In one of the most prominent acknowledgments of the history of D.C. baseball and perhaps the first in-stadium recognition of the franchise's history in Montreal, the Nationals have mounted the names of Washington and Montreal baseball greats to the 100-level facade of Nationals Park behind home plate.

The display will make its debut at Tuesday's Nationals-Marlins game, before which the team will honor Expos legend Andre Dawson for his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Eighteen names ring the facade, with room for about eight more.

From the Expos, Gary Carter and Andre Dawson will have the first positions on the first base side at section 126.

The Homestead Grays are then represented left to right by Cool Papa Bell, Ray Brown, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cumberland Posey, and Jud Wilson.

The Washington Senators are then represented by Joe Cronin, Rick Ferrell, Goose Goslin, Clark Griffith, Bucky Harris, Walter Johnson, Harmon Killebrew, Heinie Manush, Sam Rice, and Early Wynn.

The Nationals noted that it consulted with the National Baseball Hall of Fame in selecting the players to be honored in the park.

"The first criteria was that the player had to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame," the team said in a statement. "The second criteria was that the player had to be associated with the Montreal Expos, Homestead Grays, Washington Senators or Washington Nationals. Lastly, the player had to have had significant years with those teams."
 

      

March 15, 1945

College Park, MD - Bert Shepard, a one legged veteran of World War II, tries out as a pitcher for the Washington Senators. The Senators owner Clark Griffith was so impressed with Shepard that he hired him as the team’s pitching coach. During the 1945 spring training Shepard with his artificial leg got to pitch in three games. For the rest training camp his main job was to pitch batting practice.

Bert Shepard was a World War II fighter pilot who lost his right leg on May 21, 1944 when his plane was shot down while he was flying a mission over Germany. This heroic man survived his plane crash and a gunshot wound to his chin. Afterward Shepard was taken to a German hospital where they amputated most of his right leg. During the next few months he was in POW camp in Germany.

After the war in February 1945 Shepard was sent to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. where he was fitted for an artificial leg. As amazing as it is one month later this heroic American was trying out for a major league baseball team.

What is more amazing was that on August 4, 1945 the Senators’ manager Ossie Bluege called on Bert Shepard to come in and pitch a few innings of a game that the Senators were trailing by quite a few runs. The left hander ended up pitching five and a third innings and only gave up one run and three base hits. That will be the first and last game for war hero as the Senators released him on September 30, 1945.

      

Charlottesville, VA, March 8, 1915

Walter Johnson arrived a day later than expected to the Washington Senators training camp. Instead of being upset with Johnson the Senators’ owners were delighted to see him. With Johnson’s arrival to camp it left no doubt that he was going to pitch for the Senators this season. That wasn’t the case three months earlier when it looked like Johnson was going to play ball for the Chicago Whales of the Federal Baseball League. Over the offseason the Chicago Whales ownership group offers Johnson almost double the $12,000 that the Senators paid him during the 1914 season.

By the early part of December, 1914 it was basically a done deal that Walter was going to play for Chicago as he signed a three year contract that was reported to be for $60,000 plus a $6,000 bonus. On December 19, Clark Griffith with contact in hand visited Walter Johnson in Kansas to let him know that legally he was still property of the Washington Senators. After a long meeting with Griffith and some legal advisers Johnson announced that he agreed with the Senators owners, that there was a clause in his 1914 contract that gave the team owners an option to sign Johnson for the 1915 season.

To make sure Johnson wasn’t going anywhere soon Griffith signed the team’s pitching ace to a new three year contract. The Federal League and the Chicago Whales filed a lawsuit against Johnson claiming that he signed a legal contract to play for Chicago. Walter returned the $6,000 bonus and left the rest of the legal battles to his lawyers.

      

October 30, 1911

After meeting with the Washington Senators board of directors, Clark Griffith is named manager of the Washington Senators baseball club. It is also announced that Clark Griffith became the largest stockholder of the club when he purchased 10% of the club’s stock.

The Senators’ new skipper will have his hands full as he takes over a franchise that has never had a winning season in its eleven year history in the American League. The franchise had a lowly .377 winning percentage in its first eleven years and never finished better than sixth place in the junior circuit.

      

Manny Acta was the 25th person to manage a major league baseball team in the Nation's Capital since 1901. Manny Acta's record during his two and half seasons in Washington was 158-252 with a winning percentage of .387. Even with his dismal record in Washington Manny was a very popular manager and a lot of Nat fans are going to miss him.

Manny is not the first popular Washington manager to be fired. The most popular person to ever to be fired in Washington was Walter "The Big Train" Johnson. To the fans dismay Clark Griffith fired the living legend after Washington posted a record of 93-61 and finished in third place in the American League in 1932. Clark Griffith didn't think Johnson had what it would take as a manager to lead the Senators to the top of the American League standings. To this day Walter Johnson has the highest winning percentage ".567" of all Washington managers.

Mickey Vernon who was a very popular ball player for the Senators from 1939 to 1955 was the first manager of the 1961 expansion Senators. During Vernon's first season as skipper of the Washington ball club the team surprised everyone as the team won 28 of their first 56 games. It wasn't long after that reality set in as the Senators finished the season with a record of 61-100 and finished tied for 9th in the 10 team American League. It never did get any better for Vernon as the Senators finished the '62 season in last place with a 60-101 record. The Senators fired Vernon during the '63 season after the team lost 26 of their first 40 games.

As it is not easy for fans to see popular managers get fired sometimes it is for the best. After Walter Johnson was let go after the '32 season Joe Cronin led the Senators to the '33 American League Pennant.

Below you will see how Manny Acta ranked amongst the other managers in Washington baseball history.

      

When the Washington Nationals immortalized D.C. baseball greats Walter "Big Train" Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Frank "Hondo" Howard by putting statues of them in the centerfield plaza at Nationals Park, they left out Sam Rice, the greatest hitter to ever play major league baseball in Washington D.C.

Hall of Famer, Edgar Charles "Sam" Rice made his debut with the Washington Senators on August 7, 1915. At the beginning Rice was a relief pitcher for the Senators. During the 1916 season the Senators manager Clark Griffith decided that Rice would add more to the team in right field.

The move to right field allowed Rice to take advantage of his great speed and tremendous throwing arm. Plus he was able to demonstrate his great batting skills at the plate. Same Rice took full advantage of the move to the outfield. From 1916 to 1933, Sam Rice became a superstar both at the plate and in the field. During that time Rice amassed some unbelievable statistics. He is the Washington Senators/Nationals all time leader in the following batting categories.

Games Played in D.C. - 2,307

At Bats - 8,934

Hits - 2,889

Doubles - 479

Triples - 183

Total Bases - 3,833

Runs Scored - 1,466

Runs Batted In - 1,045

After the 1933 season the Senators did not sign Rice to a contract, so he left D.C. and went to Cleveland where he played for Walter Johnson and the Cleveland Indians. After the 1934 season Sam Rice retired from baseball. In 1963, Sam Rice the greatest hitter to ever play for Washington was voted into the Nationals Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committe. Below are a list of some Sam Rice's career highlights.

World Series Champion - 1924

American League Pennant Winner - 1924, 1925, and 1933

American League Stolen Base Champion - 1920

Led the American League in Base Hits - 1924 and 1926

Led the American League in Triples - 1923

Led the American League in Singles - 1919, 1925, 1926, and 1930

      

March 15, 1945

College Park, MD - Bert Shepard, a one legged veteran of World War II, tries out as a pitcher for the Washington Senators. The Senators owner Clark Griffith was so impressed with Shepard that he hired him as the team’s pitching coach. During the 1945 spring training Shepard with his artificial leg got to pitch in three games. For the rest training camp his main job was to pitch batting practice.

Bert Shepard was a World War II fighter pilot who lost his right leg on May 21, 1944 when his plane was shot down while he was flying a mission over Germany. This heroic man survived his plane crash and a gunshot wound to his chin. Afterward Shepard was taken to a German hospital where they amputated most of his right leg. During the next few months he was in POW camp in Germany.

After the war in February 1945 Shepard was sent to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. where he was fitted for an artificial leg. As amazing as it is one month later this heroic American was trying out for a major league baseball team.

What is more amazing was that on August 4, 1945 Senators’ manager Ossie Bluege called on Bert Shepard to come in and pitch a few innings of a game that the Senators were trailing by quite a few runs. The left hander ended up pitching five and a third innings and only gave up one run and three base hits. That will be the first and last game for war hero as the Senators released him on September 30, 1945.

Bert Shepard who inspired thousands of injured war veterans died last year on June 16, 2008 at the age of 87.

      

Charlottesville, VA, March 8, 1915

Walter Johnson arrived a day later than he agreed to arrive at the Washington Senators training camp. Instead of being upset with Johnson the Senators’ owners were delighted to see him. With Johnson’s arrival to camp it left no doubt that he was going to pitch for the Senators this season. That wasn’t the case three months earlier when it looked like Johnson was going to play ball for the Chicago Whales of the Federal Baseball League. Over the offseason the Chicago Whales ownership group offers Johnson almost double the $12,000 that the Senators paid him during the 1914 season.

By the early part of December, 1914 it was basically a done deal that Walter was going to play for Chicago as he signed a three year contract that was reported to be for $60,000 plus a $6,000 bonus. On December 19, Clark Griffith with contact in hand visited Walter Johnson in Kansas to let him know that legally he was still property of the Washington Senators. After a long meeting with Griffith and some legal advisers Johnson announced that he agreed with the Senators owners, that there was a clause in his 1914 contract that gave the team owners an option to sign Johnson for the 1915 season.

To make sure Johnson wasn’t going anywhere soon Griffith signed the team’s pitching ace to a new three year contract. The Federal League and the Chicago Whales filed a lawsuit against Johnson claiming that he signed a legal contract to play for Chicago. Walter returned the $6,000 bonus and left the rest of the legal battles to his lawyers.