On July 11, 1925, St. Louis Browns first basemen George Sisler hit a triple with the bases loaded in the third inning and then followed it up with a grand slam in the fourth. Sisler’s phenomenal offensive performance led the Browns to a 10-5 victory over the Washington Senators in front of 15,000 fans at Sportsman’s Park.
The full box score from the game can be found here.
The first Sunday baseball game ever played in the nation’s capital took place on May 19, 1918, five days after Congress voted in favor of lifting the ban in Washington, D.C. The Washington Senators defeated the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, in twelve innings in front of 15,352 fans at Griffith Stadium.
On May 15, 1901, Washington Senators pitcher Watty Lee threw the first shutout in American League history, blanking the Boston Americans, 4-0. Lee, a 21-year-old southpaw, would finish the season with a 16-16 record and would be responsible for two of the eight shutouts to occur in the AL’s opening season.
The game’s complete box score can be found here.
On February 14, 1934, Edgar Charles “Sam” Rice signed with the Cleveland Indians. Rice had played 19 seasons with the Washington Senators prior to this year, and would go on to retire at the conclusion of the 1934 season. Rice batted .293 in 335 at-bats for the Indians in his final season, but fell 13 hits shy of the 3,000 career hit mark before calling it quits. Rice would be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1963.
Senators third baseman Buddy Lewis was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on December 28, 1944 for his service in the China Burma India Theater. During World War II, Lewis flew more than 500 missions for the U.S. Army Air Forces as a transport pilot. Lewis was released by the Army on July 20, 1945 and would return to baseball a week later.
You can’t hit what you can’t see.
~Walter Johnson
On April 26, 1901 at Philadelphia’s Columbia Park, 10,547 fans witnessed Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics making their American League debut, losing to the Senators, 5-1. The Western League had been renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Ban Johnson and declared itself the second major league in 1901. Philadelphia’s new franchise, led by Mack, had been created to compete with the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies.
President Warren G. Harding threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Washington Senators game held on April 13, 1921, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. Washington ended up losing to the Red Sox, 6-3, making this the first time in six Opening Days contests the Senators have lost with the President of the United States throwing out the first pitch.
On November 17, 1960, ownership of the American League’s new expansion team was awarded to Elvin Quesada, a Washington native and head of the Federal Aviation Administration. The new expansion Senators replaced the old team, which had moved to Minnesota to become the Twins.
Free agent Nolan Ryan signed with the Texas Rangers on December 7, 1988, making him the first major leaguer to play for all four original expansion teams. (The Rangers organization had played their first 11 seasons as the Senators in Washington, D.C.) Ryan first broke into the big leagues with the Mets in 1966, then went to the Angels in a trade in 1972 before signing with the Astros, who were originally known as the Colt .45s.
