Table of Content

  • ‘Baseball Bill’ helped stop Bob Short from coming back to D.C.

    “Baseball Bill” Holdforth was a longtime bartender and voracious beer drinker who also was a rabid Washington Senators’ fan. He was an usher at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium before the team moved to Texas. In 1978, Holdforth earned himself a place in Washington baseball history through his determination to ensure that Robert Short paid a… Read more

  • April 18, 1960: Pascual strikes out 15, an opening-day record that still stands

    Even as work was about to begin on a new stadium, the fate of the Washington Senators in D.C. remained uncertain as the 1960 season began. Owner Calvin Griffith had tried and then abandoned an earlier effort to move the team, yet he had just made a major trade with the White Sox that would… Read more

  • Is Walter Johnson the all-time greatest pitcher?

    April 14 is the anniversary of two of the best games Washington’s Walter Johnson pitched in his magnificent career. On that date in 1926, at age 39, he went 15 innings to beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 1-0. He allowed six hits and let no runner advance beyond first base. Johnson himself considered this his masterpiece,… Read more

  • Presidential openers and D.C.

    During his long tenure in Washington, Clark Griffith cultivated relationships with every U.S. President from William Howard Taft to Dwight Eisenhower. The Nats’ owner helped keep baseball going during World War I and again in World War II. See my SABR team ownership history (or on this site) of the original Senators for more about… Read more

  • Aug. 7, 1915: Sam Rice debuts on the mound as the Big Train starts in right

    Washington Manager Clark Griffith acquired Edger Rice, known as “Sam,” as payment for a $300 debt owed by the owner of Rice’s Virginia State League team. It’s hard to imagine a better bargain for a future Hall of Famer. Rice joined Griffith’s squad in Washington on July 30, 1915, in the midst of a long… Read more

  • July 19, 1915: Nats credited with a record 8 steals in an inning

    (updated April 20, 2025) The record for the most stolen bases in an inning was set by the Senators against Cleveland on July 19, 1915, but the total hardly stands up to scrutiny. In the top of the first inning of the game at League Park, the official scorer credited the Nats with eight steals,… Read more