November 21, 2017: 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 a 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 … Continue reading Elmer Valo, Senators’ record-setting pinch-hitter
Author: Andrew C. Sharp
I'm a retired daily newspaper journalist and life-long baseball fan. I blog about D.C. baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com
Fact and fiction about Mantle’s ‘565-foot’ homer
November 17, 2017: Mickey Mantle’s mammoth home run off Senators' lefty Chuck Stobbs at Griffith Stadium on April 17, 1953, is one of the most famous tape-measure blasts of all time. In fact, most sources credit this homer with creating the “tape-measure’’ phrase, although obviously no tape measure was used to calculate the distance. (Mantle … Continue reading Fact and fiction about Mantle’s ‘565-foot’ homer
Nick Johnson, Sabermetric star
November 7, 2017 (updated): First baseman Nick Johnson, who came to Washington with the Expos in 2005, was an on-base machine in his four seasons with the Nats, his on-base percentage was .418, the Nationals' record until Juan Soto's departure for San Diego at .427. (Bryce Harper's, in comparison, stood at .388 when he left … Continue reading Nick Johnson, Sabermetric star
Mickey Mantle and D.C.
Nov. 6, 2017: On April 17, 1953, Mickey Mantle hit a home run off Washington lefty Chuck Stobbs that cleared the left-field stands at Griffith Stadium. The blast gave rise to the term "tape-measure homer," largely because Mantle and Yankees publicist Red Patterson later posed for a photo with a prop designed to look like … Continue reading Mickey Mantle and D.C.
Buck Freeman, the first true power hitter
October 31, 2017: When Babe Ruth set a major league record with 29 home runs in 1919, his total topped what was recognized by many as the previous mark: the 25 home runs hit by baseball’s first real power hitter: Buck Freeman of the Washington Senators. Freeman hit his 25 round-trippers playing for the 11th-place … Continue reading Buck Freeman, the first true power hitter
George Selkirk molded the expansion Nats
October 29, 2017 (updated May 2020): George Selkirk became the expansion Senators second general manager on Nov. 21, 1962. He succeeded Ed Doherty, who had been fired at the end of the 1962 season by then Senators majority owner Elwood R. “Pete” Quesada. As a player, Selkirk, nicknamed “Twinkletoes” because of his running style, had … Continue reading George Selkirk molded the expansion Nats
Books About Washington Baseball
October 25, 2017 (last updated December 2024): These are books I'd recommend about the history of baseball in Washington: The Washington Senators by Morris A. Bealle (1947, Columbia Publishing Company), long out of print, subtitled “An 87-year History of the World’s Oldest Baseball Club and Most Incurable Fandom.’’ The Washington Senators by Shirley Povich (1954, … Continue reading Books About Washington Baseball
Ninth and Tenth Place
October 25, 2017: In the 1960s, teams had a dubious opportunity that hadn’t been afforded since the 19th century: a chance to finish 9th or 10th. From 1961 to ’68 in A.L. and ’62 to ’68 in the N.L., the leagues had 10 teams each with no divisions, which produced 30 chances to finish where … Continue reading Ninth and Tenth Place
‘Boom Boom’ Beck and Camilo Pascual
October 24, 2017: Walter “Boom Boom” Beck was the Senators’ pitching coach from 1957 through 1959. He was hired in the fall of 1956 by Chuck Dressen, the Nats’ manager at the time and, like Beck, a native of Decatur, Ill. When Cookie Lavagetto replaced Dressen early in 1957, Boom Boom stayed on. Beck helped … Continue reading ‘Boom Boom’ Beck and Camilo Pascual
Griffith Stadium: graveyard for would-be home runs
May 15, 2016: Most of those familiar with baseball history know that cavernous Griffith Stadium, home of the original Washington American League team from its opening until 1960 and to the expansion Senators in 1961, was a difficult place to hit a ball out of the park. That was especially true before Calvin Griffith moved … Continue reading Griffith Stadium: graveyard for would-be home runs
Bennie Daniels’ places in baseball history
January 10, 2017: The 1961 Washington Senators were assembled in a hurry after Calvin Griffith took his established team to the Twin Cities. Two days after the expansion draft in December 1960, the new Senators acquired a pitcher named Bennie Daniels along with two other players from Pittsburgh in exchange for the aging Bobby Shantz. … Continue reading Bennie Daniels’ places in baseball history
Jim King, the last original expansion Nat
April 19, 2017: Jim King started in left field for the San Francisco Giants in the first Major League game ever played in California. His best seasons, however, came after he was selected by the expansion Washington Senators, with whom he remained for six and half years, longer than any of the other 27 players … Continue reading Jim King, the last original expansion Nat
Dick Phillips kept at it and finally got there
April 8, 2017: Between games of a double-header in Chicago on May 5, 1963, on a day the White Sox honored Minnie Minoso for his outstanding seasons there, a 31-year-old rookie with the Washington Senators was feted by a marching band and presented with a new car and other gifts. The player was Richard Eugene … Continue reading Dick Phillips kept at it and finally got there
‘Curly’ Ogden played a key role for 1924 champs
August 2, 2017: Warren Harvey “Curly” Ogden became part of World Series lore in 1924 when Washington manager Bucky Harris started him in game seven as a ploy to fool Giants manager John McGraw. The idea was to get McGraw to play rookie first baseman Bill Terry and other left-hand batters against the right-handed Ogden, … Continue reading ‘Curly’ Ogden played a key role for 1924 champs
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