The Confusing History of Baseball In Washington, D.C.!

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1924 World Series Photo Gallery
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The Confusing History of the Baseball In Washington, D.C.!

“Washington: First in war, first in peace…and last in the American League!” -San Francisco Chronicle columnist Charley Dryden

My post the other day about Hall-of-Famer Bucky Harris led to the usual confusion about the Washington franchise. Which version are we in now? The second? The third? Were they originally called the Senators or the Nationals?

The history of baseball in Washington, D.C. is so confusing that I think it might be time for a short “refresher course.” I’ve written about this confusion before, so what follows is an updated version. 

But before we start, first a word about the featured photo. It’s from the seventh game of the 1924 World Series, won by the Senators over the Giants. It became known as the infamous Freddie Lindstrom “Pebbles Game.” Walter Johnson is visible on the left in the grayish sweater. 

Next month will mark the fifty-seventh anniversary of the first game played by the Minnesota Twins, April 21, 1961. The Twins, formerly known as the Washington Senators, lost their first game at Metropolitan Stadium 5-3. They drew 1,256,723 fans their first year in Minneapolis, much better than the previous year attendance in Washington of 743,404, the worst gate in the American League.

 Now here’s a quiz: Who beat the Twins – the former Washington Senators – in that first game? Would you believe me if I told you the Twins lost to…none-other-than…the Washington Senators!!

 That’s right. Baseball – in its infinite wisdom – moved the Washington Senators to Minnesota to become the Minnesota Twins due to failing attendance, while at the same time, started an expansion team in Washington…named the Washington Senators! But wait…it gets even more confusing!

 This “second” Senators franchise lasted in D.C. until 1972, when they also moved, this time to Texas, where they became the Texas Rangers with Ted Williams as their first manager.

 The city of Washington, D.C. was without a team until the Montreal Expos moved there in 2005, and became…you got it!…the third and current incarnation of baseball in Washington, this time known as the Washington Nationals!

That then begs the question, “Where did the Expos come from?” They were a product of the 1969 major league expansion. They were in Montreal for 36 years and posted a 2753-2943 record over that time. Of course, as we all know, the city of Washington finally experienced another World Series championship in 2019, with the current Expos-derived version called the Washington Nationals.  

Now back to the “original” Washington Senators. They were one of the American League’s eight charter franchises in 1901. The Senators began their history as a perennially losing team, at times so inept that the above quote by Charley Dryden turned them into a national joke.

The early years were mostly marked by futility, but the team’s fortunes finally changed in the 1920s as they won American League pennants in 1924 and 1925, and the franchise’s only World Series championship in 1924. Another pennant followed in 1933. This short-lived success was followed by more years of mediocrity which including six last-place finishes in the 1940s and 1950s.

Are you confused yet? Well, you should be. You’d have to be a baseball genius to keep this all straight! 

 Gary Livacari

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Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from the Washington Senators Wikipedia page.

 

 

Gary Livacari

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Visit Our Web page: “Baseball History Comes Alive!” now with over 153K hits!:
http://wp.me/P7a04E-2he

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from the Wikipedia page.