(adapted from my SABR Games Project story) The 2007 Washington Nationals were plodding along a dozen games under .500 when the team arrived in Minnesota late on June 7 for a weekend series. The Twins were playing .500 ball, clearly a disappointment a year after they had won the division behind Most Valuable Player Justin … Continue reading 2007: Levale Speigner (who?) beats two-time Cy Young winner →

The film "Little Big League" from 1994, directed by Andrew Scheinman, has a definite Washington connection. The premise of the movie is that a 12-year-old, played by Luke Edwards,  inherits the Minnesota Twins from his long-time owner/grandfather (modeled on Calvin Griffith and played by Jason Robards). The grandfather tells of how as a youngster he saw … Continue reading “Little Big League” and the Senators →

The franchise that became known as the expansion Senators had an 11-year run in the Nation’s Capital from 1961 through 1971 before moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to become the Texas Rangers. The expansion team, created as soon as the original Senators departed for Minnesota, essentially had three sets of owners. The last acted … Continue reading Ownership of the expansion Senators →

Catcher Earl "Oil" Smith played on five World Series teams in his 12-year career, spanning the 1920s. You could argue that he cost the Senators a second world championship in 1925, when Washington became the first team to blow a three-games-to-one lead that year in losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Smith, renowned as a bench … Continue reading “Oil” Smith and the 1925 World Series →

A 26-year-old rookie who came up in August, George Earl McNeely drove in the winning run in the 12th inning of the seventh game in the 1924 World Series, Washington’s only championship. Before his playing days ended, McNeely, known by his middle name, managed  – and owned  – a Pacific Coast League team. McNeely was … Continue reading Earl McNeely, World Series hero →

Toby Harrah, the last active player who had worn a Senators' uniform, wasn't really ready to be a regular major league shortstop in 1971, but with Ed Brinkman traded to Detroit, the job became his. Not surprisingly, he was overmatched, but then so was the entire team after Bob Short was done making dreadful deals … Continue reading Toby Harrah, the last man standing →

On May 23, 1960, the Yankees released 39-year-old Elmer Valo, a 20-year major league veteran who had been carving a niche as pinch-hitter and part-time outfielder in the late 1950s. He was signed the next day by the Washington Senators, who immediately anointed the left-hand hitter as the team’s go-to bat off the bench. Valo … Continue reading Elmer Valo, Senators record-setting pinch-hitter →