Hall of Fame outfielder Henry Emmett Manush, ungraciously known as “Heinie,” based on his German heritage, played for Washington for nearly six seasons in the 1930s, hitting .328 with a cumulative bWAR of 21.6.
In 1933, Washington’s last pennant-winning season, his league-leading 221 hits and 17 triples produced 95 RBIs and a .336 average. He finished third in the MVP voting that season, behind teammate and manager Joe Cronin and the winner, Athletics slugger Jimmie Foxx.
Manush set a record that still stands: 30 hits over 10 games, accomplished from June 10 to June 23, 1933. Yet another Manush claim to fame involves his ejection from a World Series game.
Manush was the first player since 1910 to be tossed during a Series game. That first one was first-baseman Frank Chance of the Cubs, who was also the manager, booted for disputing a call against his team a bit too vociferously.
The ejection of Manush in Game 4 of the 1933 World Series came at a significant point in a game Washington lost in 11 innings on the way to the Giants’ winning the series in five games.
In the bottom of the sixth with Buddy Myer on second and one out, Manush hit a sharp grounder past first baseman Bill Terry. An excellent backhand play by second baseman Hughie Critz kept the ball on the infield. Critz threw to pitcher Carl Hubbell, who hustled to cover first. The ball and Hubbell appeared to reach the bag after Manush had crossed it, but umpire Charlie Moran called Manush out.
Sure he was safe, an incensed Manush ran up to Moran and slapped him on the chest, dislodging his bow tie. The umpire immediately ejected him, but Manush refused to leave the field for several minutes as Cronin and Myers joined the argument. Not wanting to lose Manush to a suspension, Cronin kept Manush from trying to punch Moran. The other umpires eventually persuaded Manush to head to the showers.
Cronin, who followed Manush in the batting order, struck out, leaving Myer, the tying run, at third. The Senators scored against Hubbell to tie it, 1-1, in the seventh, but the Giants scored in the 11th and hung on to win, 2-1.
Just one player on the field in a Series game has been ejected by an umpire in the 92 years since Manush’s banishment: Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series, who was tossed by plate umpire Don Denkinger. Famously in Game 6, Denkinger had blown a ninth-inning call at first base that allowed the Royals to come back and win that game and the series.
Andujar, a 20-game winner in the regular season, came in relief with the Cards already down 9-0, most likely to give Denkinger a piece of his mind. He faced two batters, yielding a hit and a walk.
After the ball-four call, Andujar charged up to Denkinger and bumped him. He was immediately ejected and later was fined $500 and given a 10-game suspension at the beginning of the 1986 season.
All the others before and since who have been ejected from World Series games were either managers or bench jockeys who weren’t playing or likely to be.
Weirdly, the Cardinals Joe Medwick was removed from a World Series game in 1934 in part for his own safety by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis when Detroit fans wouldn’t stop throwing things at him from the stands. That occurred after a dispute, but no punches, between Medwick and Tigers’ third baseman Marvin Owen when Medwick tripled and slid hard into third.
What happened before the top of the next inning came when nobody was arguing. It was after the umpires asked Landis, who was at the game, what should be done to avoid a forfeit. Landis had warned umpires before the series began to be cautious about ejecting players as a result of Manush being tossed the year before. St. Louis won the 1934 game and the championship.
Nationals’ then-manager Dave Martinez remains the last man in a World Series game to be ejected. He was arguing a bad runner interference call in Game 7 of the 2019 Series, which Washington won anyway.
Manush and fellow Hall-of-Famer Leon “Goose” Goslin, teammates on the 1933 team, had been traded straight-up for each other early in the 1930 season. Washington owner Clark Griffith had re-acquired Goslin from the Browns for the ’33 season, just one coincidence that connects Manush and Goslin.
In 1928, Manush lost what would have been his second batting title by one point to Goslin, .379 to .378. Washington and St. Louis played each other on the final day of the season. Goslin explained in a story recounted in the iconic Lawrence Ritter book The Glory of Their Times how he was fearful he’d lose the title in his final at-bat.
Manush was in left field with Goslin a fraction of a point ahead in the ninth inning. Manager Bucky Harris asked Goslin if he wanted to come out for a pinch-hitter. Goslin was aware that if he did, he’d win the title, but teammate Joe Judge warned him that “they’ll call you yellow.”
Goslin went up to bat, but quickly took two strikes. At that point he thought if he got ejected, his at-bat wouldn’t count, so he began swearing at and even pushed plate umpire Bill Guthrie.
Guthrie wasn’t having any of it. “You’re not going to get thrown out of this ball game no matter what you do….You’re going to bat and you better be in there swinging, too. No base on balls, you hear me?” Guthrie told him, as Goslin recalled.
Goslin got back up, swung at the next pitch and doubled to right-center to win the title. For the rest of their careers, Manush and Goslin placed pre-season bets on which one would have the higher average.
Manush and Goslin died three days apart in May 1971 during what turned out to be Washington’s final season in the American League.
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