Ted Williams and the 1969 Washington Senators

Heading into their ninth season, the expansion Washington Senators had never won more than 76 games in a season. New Senators owner Bob Short hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams to manage the team. Williams sparked the Senators to their only winning record for a Washington team since 1952. This book recounts that 1969 season in-depth.

Ted Leavengood is managing editor and a regular contributor of seamheads.com. He is the co-host of “Outta the Parkway,” which broadcasts weekly on Blogtalk Radio as part of the Seamheads Podcast Network and is the author of two other books on Washington baseball history.

Ted Leavengood
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 241
Bibliographic Info: 8 photos, charts, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4136-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5519-5
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

1. War, Race and Baseball      7
2. Can’t You Hear That Rooster Crowing?      16
3. Shine Your Light on Me      26
4. Going Where the Sun Keeps Shining      34
5. Do You Want to Know a Secret?      49
6. Getting Better All the Time      60
7. Coming Into Los Angel-lees      66
8. Can’t Rewind, We’ve Gone Too Far      78
9. June, She’ll Change Her Tune      86
10. How Many Times Must the Cannon Balls Fly?      95
11. The Heat Is On      101
12. Moon Dance      112
13. Build a Ladder to the Stars      121
14. In for Nasty Weather      137
15. We Are Stardust, We Are Golden      147
16. Homeward Bound      158
17. Catching a Second Wind      171
18. For Now’s the Time for Your Tears      180

Epilogue      201
Appendix A. Career Statistics for Selected Senators Players      207
Appendix B. Washington Senators Schedule and Results, 1969      212
Chapter Notes      217
Bibliography      225
Index      229

“Ted Williams and the 1969 Washington Senators does not hit a false note on Ted Williams and digs into interesting aspects of the team and Williams as their manager. It is good work.”—Bill Nowlin, author of numerous books on Ted Williams, including Ted Williams at War, and is Vice President of the Society for American Baseball Research; “The book brings back that time so vividly. I remember it so well, it’s amazing.”—Dick Bosman, former 1969 Senators pitching great and current pitching coach for the Tampa Bay Rays “Ted Williams and the 1969 Washington Senators is very interesting, well researched, and well written.”—Mike Epstein, member of the 1969 Senators baseball team