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Scene from Damn Yankees
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Now you will hear the tale of the Washington Senators.
The Washington Senators win or lose . . . how they played the game!
The team was known variously as the Senators,the
Nationals, and the Griffs or Griffmen, in honor of long-time
owner-manager Clark Giffith. The press, however, preferred the sobriquet
Nats. It provided a short, snarling headline, as in
NATS LOSE AGAIN
But the team by any name would have been as hapless.
The Washington ballclubwas
Keystone Kops comedy and vaudevillian melodrama rolled into one.
Through their lengthy history . . .
They lost a season pennant in the sun because an outfielder
left histrademark sunglasses in the dugout
in a season opener a third-baseman knocked down his own
pitcher witha throw toward first..
A shortstop threw wild over first base and killed a fan in the
standsduring one season
the team's best hitter mysteriously disappeared over Niagara
Falls,his body found days later in the waters below
They boasted Walter
Johnson,arguably the best pitcher the game has seen and Al Schacht,
the self-proclaimedclown prince of baseball.
They were a team known less for what they did than for what
was doneto them.
They were not merely good losers, they were perfect.
Fans of opposing teams often cheered the Senators toward
victory. Afterall, what was not to like?
In all their years in the American League, they won only three
penantsand only one World Series championship.
And
that came in the bottom of the 12th inning of the 7th gameof a
hard-fought Series won with the help of Walter Johnson, an
errantthird-base pebble and a lot of prayers.
From
the beginning of the American League the team tookon the reputation of
cellar-dwellers because in the first ten years, theWashington franchise
finished in the bottom berth four times.
This inspired Charley Dryden, sports editor of
the SanFrancisco Chronicle, to write: Washington--firstin
war, first in peace, last in the American League.
The
line was parroted by vaudeville and burlesque comics,and then by
baseball fans across the country. Consequently, no story
aboutWashington baseball would be considered complete without the
inclusionof this zinger. Never mind that after 1910, the Washington
club would seldomend up in the basement. The Washington Senators -- win
or lose, how theyplayed the game!
BY VANCE GARNETT
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New
(2008):
Gentlemen - I came across your site today and
wanted you to be aware of
the following:
My late father, George Case, Washington Senators
outfielder and major
league stolen base champion 5 years in a row, 1939-43, took 8mm COLOR
home movies of life in the major leagues during his career - there are
approximately 15 Hall of Famer's in their prime including DiMaggio,
Williams, Dickey, Greenberg, Foxx, Grove, Appling, Gehringer etc - also
quite a bit of Washington Senators and Griffith Stadium footage - ALL
IN COLOR with my dad's narration - Mr. Griffith, Bucky Harris, Clyde
Milan, FDR "throwing out the first ball", spring training in Orlando,
many of my dad's teammates including Cecil Travis, Rick Ferrell, Walter
Masterson, Buddy Meyer, Dutch Leonard - thought you might want to
include this information on your Washington Senators web page - anyone
interested in the DVD can send a check to me and I will mail the DVD:
George Case
350 Ramsey Rd
Yardley PA 19067
$42.95 including postage - approximately
45 minutes in length - there
is also some footage at the end of the DVD of the most famous of all
Washington sportswriters - Shirley Povich inducting my late father into
the DC Hall of Stars in 1989.
Thank you
****************
REVIEW BY VANCE GARNETT:
Around the League
This DVD is a Diamond
in the Rough!
This fascinating collection of 8mm color film has been
transferred to modern DVD! The disc offers a player's-eye view by
Washington Senators outstanding base-runner George Case Jr. Case,
six-time stolen base leader.
Case had the foresight (1) to take these 8mm movies, (2) to take
them in color, and (3) to later provide narration, thereby identifying
the players for a future audience (such as us). His son, George Case
III, carefully produced the DVD. And the result is . . . shear
enjoyment!
The great outfielder of the Cleveland Indians and Washington Senators
provides glimpses into his contemporary baseball era. These were the
significant years from just before WWII to just after it (1939-1946).
Ballplayers, many of them future Hall of Famers, are shown in living
color--whether hitting, running or clowning around.
It's wonderful to see Washington Senators greats I've read about
and written about for years. You'll see George Case Jr. himself, Ossie
Bluege, Bucky Harris Dutch Leonard, Buddy Lewis, and many, many others.
Included are competitive baseball greats: Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg,
Jimmy Foxx, Lefty Grove and many others.
You will see Presidents FDR, Harry Truman, and Ike Eisenhower
making the traditional Opening Day toss. Senators club owner Clark the
Old Fox Griffith can be seen marching across Griffith Stadium in an
Opening Day parade. Famed ballparks may be enjoyed--Yankee Stadium and
Fenway Park. You'll see the elegant Wardman Park Hotel, home of the
Washington Senators, as it was in the 1940s. And you'll laugh at
baseball's Clown Princes, Nick Altrock and others, performing their
comedy routines on the field before games.
Around the League--not just a film, it's a "You Are There"
experience that shouldn't be missed by Washington Senators/Nationals
fans.
-- Vance Garnett
Co-owner with Bill Kennick
of
www.washingtonsenators.com
and
www.washingtonnationals.cc
Vance Garnett
3315 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016
www.chevychase.cc |
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CLICK ON THE OTHERLINKS TO SEE OUR OTHERWashington Senators WEB SITES!
(slow day)
.
The Washington Monument (Frank Howard) at age 68 (Washington
P0ST 2005)
Washington Senators Baseball Fan Page (unaffiliatedwith
MLB..Nuf Said...)
Griffith Stadium
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