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 →

The rules for the annual MLB All-Star games require that every team, no matter how bad, must have a representative. The expansion Nats were no worse than many bad teams over the years, but Washington's lone "All-Star" twice was given short shrift. Dick Donovan was an obvious and deserving pick in 1961, but with a … Continue reading Two All-Star game slights →

As the 1940 season was ending, three Senators' pitchers combined on Sept. 27 to surrender the most runs allowed in an American League game that year. The potent Red Sox lineup of 1940 hadn’t been enough to overcome weak pitching. In between four second-place finishes (1938-39 and 1941-42), the Sox were mired in fifth place … Continue reading 1940: Red Sox rout Senators, 24-4, at Fenway Park →

Ellis Clary played for the Washington Senators and St. Louis Browns for nearly four seasons during World War II. He had an at-bat during the Browns’ only World Series appearance in 1944. Once his playing career ended, he spent six years as a coach with the Senators in the 1950s and more than three decades … Continue reading Ellis Clary: Wartime Nat; longtime Griffith coach, scout →

Left-hander Don Rudolph stood out for two reasons in the early 1960s: He was married to a highly paid exotic dancer, and he worked faster on the mound than any of his contemporaries. Neither of those achievements, however, played a part in the performance of his career the evening of Wednesday, May 8, 1963, at … Continue reading 1963: Rudolph retires 25 in a row; Lock’s slam wins it →

When the National League dropped four cities, including Washington, after the 1899 season, an opening was left for the upstart American League. What remained of the Kansas City team from the Western League was moved to Washington, D.C., where the Senators became an original member of the A.L in 1901. The team stumbled through its … Continue reading A history of the ownership of the original Senators →

On September 28, 1952, at Fenway Park, journeyman reliever Tom Ferrick pitched four scoreless innings and was the winner in a 5-4 Senators’ victory. The season-ending win let Washington finish at 78-76, the last time the original Senators had a winning year. It also would be Ferrick’s last time on a major league mound. At … Continue reading Tom Ferrick kept the original Nats over .500 a last time →