the games against the Yankees. 

The first game of the series did not lack excitement as the Yankees and Senators combined for 17 runs and 31 hits. The great Babe Ruth improved his batting average to a league leading .392 and hit his league leading 41st and 42nd home runs and knocked in his league leading 105th. 106th and 107th runs, as he powered the Yankees to a 6 to 3 lead going into the eighth inning. Goose Goslin and Sam Rice who went 5 for 6 at the plate led the pesky Senators to an eight run top of the eighth inning and gave the Senators an 11 to 6 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Senators star relief pitcher Firpo Marberry gives up one hit and strike outs three as he registers his 10th save of the season. The Senators' pitcher Allen Russell gets the win as he improves his record to 4-1 and the Yankees' pitcher Milt Gaston (5-3) gets the loss.

Quick Facts - Goose Goslin

~Goose Goslin becomes the first player to hit for the cycle at Yankee Stadium.

~Goose Goslin will prevent Babe Ruth from winning the Triple Crown as Goslin leads the league in RBI's with 129.

~Goose Goslin hit more home runs (32) in Yankee Stadium than any other visiting hitters. *Goslin only hit 38 career home runs at Griffith Stadium. The great Babe Ruth only hit 34 home runs at Griffith Stadium.

Quick Facts - 1924 Washington Senators

~The Senators will go on to win this series three games to one and lead the Yankees by one and half games.

~The Senators will never give up the lead for the rest of the '24 season as they beat the Yankees by two games to win the '24 American League Pennant.

~The Senators will win the '24 World Series by beating the New York Giants 4 games to 3.

      

August 26, 1933 - In Cleveland, the third place Indians beat the first place Washington Senators by the score of 5 to 4. During the game, Cleveland Indians' pitcher Wes Farrell won his 10th game of the season and stymied the Senators' star left-fielder Heinie Manush, who saw his 33-game hit streak come to an end when he went 0 for 5.

At the time the Manush was only the tenth player in Major League Baseball history to have a 33-game hitting streak or better. Earlier in the '33 season Manush had a 26-game hit streak. The 1933 season was a banner season for both the Washington Senators and Heinie Manush. The Senators will win the American League Pennant before losing to the New York Giants in the World Series. At the end of the season Manush led the American League in hits (221) and triples (17), plus his batting average .336 was second best in the American League.

*Before I wrote this story I believed Heinie Manush's 33-game hitting streak was the longest ever by a player who played for Washington. As I was doing a little back ground check for this story I noticed in 1896-1897 a player named Gene DeMontreville had a 36-game hitting streak. A little about Gene DeMontreville, he was born on March 10, 1873 at St. Paul, Minnesota. Gene made his Major League debut on August 20, 1894 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. From 1895 to 1897, DeMontreville played for the National League's Washington Senators. He also played for the American League Washington Senators in 1903.

  Washington's All Time Hitting Streak Leaders

Player - # of Games - Year

Gene DeMontreville - 36 - 1896/1897

Heinie Manush - 33 - 1933

Sam Rice - 31 - 1924

Ryan Zimmerman - 30 - 2009

Sam Rice - 29 - 1920

Sam Rice - 28 - 1930

Heinie Manush - 26 - 1933

Goose Goslin - 25 - 1928

      

Last night at Nationals Park the Nationals honored Hall of Fame players with ties to Washington and Montreal with the new Hall of Fame Ring of Honor.  The Nats honored the Montreal Expos' Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Andre Dawson. The Homestead Grays are represented by Cool Papa Bell, Ray Brown, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cumberland Posey, and Jud Wilson. The Washington Nationals-Senators were represented by Joe Cronin, Rick Ferrell, Goose Goslin, Clark Griffith, Bucky Harris, Walter Johnson, Harmon Killebrew, Heinie Manush, Sam Rice, and Early Wynn.

As a fan of the history of baseball I believe it is good to honor players from the past. I do have an issue with some of the players that will not be honored with these players at Nationals Park. Those players are Joe Judge, Mickey Vernon, Clyde Milan and Ossie Bluege.

I am not sure how you can honor players when they only played a handfull games in D.C. I have mixed feelings when it comes to the Homestead Grays. Yes, the Grays played some of their home games in Washington but they were never the Washington Grays. Then you have Andre Dawson and Gary Carter of the Montreal Expos who never played for a Washington baseball team. Then you have 7 players that played over 1,500 games for the Washington Senators and 6 of them are not honored at all.

I have a couple of things I would like to be changed. It is the way the players were selected to be honored. The first criteria in the selection process, the player had to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The second criteria, the player had to be associated with the Montreal Expos, Homestead Grays, Washington Senators or Washington Nationals. The third criteria, the player had to have significant years with those teams. I would add a new criteria that would allow a player who has played with Washington for at least 75% of their career total games, with a minimum of 1,500 games played in Washington to be able to be added to the Ring of Fame.

Here is an example why I believe the number of games played in Washington would be a very good criteria in the selection process. As good as Hall of Famers, Joe Cronin, Rick Ferrell, Harmon Killebrew and Heinie Manush were none of them played at least half of their games for Washington. Cronin only played 44% of his 2,124 career games played were with Washington. Heinie Manush only played 39% of his 2,008 career games with Washington; Rick Ferrell played only 30% of his 1,884 career games with Washington. As great of a player Harmon Killebrew was he only played 16% of his 2,435 career games in Washington Senators. Heinie Manush is the only one of the four players that went into the Hall of Fame as the Washington Senators as his primary team.

The four players that I would like to be honored with the players listed above played majority of their games in the Nation's Capital. Joe Judge played 96% of his 2,171 career games with Washington, Clyde Milan played 100% of his 1,982 career games with Washington, Ossie Bluege played 100% of his 1,867 career games in Washington, Mickey Vernon played 75% of his 2,409 career games with Washington. When you take a look at the All Time D.C. Hitting Records you will see the names of Judge, Milan, Bluege, and Vernon a lot more than you will see Cronin, Farrell, Killebrew and Manush.

There is not enough time in the day for me to explain why Frank "Hondo" Howard's name belongs to be next to Sam Rice and Josh Gibson and the rest of those great ball players in Nationals Park. How can you leave the living legend off the facade.

      

As most of you know the big news in Washington D.C. this summer has been the debut of the Nats' pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg. A little bit more than century earlier the big news in the Nation's Capital was about the debut of the original pitching phenom Walter Johnson. As Strasburg has been most impressive in his first nine games in the major's it will interesting to see if he is able to dominate his opponents over the next 10 or more seasons. Will baseball fans remember Strasburg's debut 100 years from now? That I don't know, what I do know is tomorrow is the 103rd anniversary of Washington's original pitching phenom's debut and we are still remembering the event here at Nationals Daily News.

Marking Walter Johnson's D.C. Debut

It was 103 years ago -- August 2, 1907 -- that Senators pitcher Walter Johnson made his big-league debut in D.C., kicking off a thirty-year baseball career and leaving a lasting imprint on the game.

The Washington Senators, with a record of 28-59-2 ties, started the rookie Johnson against the Detroit Tigers, then 29 games ahead of the Senators in the standings. The 19-year-old Johnson quickly learned that the veteran Tiger players bench didn't take too kindly to rookies from the country -- they made mooing sounds as Johnson walked out to the mound.

The powerful Tigers were only able to manage five hits off the rookie, but it was enough to beat the Senators, 3-2. The young pitcher might not have won the game but he sure did leave some lasting impressions with Ty Cobb, who managed to log a bunt-single. Said Cobb:

"On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw in the ball field. He was only a rookie, and we licked our lips as we warmed up for the first game of a doubleheader in Washington. Evidently, manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of the Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us.... He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves and with a side arm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance... One of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing and we hollered at Cantillon: 'Get the pitchfork ready, Joe-your hayseed's on his way back to the barn.' ...The first time I faced him I watched him take that easy windup-and then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him...every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park."

Dominating the Game

Walter Johnson was highly respected and idolized by all types of fans, from United States presidents to the kids playing stickball in the ally ways of the Nation's Capital. Washington fans had a true superstar on the team and they sure needed him. Before the Big Train arrived in Washington, the Senators had never posted a winning record, though it would be another five years after his debut before they notched their first -- a second-place, 91-61 finish.

That season, Johnson accounted for 33 of the Senators' 91 wins, while only accounting for 12 of their 61 losses. The Senators saw a large increase in attendance that year, with 350,663 fans watching the Senators -- up from 244,884 the year before.

In 1913, the Senators finished in second place again as the Big Train had the most productive season of his career. Johnson dominated the majors like no man that pitched before him or any man that pitched after him. That season, he led the Major League in five categories: Complete games (29), earned run average (1.14), shutouts (11), strikeouts (243), winning percentage (.837), and wins (36).

The Big Train won 20 games in each of the next five seasons, but the Senators will not finish any better than third place during the span.

The 20's

In the early 1920's, the Big Train will have to deal with some mediocre seasons. During the 1920 season The Big Train had a chronic cold and complained of having a sore arm, going 8-10. From 1920 to 1923, the Big Train won only 57 of his next 109 decisions. With the Senators' ace struggling to win 50 percent of his decisions, the Senators didn't finish above fourth place.

The Senators were in good hitting shape entering the 1924 season, but the team needed help on the pitching staff. They needed the Big Train to dominate the league like he had done in the past. During the first 52 games of the season, the Senators won 26 games and looked like they were going to stay in the middle of standings once again. But during the dog days of summer in June, the Senators started to heat up. The Senators won 10 consecutive games as they moved up in the standings.

Going into the last two months of the season, the Senators were playing better than they ever had before. They won 36 of their final 55 games and ended the season two games ahead of the New York Yankees. The Big Train showed the league that he could still be a dominating pitcher, winning 23 of his 30 decisions. Johnson didn't do it alone, as the Senators had three players that had a batting average greater than .320 -- Goose Goslin (.344), Sam Rice (.334), and Joe Judge (.324).

The Washington Senators played in their first World Series that year against the New York Giants, who were playing in their eighth World Series in the past 14 years. Johnson lost the two games that he started.

In Game One, the Giants notched 14 hits and six walks off of Johnson and went on to beat the Senators, 4-3, in front of 35,000 people at Griffith Stadium. His next start came in Game Five at the Polo Grounds in front of a crowd of 49,000 spectators. Johnson struggled, giving up another 13 hits and taking a 6-2 loss.

The Giants led the Series, 3-2, as the teams headed back to Washington. Behind the great pitching of Tom Zachary, the Senators beat the Giants, 2-1, to even the series.

Game Seven was a back and forth contest as the Giants took a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning, but the Senators tied it up in the eighth inning. In the ninth inning, Senators Manager Bucky Harris puts the game in the hands of Walter Johnson.

The Big Train gave up three hits and three walks but no runs, as the game remained tied going into the bottom of the 12th inning. The Giants committed two devastating errors that allowed the Senators to score the winning run and the Big Train to record his only victory of the 1924 World Series.

In 1925, the Senators went 96-55 and enjoyed their best regular season ever, winning the American League pennant by 8.5 games. The '25 Senators were both a great hitting team and a great pitching team. Sam Rice led the team with a .350 batting average and Goose Goslin batted .334 and led the American League with 20 triples. Stan Coveleski has a breakout year at 20-5. Johnson won 20 games for the last time in his career, going 20-7. With the other pitchers doing so well, it took the pressure off of The Big Train so he could show off his hitting skills -- he hit .433 with 97 at bats.

The Senators would face the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1925 World Series. Johnson had 10 strikeouts during a 4-1 win in Game One. The Senators and Pirates split games two and three, and Johnson shut out Pittsburgh, 4-0, in Game Four.

The series was tied going into Game Seven. The Big Train couldn't hold to an early 4-0 lead and the Pirates went on to beat the Senators and Johnson, 9-7, to win the World Series.

Johnson was 15-16 in 1926, as the Senators finished in 4th place. The 1927 season will be his last, finishing with a record of just 5-6.

To honor Johnson's career, the Senators dedicated August 2, 1927 as "Walter Johnson Day" at Griffith Stadium, bestowing on him a variety of gifts before the game to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his debut as in Washington.

Beyond His Playing Days

The Big Train will go on to manage the Senators from 1929 to 1932, winning more than 90 games in 1930, 1931 and 1932, but unable to win the American League pennant. Johnson was not signed to manage the team in 1933.

The Cleveland Indians hired Johnson instead, and from 1933 to 1935 Walter Johnson and the Indians couldn't finish better than 3rd place.

His contract not renewed, Johnson retired and returned to his farm in Germantown, Maryland, where he was later informed that he was chosen as one of the original members to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His class included Christopher "Big Six" Mathewson, George "The Babe" Ruth, Honus "The Flying Dutchman" Wagner, and Ty "The Georgia Peach" Cobb.

In 1938, Johnson was elected as County Commissioner for Montgomery County Maryland, but his 1940 campaign for Congress fell just short.

After being admitted to Georgetown University Hospital in the fall of 1946 with severe headaches, Johnson was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He succumbed on December 10, 1946, and was buried at the Rockville Union Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland. 

      

Here is one of my most popular stories I posted last summer.

It was always a special time in D.C. when Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees came to town to play the Washington Senators. The fans in the Nation's Capital came out in droves to Griffith Stadium in hopes to witness one of Ruth's mammoth home runs. One of those mammoth home runs took place on May 7, 1921 when Ruth knocked a Walter Johnson fastball over the tall center field wall.

During his baseball career Ruth hit 34 home runs at Griffith Stadium. On more than one occasion Ruth would send the ball out of Griffith Stadium into the cluster of trees that were located on the other side of the right field wall.

It was not uncommon for Ruth to knock the cover off of the ball at Griffith Stadium, what was uncommon was the day Griffith Stadium knocked out the great Babe Ruth. On July 5, 1924 the Washington Senators first baseman Joe Judge hit a fly ball to right field, Ruth ran as hard as he could after the ball that was slicing foul, before Ruth got to the ball he got knocked out when he ran into the concrete wall. There he was the Great Bambino knocked out cold for five minutes. The Babe recovers after Yankees' trainer Doc Woods pours some cold water on his face. The next day in the top of 8th inning Ruth gets his revenge when he hits his 22nd home run of the season off of Senators' pitcher Joe Martina.

On September 29, 1934 Babe Ruth hits his last home run in Griffith Stadium when in the top of the 7th inning he hit a three run home run off of the Senators' Syd Cohen. The last memorable moment for the Sultan of Swat at Griffith Stadium came on September 30, 1934. For Ruth this day was one of his saddest days of his storied career as it is the last game Ruth will ever play as a member of the Yankees. Before the game the Senators honored Babe Ruth with a ceremony where they gave him gifts and a chance to speak to the crowd at Griffith Stadium. The Babe's last at bat as a Yankee was a fly out to the center field.

      

After the first 90 games this season Adam Dunn is having a career year in many offensive categories. Dunn seems to be getting it done by changing his approach when he is at bat. For most of his career Dunn has been a very selective hitter at the plate. If the pitch isn't in the strike zone Dunn won't swing. With that approach Dunn has been walked over 100 times in seven of his last eight seasons.

This season after having a very dismal April, Dunn has seen his numbers improve almost daily. It seems like he is approaching his at bats differently in the last 60 games or so. It looks like he is swinging at more pitches now. Currently Adam Dunn's batting average is at .291 that is more than 40 points higher than his career average. 

He is on pace to have career highs in base hits, doubles, triples, batting average, total bases plus slugging. The only number that is low is his walks. Going into tonight's game with the Florida Marlins he only has 41 walks. At this pace he will end the season with 72 to 77 walks. It looks like he will end up having 30 to 35 less walks this season than his average season but he will have 25 to 30 more base hits this season compared to his average season.

      

July 17, 2010

Last night in the top of the fourth inning the Florida Marlin's left-fielder Chris Coghlan made a diving catch that deprived the Nats' Ryan Zimmerman of his 300th career extra base hit. It is just a matter of time the 25-year-old Zimmerman will become the 16th player in Washington baseball history and the 11th player in Expos-Nats franchise history to reach the 300th extra base hit plateau.

Currently Zimmerman who is in playing in his fifth full season with the Nats has hit 180 doubles, 12 triples and 107 home runs. In three of his four seasons Zimmerman hit 70 or more extra base hits. Over the years Zimmerman has been a very consistent extra base hitter the only thing that has changed over the past year and a half is the type of extra base hits.

From 2005 to 2008, Zimmerman hit a total 124 doubles and 58 home runs, since the beginning of the 2009 season Zimmerman has hit 56 doubles and 49 home runs.

      

James Barton "Mickey" Vernon who was born on April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA, made his Major League and Washington Senator debut on July 8, 1939. In his first game Vernon went 1 for 5 at the plate and played first base as the Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 6-3. During the rest of the '39 season Vernon played in 76 games and ended the season with a .257 batting average. During the 1940 season Vernon only appeared in five games for the Senators and spent the rest of the season playing for Jersey City of the International League.

From 1941 to 1943 Vernon became the Senators starting first baseman. During Vernon's first two full seasons with the Senators he became a good hitter and a very good fielder. On October 16, 1943 Vernon was inducted into the United States Navy. During the next two years Vernon spent most of his time in the South Pacific. On October 4, 1945 Vernon was discharged from the service.  

During spring training in 1946 Vernon beat out Joe Kuhel for the starting first baseman position. The '46 season turned into Vernon's dream season as he led the American League with a .353 batting average. The next two seasons Vernon saw his batting average drop to .267 in '47 and .242 in '48. On December 14, 1948 the Senators trade Mickey Vernon and Early Wynn to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Haynes, Ed Klieman and Eddie Robinson. 

After one and a half seasons the Indians trade Vernon back to Washington for a 23-year old pitcher named Dick Weik. After three solid seasons with the Senators Vernon found his hitting stroke again during the '53 season as he edged out Al Rosen of the Indians .337 to .336 to win his second American League Hitting Title.

The Gentleman First Baseman will have two more very productive seasons in '54 and '55 with the Senators before being part of a nine player trade between Washington and Boston on November 8, 1955. The 38-year old Vernon hit for a .310 batting average in 119 games for the Red Sox in 1956. In 1957 Vernon's numbers start to decline as he played in only 102 games and ended the season with a .241 batting average. The Red Sox let Vernon go after the '57 season.  

Mickey Vernon was picked up by the Cleveland Indians for the '58 season where he played in 119 games and produced a .293 batting average. In 1959 the Indians traded Vernon to Milwaukee where Vernon was used sparingly. The Braves released Vernon after the '59 season. On September 1, 1960 Vernon signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates and played in what ended up being his last 9 games of his career as the Pirates released the 42-year old Vernon on September 30, 1960.

In total Mickey was selected to the all-star team seven times and still holds the major league record for the most double plays at first base (2,044). It was also known that Mickey Vernon had some very influential fans. The most influential of those fans was the 34th President of the United States of America, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

After Mickey’s playing days were over he came back to the Nation’s Capital in 1961 to manage the new Washington Senators franchise. In two plus years as the Senators manager Vernon could only win 135 of 362 games.

      

July 7, 1937

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first President to attend an All-Star game as he is invited to throw out the first ball at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. The President and the rest of the sellout crowd of 31,391 at the 5th Annual All-Star game had to deal with a very hot and muggy afternoon. The game time temperature was reported to be 90 degrees.

The D.C. heat did not seem to bother the Yankees' first baseman Lou Gehrig who drove in four runs with a home run and a double to lead the American League to an 8-3 victory over the National League.

Dizzy Dean, the star Cardinal pitcher is not only the losing pitcher of the game he also gets his toe fractured when Earl Averill hits a ball that nails Dean in the foot. After that injury Dizzy will end up changing his pitching delivery. The change in his delivery will lead to a very bad arm injury.

The Washington Senators were represented on the American League squad by 2nd Baseman - Buddy Myer, Catcher - Rick Ferrell, and Pitcher - Wes Ferrell. What I find interesting is that the Yankees' skipper Joe McCarthy who was managing the American League did not allow any of the three Senators to make it into the game. With the American League leading the National League squad 8 to 3 after six innings you would think one of the Senator players could have made an appearance. Click here to view the box score of the 5th Annual All Star Game.

FYI: I hope you enjoy the film clip of FDR throwing out the first pitch.

      

Last February, I posted a Q&A session that I had with the son "George Case III" of George Case Jr., a star player with Washington Senators' from 1937 to 1945 and again in his final season in 1947. George Case Jr. made his debut with the Washington Senators on September 8, 1937. During his playing days with Washington he led the Major Leagues a record five consecutive seasons “1939-1943” in stolen bases. During his career Case led the league in stolen bases six times. George Case was also a four time all-star outfielder during his playing days in Washington.

During the interview I asked George about a baseball film his father made, Around The League 1939-46. Below is his reply.

My pleasure as I believe it is rather unique! My dad was always a “home movie buff” – during his playing career he took 8mm COLOR “home movies” and would show his movies to our family during the off season. Several years before my dad became quite ill, I mentioned to him that he should record just who the players were and what was going on in the 8mm COLOR “home movies” – well, he took it upon himself to transfer the silent 8mm COLOR footage to a silent VHS tape and then speak into a tape recorder to narrate the various scenes. After my dad’s death in 1989, I decided to produce a VHS tape by combining the audio and video into a 40 minute production titled “Around The League, 1939-1946” – the time frame for the FULL COLOR baseball scenes – originally filmed and later narrated by my father. I have now converted the VHS tape to a DVD format and am presently “re-mastering” the DVD with the help of my son George and grandson, Nathan.

I’ll be happy to let you and your readers know when the “re-mastering” is completed as the DVD is available for sale to all baseball fans and is a “behind the scenes look at major league baseball through the eyes of a big leaguer.”

A few days ago George Case III was kind enough to let me know the film with Hall of Famer's Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Bill Dickey, Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove has been re-mastered and is ready for purchase. I believe all fans of baseball history will enjoy this wonderful film. If you are interested in purchasing this film please visit them at - www.timelessbaseball.com

Watch the video below: