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The 1924 Senators: Not quite a miracle

Because of the long and futile history of Washington Senators baseball and the fact that the 1924 season had brought them their first and only championship, an impression exists that the ’24 club had a miracle run, a la the ’69 Mets or Philadelphia’s Whiz Kids of 1950. In reality, their success was not a complete surprise to baseball fans. The Senators of the 1920s were a solid and well-rounded bunch that typically finished each year in the middle of the pack. The ’23 team had featured five .300 hitters in the starting line-up. They also had the best defensive unit in all of baseball and, when it was all over and done with, four of its players would end up in Cooperstown. The year they would put it all together was 1924.

It is true, that the ’24 Nats were an aging team. Its two superstars were Walter Johnson and Sam Rice, who at 37 and 34 years old respectively had many fans believing that their best years were behind them. In addition, not many believed that this would be the team that would end the dominance of the Ruth/Schang/Pennock New York Yankees, winners of the three previous American League pennants. Despite playing decent ball for the better part of a decade, the Senators would usually fall from serious contention by mid-summer and had earned a reputation of being a decent team, but just not decent enough. They were a a bit of a long shot to win in ’24, but they were definitely not the Browns nor were they the Indians.

Walter Johnson. (Library of Congress LC-USZ62-108277.)

The Senators' other aging star was right fielder Edgar “Sam” Rice, who entered the season as a 34-year-old. He began his major league career with Washington in 1915 and had established himself as a perennial .300 hitter who was one of the fastest and best defensive outfielders in the game. Today, he is perhaps one of the Hall of Fame’s least known hitters. He retired with 2,987 hits, obviously not knowing at the time what 13 more hits would have done for his legacy. In 1924, Rice was good for a league-leading 216 hits and a .334 average.

Bucky Harris with New York Giants skipper John McGraw before the start of the series. (Library of Congress LC-USZ62-132508.)

A year after Harris debuted, Griffith brought in another rookie, Goose Goslin. After three promising summers, Goslin emerged in 1924 as a full-blown star, providing the consistent run producer the Senators had lacked. Goslin led the Senators in virtually every offensive category that summer and even out-paced the mighty Babe Ruth (129 to 121) and the rest of the league in RBI.

In 1923 the Senators acquired catcher Muddy Ruel in a trade with the Red Sox. The next year, glove wiz Roger Peckinpaugh was brought in from the Yankees fresh off New York’s world championship to man shortstop. In 1924 Peckinpaugh teamed with Harris to lead the league in double plays. Rookie Ossie Bluege played third base opposite long time Senator first baseman and defensive standout Joe Judge. The bench was very productive, led by rookies Earl McNeely (.330 batting average), Wid Mathews (.302), second year player Doc Prothro (.333), and veteran Nemo Leibold (.293).

Player/manager Bucky Harris should be credited with developing the role of major-league baseball’s first star closer. Big Texan right hander Firpo Marberry became the first relief ace in history and in doing so, finally provided the Senators with a worthy complement to Johnson. In 1924 Marberry appeared in more games (50) and finished more games (30) than any hurler in major-league history.

Two very capable left handers backed Johnson at the top of the rotation. Tom Zachary had his best season, going 15-9 and finishing second in the league to Johnson in ERA (2.75). George Mogridge chipped in with a record of 16-11. In a shrewd in-season transaction, Griffith brought in Curly Ogden off of waivers from Philadelphia. Ogden won eight straight down the stretch, guiding the Senators to a strong 18-7 September finish that ultimately outpaced the Yankees by two games.

The Senators took on John McGraw’s New York Giants in the ’24 World Series. As a kid sportswriter doing the play-by-play for The Washington Post, legendary sportswriter Shirley Povich remembered the mood in the nation’s capital:

Came October 1924, with the Senators a World Series team, and now the nation’s capital exploded emotionally. Inured to the excitement of presidential inaugurations, calm in the midst of history-making legislation and callous to the fetes for visiting princes and potentates, the population went wild at the approach of the Series. For the pennant winners, A Pennsylvania Avenue parade led to the White House, where both President and Mrs. Coolidge promised to attend the Series opener. They would attend all four home games.

The sentiment for the Senators against the Giants was nationwide, with Walter Johnson’s coast-to-coast admirers having lusted for that day when he would finally be on the World Series stage. Unfortunately, it would support the aphorism that hope deferred is often bittersweet. Johnson made two starts, lost them both, though they were tough, hard-bitten defeats.

In one of the best series openers ever, Johnson went twelve innings and lost 4-3, giving up cheap home runs to Bill Terry and George Kelly into temporary bleacher seats inserted into left field to accommodate more fans.

The Senators won Game Two 4-3, behind the strong pitching of Zachary and a game-winning double in the bottom of the ninth from Peckinpaugh.

Marberry got a rare start in Game Three as the series moved to the Polo Grounds. The Giants emerged victorious, 6-4, taking a 2-1 lead.

Goslin’s three-run homer and 4-for-4 day in Game Four staked Mogridge to a lead the Senators would not relinquish, winning 7-4.

Johnson suffered his second loss in the series in the fifth game, giving up six runs and mishandling a bunt. Johnson appeared tired as evidenced by his three strikeouts.

With the series back in Washington for the sixth game, Zachary held off elimination by going the distance, 2-1. Bucky Harris singled in the tying and winning runs in the fifth.

The two teams lined up for the singing of the National Anthem before the seventh game of the 1924 World Series. (Library of Congress LC-USZ62-99915.)

With the president and first lady in attendance, plus 31,677 Washington spectators, the Giants and Senators got set to play the greatest Game 7 in baseball history. The intrigue began right away. Harris announced he was starting the right-hander Ogden in hopes of forcing McGraw to field his left-handed hitting lineup. Ogden struck out leadoff hitter Freddie Lindstrom and walked Frankie Frisch. Then, in a plot hatched prior to the game, Harris brought in the left-hander Mogridge, hoping to neutralize Bill Terry and the rest of the Giants' dangerous left-handed hitters. The strategy backfired in the sixth as the Giants scored three times to take a 3-1 lead.

Bucky Harris scoring the first run in the seventh game of the 1924 World Series. (Library of Congress LC-USZ62-123042.)

The Senators struck back in the eighth. With two on and two out in the eighth, Harris hit a routine ground ball to Lindstrom at third that hit a pebble and ricocheted over his head into left field. The fluke hit scored both runs and tied the game at three.

Much to the crowd's delight, Johnson was called on to pitch the ninth. Johnson, visibly exhausted and pitching on guile, struggled through four grueling innings, giving up three hits while striking out five. Twice he allowed the go-ahead run to get into scoring position with less than two out, but both times he found a way to get out of the inning.

With one out in the twelfth, Muddy Ruel hit an easy foul pop up that Giants catcher Hank Gowdy went to make a play on. Gowdy accidentally caught his foot in his mask and the ball spilled out of his mitt. With new life, Ruel promptly doubled down the left field line. It was only his second hit in the entire series.

Johnson, now batting, reached base on a muffed infield hit that couldn’t advance Ruel. Next up was Earl McNeely and his date with the history books. McNeely hit another routine grounder to Lindstrom at third that hit a pebble or a divot, but it too bounded over Lindstrom’s head into left field, bringing Ruel all the way round to score.

The Senators were champions. Johnson got his long coveted World Series win and championship. And Washington celebrated. Armistice did not incite the jubilation that Washington’s pennant win did.

The Senators stayed basically intact the next year as they cruised to the American League pennant, winning 96 games. They lost the 1926 World Series to Pittsburgh, in another thrilling seven games. By 1927, Washington had fallen to fourth place, and by 1928, Harris was relieved of his managerial duties. In 1933, another first-year player/manager Joe Cronin guided the Senators to the World Series, where they lost to the Giants four games to one. It was the last pennant winning season Washington would have.

--Joe Schwei

Walter Johnson with his wife and mother returning after the 1924 World Series. (Library of Congress LC-USZ62-103762.)