The 1961 Washington Senators of the American League were born of expansion after the first version of Nationals moved to Minnesota and became the Twins following the 1960 season. This second Senators team played in Washington through 1971 before moving to Arlington, Texas in 1972. Washington would go 34 years before major league baseball returned to the city when the Montreal Expos of the National League moved to D.C. in 2005. Thus, 2011 is the first season that Washington has a baseball team playing in a year ending in one in 40 years.
The 2011 Nationals are just as bad as the 1961 and 1971 teams. How bad? Let's take a look along with the historical events surrounding each team.
The 1961 Senators were the product of expansion after the previous team was moved to Minnesota by then owner Calvin Griffith. He moved the team because the city would not build him a new ballpark to replace his own Griffith Stadium. Instead, the city decided to fund a stadium to house both the Senators and the National Football League's Washington Redskins. Griffith had been considering moving since 1955. When he did not get his stadium and knew he was going to lose the Redskins, who were paying rent to play in Griffith Stadium, it was enough to make up his mind that it was time to go.
Fearing that they would lose their anti-trust exemption because of political backlash from politicians who were baseball fans and liked going to games, Major League baseball decided to expand by replacing the team in Washington with a new one. Thus, the 1961 Senators were born. Washington had long had a history of being one of the worst, if not the worst, franchises in all of baseball. The 1961 Senators picked up right where the previous team left off.
The 1961 Washington Senators, managed by Mickey Vernon, finished ninth in a 10-team American League with a record of 61-100. Their total attendance was 597,287, also ninth out of ten.
On offense, the team boasted one player with a .300 batting average, right fielder Gene Woodling at .313, and no one with 20 home runs or 100 runs batted in. First baseman Dale Long, who batted .280, led the team in home runs with 18 while driving in 49 runs. Catcher Gene Green led the team in RBI with 62 while finishing second in home runs with 17 and batting .249. Woodling finished second in RBI with 57. Future Howard University baseball manager Chuck Hinton played the outfield and batted .260 with six home runs and 34 RBI.
How bad was this offensive production? New York Yankee outfielders Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle hit more home runs individually with 61 and 54 respectively than Woodling, Long, Green and Hinton did combined (51).
As for pitching, the Senators boasted Bennie Daniels with 12 wins, 11 losses and a 3.44 earned run average. Dick Donovan went 10-10 with a 2.40 ERA. Ed Hobaugh posted a 7-9 record with a 4.42 ERA. And Joe McClain went 8-18 with a 3.86 ERA. A man by the name of Claude Osteen, who went on to fame as a pitcher and coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers finished 1-1.
On June 9, 1961 the Senators stood in 5th place with 26 wins and 28 losses, nine and a half games out of first place.
Ten years later, the love affair between Washington baseball and its fans was severly tested as the Senators played out the 1971 season knowing that it would be their last. Owner Bob Short had gotten approval prior to the campaign to move the team to Arlington,Texas. Since the Major Leagues had expanded again in 1969, there were no options for bringing another team to the District.
So fans watched a lame duck team managed by the legendary Ted Williams go 63-96 and finish fifth in the American League's Eastern Division. Attendance at Robert F. Kennedy stadium totaled 655,156 which ranked 11th in the 12-team AL.
The 1971 Senators boasted an offense that was a little better than the '61 team. Outfielder Frank Howard was the overall team leader with a batting average of .279, 26 home runs and 83 RBI. First baseman Don Mincher led the team in batting average at .291 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI. Shortstop Toby Harrah batted .230 with 2 home runs and 22 RBI. And Del Unser totaled, .255, 9 and 41. Other recognizable names on the '71 Senators were outfielders Lenny Randle and Elliot Maddox, third baseman Jeff Burroughs and outfielder Curt Flood. Flood was in his first, and only, year with the Senators after fighting baseball's reserve clause and losing in court. He only played in 13 games batting .200 with no home runs and 2 RBI.
The pitching staff wasn't much better than the '61 outfit. In fact it was pretty much the same. Dick Bosman went 12-16 with a 3.73 ERA. Pete Broberg posted a 5-9 record with a 3.47 ERA. Bill Gogolewski went 6-5 with a 2.75 ERA. And 1968 Cy Young Award winner with the Detroit Tigers Denny McClain went 10-22 with a 4.28 ERA.
On June 9, 1971, the Senators stood in 6th place (last) in the AL East with a record of 19-35, 15 games out of first place.
Fast forward to 2011. The Nationals are in their sixth season in Washington after moving from Montreal after the 2004 season. A move which came out of necessity as the Expos had no owner and nowhere else to go. After Jeffrey Loria gave them up in order to buy the Florida Marlins in 2001, the Expos become property of Major League Baseball. This time it was contraction, not expansion, which was the issue that led to Washington joining or leaving the Majors. Because baseball could not contract the Expos and, ironically, the Minnesota Twins, they decided to give Washington another chance by giving them Montreal's franchise. The new Nationals began play in Washington in 2005 and were bought by Ted Lerner in 2006.
Though they play in spanking new Nationals Park, the 2011 version of the Washington nine is trying their best to keep up with the 1961 and '71 teams. Managed by Jim Riggleman, they are on a pace to finish 70-92. They are on a pace to draw 1,733,643 fans, counting no shows (which were not counted in 1961 and '71).
At the moment, the team's offense is being led by first baseman Michael Morse with a .301 average, nine home runs and 33 RBI. Outfielder Jayson Werth is batting .243 with eight home runs and 23 RBI. Shortstop Ian Desmond is hitting .234 with three home runs and 17 RBI. And second baseman Danny Espinosa has an average of .218, but with 10 home runs and 33 RBI. The Nationals best player, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is on rehab assignment in the minor leagues after tearing an abdominal muscle early in the season. He has played in only eight games.
As for pitching, Jason Marquis leads the team with a record of 6-2 and ERA of 3.84. Jordan Zimmerman stands at 4-6 with a 3.39 ERA. John Lannan is 3-5 with an ERA of 3.79. And Livan Hernandez is 3-7 with a 3.76 ERA.
All of these statistics were as of June 9, 2011. And just as in 1961 and '71 the Nationals have a losing record on this date. They are 27-35 and in fifth place (last) in the National League East.
Which goes to show that coming and going, new ballpark or old, American League or National, Washington baseball fans can always count on one thing. The major league baseball team won't be very good.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Sources for this article:
baseball-reference.com
mlb.com
sportsecyclopedia.com
sportsnetwork.com
nationals.com
baseball-almanac.com
Comments