If anyone on the expansion Senators teams is remembered today by casual fans, surely that player is Frank Howard, the massive slugger brought to Washington in what undoubtedly was the best trade longtime GM George Selkirk ever made. The Senators had to give up the team’s best pitcher, Claude Osteen, who helped the Dodgers win … Continue reading Hondo: the expansion Senators’ enduring star →

Walter Johnson's 1913 season ranks with one of the best ever by a pitcher. The Big Train went 36-7, leading both leagues in victories, complete games (29), innings (346), strikeouts (243), shutouts (11) and earned run average (1.14). That last figure stood as the lowest ever complied by a pitcher who threw 300 or more … Continue reading The ‘joke’ game that cost The Big Train a record →

Dean Stone had a good enough rookie season with Washington in 1954 that he made the All-Star team, albeit as an injury replacement. Bob Porterfield, a 20-game winner the year before, and Nats’ first baseman Mickey Vernon were the Nats’ representatives before Stone was added after Ferris Fain of the White Sox was hurt. “He’s … Continue reading Dean Stone’s weird All-Star victory →

Even as the war in Europe was nearing its end, major league rosters in 1945 were stocked with players too old for the draft – or the big leagues, under normal circumstances – or otherwise medical unfit.  The St. Louis Browns of 1944 had reached the World Series for the first time with 18 players … Continue reading The 1945 A.L. pennant race →

On Sunday morning, Nov. 9, 1998, in suburban Chantilly, Va., Tom Holster and members of the Washington Baseball Historical Society sponsored a reunion of the 1969 Senators team. The star of the event was the ’69 team’s rookie manager, Ted Williams. His health weakened by several strokes, the 80-year-old Williams still was able to regale … Continue reading The reunion of the 1969 Senators →

As soon as it became clear in September 1971 that the Senators would move to Texas, a committee appointed by D.C. Mayor Walter Washington was dispatched to San Diego to talk to the majority owner of the expansion Padres, C. Arnholt Smith. The Padres were about the finish last in the National League's Western Division … Continue reading When D.C. nearly got the Padres →

Prior to the sudden improvement under Ted Williams in 1969, the expansion Washington Senators rarely reached the .500 mark beyond the early days of the season. Even the ’69 team struggled to win more games than it lost until a September surge. On July 30, the ’69 Senators’ record stood at 53-54 before finishing at … Continue reading The expansion Nats’ struggles to reach .500 →