The Washington Senators, 1901–1971

The Washington Senators have a special place in baseball history as one of the most unsuccessful teams ever to play the game. The Nats (as headline writers had dubbed them by midcentury) got their start in 1901 thanks to Byron Bancroft “Ban” Johnson and endured 71 up-and-down seasons in the American League, which was created at the same time as the Washington ballclub. This huge work exhaustively chronicles the capricious history of the Washington Senators from the beginning to the end in 1971, with detailed information on the management and players who kept the organization going in good and bad times. Insights on how the team fit into the American League as well as statistics covering the team’s records throughout its existence and the lifetime records of all members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who played with the Washington Senators are also provided.

A former news writer, radio announcer and teacher, Tom Deveaux lives in Canada.

Tom Deveaux
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 288
Bibliographic Info: appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005 [2001]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2359-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5017-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      iv

Preface      1

Introduction      3

1901–1909: First in War, First in Peace      5

1910–1919: The Big Train and the Little Ballclub That Could      26

1920–1929: The Trip to the Top      51

1930–1939: Peaks and Valleys      104

1940–1949: The Descent      148

1950–1960: The Road to Oblivion      177

1961–1971: The End of the Line      210

Epilogue: A Millennium Wish      260

Appendices      261

Bibliography      271

Index      273

“Tom Deveaux has given life to the glory of the Senators…. Deveaux has done his homework. Deveaux has done a tremendous job with this book…. It will be a worthy addition to the personal library of any baseball fan in the Washington metropolitan area”—Journal of Sport History; “there is much to recommend [in this book]…Deveaux’s writing is crisp, and the book is very readable…a well-rounded blend of biography and statistics, with a good supply of humorous and interesting anecdotes…this book will occupy a prominent place on the bookshelves of Washington Senators fans…it serves as a solid example of how team history should be written”—Nine; “thoroughly researched”—One More Inning; “a comprehensive and readable history of an original AL franchise”—SABR Deadball Committee Newsletter; “covers each era of major league baseball in Washington”—The SABR Bulletin.