The Washington Senators Begin a New Term

Every two years, the nation’s capital sees senators leave town and new senators arrive to take their place. After a while, the suits all begin to look the same; only the bodies filling them out are different. The dance of those coming and going is typically confined to Capitol Hill. But between October 1960 and April 1961, it made its way approximately two miles north and into the national pastime.

On October 2, 1960, the Washington Senators played the final game of the season at Griffith Stadium. A little more than six months later, on April 10, 1961, the Washington Senators took the field at Griffith Stadium once again, this time for Opening Day. The uniforms looked the same (exactly the same, actually, as 60 unused uniforms were purchased from outgoing owner Calvin Griffith, who had ordered them before receiving approval to move the prior Senators club to Minnesota.)1 But the players filling those uniforms out were most assuredly different.

And “different” may be the most glowing term by which the new roster could be described. One writer went so far as to tell Senators fans to “have heart,” reasoning that because the American League had only 10 teams, “no matter how bad the new Washington club may turn out to be, it can’t finish eleventh like its 1899 predecessor.”2 The writer was correct: The 1961 Washington Senators did not finish in 11th place. But they did finish tied for last.

Even fielding a team for the 1961 season was a monumental undertaking for the Senators and their expansion brethren, the Los Angeles Angels. It began on October 26, 1960, when the major-league owners met in New York and determined that the American League would expand from eight to 10 teams for the 1961 season. It had been an open secret for some time that Griffith wanted out of Washington, despite his public assurances to the contrary. In fact, The Sporting News dated on the same day as the owners’ meeting quoted Griffith as saying, “That’s a lot of baloney and sounds like somebody’s pipe dream. It is news to me that the American League will discuss transferring the Washington club elsewhere.”3

Behind closed doors, however, Griffith sensed his opportunity and pounced. Most of the other owners wanted to keep a team in Washington. A balance was therefore struck: The existing Senators were permitted to relocate to Minneapolis-St. Paul and the two expansion franchises were awarded to Los Angeles and Washington.4 Optimism did not exactly abound for the new additions. Former Dodgers boss Branch Rickey even predicted that “the new clubs in Washington and Los Angeles will throw in their franchises before the playing season is a month old.”5

Bidding for ownership of the new franchise was underway immediately. The two primary contenders had military backgrounds: Elwood R. “Pete” Quesada, a former US Air Force lieutenant general who was in 1960 the chief of the Federal Aviation Agency,6 and John J. Bergen, a former Navy admiral who was then the chairman of the Graham-Paige Corp.7 In The Sporting News, Shirley Povich wrote that “the inter-service rivalry that used to stir the wrath of Capitol Hill is still aflame, but it no longer is regarded as a menace to national security. It has been transferred to the bidding for the new Washington franchise in the American League that is now up for grabs.”8

Quesada had the upper hand from the word go – or perhaps even before that. There were reports that Calvin Griffith had conferred with Quesada as early as the previous summer about possibly bidding for a new Washington franchise. In Griffith’s words, “[C]ertainly Quesada got his bid in almost before the ink was dry on the newspapers announcing the American League expansion.”9 Griffith also publicly supported Quesada’s bid.10 And so it was no surprise when ownership of the new Washington franchise was awarded to Quesada, who led a group of 10 local investors.11 Two of Quesada’s primary backers in the group were Washington automobile dealer Fred Akers and banker George Garrett, who was a former US ambassador to Ireland.12

With Quesada at the helm, it seemed certain that the new club would not fail for lack of strong leadership. A former lieutenant described his service under Quesada during World War II:

When the Battle of the Bulge came, I was ordered to supervise the last convoy leaving Verviers for Liege, Belgium, a retreat of some 18 miles. But it had to be made along the only road into Liege along the Meuse River. It was a bright, moonlit night and we were strafed constantly by German planes. It took us something like 12 hours to negotiate 18 miles.

When I finally got the convoy into Liege, with a loss of one truck, I was told that General Quesada wanted to see me. I figured here was my medal for valor, finally. Instead, Pete chewed me out for losing the truck. And then he smiled and said: “I guess, Bob, you thought you were going to get a medal for pulling that convoy through. But even the loss of one radar-equipped truck hurts.”13

True to form, Quesada acted quickly and decisively in naming the first manager of the new club within 24 hours. He received rave reviews from the local populace by selecting former Senators first basemen and fan favorite Mickey Vernon.14 Quesada also announced the hiring of retiring American Association President Ed Doherty as general manager.15

The quick hiring of Doherty was especially important because Quesada intended to remain with the FAA until the change of administration on January 20, “out of my sense of duty.”16 There was therefore the “need for a general manager with a quick grasp of the needs of a figuratively rudderless club.”17 For his part, Doherty stated his intention to be aggressive in the front office:

There will be instant dealing after we learn who we draw in the player pool. … We know we can’t stand still on the 28 players we select. I know, too, that other clubs, including those in the National League, will be ready to deal for some of them.18

At the minor-league meetings in Louisville in late November, Commissioner Ford Frick announced that the new Washington franchise was officially certified and open for business,19 and was “entitled to all rights and privileges, including the right to select two players in a special draft [and] to file waiver claims…”20

And so it was that on November 28, 1960, the new Senators acquired their first two players in the Flag Room of the Kentucky Hotel in Louisville, selecting pitchers John Gabler and Ray Semproch in the special draft, held after the regular minor-league draft.21

The right-handed hurlers formed the beginnings of what Doherty hoped to be a respectable pitching staff. Semproch had won 13 games for the Phillies in 1958 before succumbing to arm trouble in 1959, but had rebounded to go 11-2 at Spokane in 1960. Gabler, who had been property of the Yankees, had a 2.71 earned-run average for Richmond in 1960, and the Yankees were reportedly “miffed when he was claimed by Doherty off the Richmond roster.”22 The next day Washington signed 30-year-old free-agent infielder Danny O’Connell.23

 

 

Mickey Vernon filled out his coaching staff, hiring Sid Hudson as the pitching coach and George Case, Rollie Hemsley, and George Susce as coaches.24 So it was that “the new Washington Senators closed the week with more coaches than ball players – four to three. …”25 The disparity would be short-lived, though, as the coming expansion draft, to be held at AL President Joe Cronin’s offices in Boston, permitted the Senators and the Los Angeles Angels to select players for $75,000 apiece.26

The Senators’ brain-trust endured an arduous trek to even make it to the draft. With a severe snowstorm looming, Quesada suggested taking the train to Boston instead of flying. “It didn’t look like there was a chance of making it to Boston by plane,” Doherty said.27 The Sporting News described the ordeal:

With two newspapermen (Francis Stann and Moe Siegel) along, Farm Director Hal Keller, Doherty and [Burton] Hawkins28 headed for the Hub. Their train was frozen up outside of New Haven, Conn., Monday morning, December 12. They occupied a cold, foodless car for about six hours before they were transferred to a coach for Boston. This, too, was cold and without food.

Instead of arriving here at 8 a.m., the Washington delegation arrived here at 5 p.m., nine hours later. “And to complete the voyage,” Doherty related, “I slipped off the train and landed in a snow pile.”29

Safe in Boston at last, the Senators and Angels brass convened on December 14 to commence the expansion draft. It was decided that the draft would be conducted by category, with the clubs selecting players by position: pitchers, catchers, infielders, and finally outfielders. Angels general manager Fred Haney won a coin toss for the right to select first in three of the four categories, drafting Yankees pitcher Eli Grba first overall.30 The Senators made pitcher Bobby Shantz (also from the Yankees) their first selection.31 In addition to Shantz, the Senators came away with catcher Pete Daley (A’s), infielder Coot Veal (Tigers), and outfielder Willie Tasby (Red Sox) with their first selections in each player category.32 And despite selecting first only in the outfielder portion of the draft, the Senators insisted that they came away with the two players they were most after – Shantz and Tasby.33

A problem arose when the league went to tally the results of the draft. The draft rules provided that “no existing team could lose more than seven players and no expansion team could take more than four players from any one existing team.”34 But nobody bothered to keep track of such things while the draft was underway. As a result, after the last pick was made, it was discovered that numerous violations had occurred. To rectify the situation, Cronin ordered the clubs to swap players to bring the draft in line with the rules.35

The worst fortune the Senators had in the post-draft swaps was the trade of pitcher Dean Chance to the Angels for outfielder Joe Hicks, which occurred because the “Senators had too many Orioles” and the “Angels had too many White Sox.”36 Hicks went on to hit .221 in only 389 more major-league plate appearances, while Chance won 128 big-league games, including 20 in 1964, made two All-Star Game appearances and received the Cy Young Award.

Overall, the Senators had selected 28 players ranging in age from 22 (Bud Zipfel) to 38 (Gene Woodling) in the major-league portion of the draft, and selected another three players off the minor-league rosters of the existing teams.37 For some players, being drafted gave new life to their careers. Woodling, for example, had no interest in moving to the West Coast to join the Angels at age 38, later stating that “that would have made a farmer out of me. … I would have retired to my Ohio farm before I would sign with Los Angeles.”38 He was willing to play in Washington, however, and went on to lead the 1961 team in hitting with a .313 average.39

For other players, even being made available for the expansion draft by their former clubs was a cold dose of reality. Chuck Hinton said that “people gave you who they didn’t want. I’m not going to say that I was in that category, but as far as the Orioles were concerned, I guess I was. They never thought that I would be drafted, so that’s one reason they put me on the list.”40

And while the baseball talent assembled may have been less than awe-inspiring, one writer noted that “the Senators should rank among the brainiest in the majors, at least scholastically. … Pitcher Dave Sisler is working for his master’s degree in industrial engineering…Catcher Dutch Dotterer is working for his master’s in Latin-American studies.”41 But even Commissioner Ford Frick could provide only backhanded optimism after the draft, predicting that the Angels and Senators “will win at least 50 games,” which as one writer noted would be a 50-112 record and a .309 winning percentage.42

Ed Doherty kept his word and immediately went to work on the trade market after the draft. Only two days after drafting Bobby Shantz as the Senators’ number-one selection, Doherty flipped the left-hander to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Bennie Daniels, infielder Harry Bright, and first baseman R.C. Stevens.43 Shantz could barely conceal his relief at not having to pitch for the expansion Senators, admitting that his wife wanted him to quit baseball anyway and that he had been “hoping” that he would not get drafted by Washington in the first place.44 Manager Mickey Vernon was familiar with all three of the newly acquired players from having been a coach for Pittsburgh in 1960, and was said to have “recommended the deal heartily.”45

Vernon’s support notwithstanding, the Senators’ agreement to the deal with Pittsburgh is perhaps most notable because of the corresponding trade proposal from the Cardinals that the team turned down. St. Louis was said to have offered a package of players, including future Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, to the Senators for Shantz.46 Gibson, who had yet to start more than 12 games in a season, went on to win 251 games and strike out over 3,000 batters in his 17-year career. By contrast, of the three players acquired from the Pirates, Daniels had the biggest impact on the Senators, winning 12 games in 1961 and a total of 37 in his five years with the team.47 Bright and Stevens combined for only 159 hits (151 from Bright) with Washington.48

After the Pittsburgh trade, Senators farm director Hal Keller described his plans to infuse more talent, and bodies, into the pipeline: “After the first of the year, Sheehan and I will start signing as many as 30 full-time scouts. … You begin to acquire ball players when you get the right kind of scouts.”49 Scout Jack Sheehan, who had already been brought in, had spent more than 20 years as the chief scout for the Cubs and White Sox.50

Now that the Senators had some semblance of a roster, Doherty and the rest of the front office went to secure a site for spring training. Pompano Beach, Florida, put on a full-court press to bring the new club to town, even agreeing to borrow $30,000 to improve the city’s Municipal Stadium.51 The effort succeeded; the Senators signed a lease to hold spring training there for at least five years.52 The playing field in Pompano Beach “is one of the finest any big league team will have,” Doherty said.53 Calvin Griffith also made good on his promise that “whoever gets the Washington franchise will get most reasonable rental terms for Griffith Stadium during the year before the new Washington stadium is completed in September 1961.”54 Doherty’s agreement to a one-year lease of Griffith Stadium for the 1961 season was said to be “at a favorable rental.”55

Low expectations notwithstanding, the Senators got off to a hot start in spring training, winning their first three contests.56 They finished the spring with an American-League best 15-10 record, and “an enthusiastic crowd of over 500 waited for four hours in the rain at National Airport to give their new ‘first place’ Senators a heroes’ welcome when they arrived in Washington for the first time.”57

On April 10, 1961, the new Washington Senators officially began play, opening the season against the Chicago White Sox before a crowd of 26,725 at Griffith Stadium. The Senators put up a valiant fight before falling, 4-3. The game was said to mark the beginning of something much more significant:

The election of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States became official at 1:27 p.m. on April 10. This was certified when he stood up in his box seat at Griffith Stadium and threw out the opening ball to start a new major league season, even as every President before him since William Howard Taft in 1910.58

Among the highlights of an overall unremarkable season was a 5-3 victory on April 21 over the “old” Senators (now Twins) in Minnesota. Another was a five-game winning streak in early May that included the sweep of a two-game series at Yankee Stadium. Dick Donovan, who led the team before 1961’s second All-Star Game with a 2.39 earned-run average, was the team’s lone All-Star representative and pitched two scoreless innings.

Perhaps the game circled on most Washington calendars was May 26, when the Minnesota Twins made their first appearance back in town. The Twins were “good-naturedly booed by the partisan Washington fans when they were introduced,” and in the end the new Senators bested the old Senators yet again by the score of 4-3.59 The Twins also participated in the final game at Griffith Stadium, on September 21, in front of a minuscule crowd of 1,498.

In the end, though, the Senators could not avoid a 100-loss season, finishing at 61-100. Things did not improve significantly for the Senators in the ensuing years, though not for lack of effort. Before the 1962 season, the club traded Opening Day starting pitcher and All-Star representative Dick Donovan, along with Gene Green and Jim Mahoney, to the Indians for Jim Piersall. Donovan proceeded to win 20 games for the Indians in 1962 and finished fifth in the MVP voting. Piersall regressed from a .322 average in Cleveland in 1961 to.244 for Washington in 1962.

Over the next 10 years, the futility spawned slogans such as “Off the Floor in 64” and a reprise of “First in War, First in Peace, and Last in the American League.”60 And then the end came yet again. On September 21, 1971, owner Bob Short received approval to move the club out of Washington and to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex after the 1971 season.61

CHRIS JONES is an attorney at Phelps Dunbar where he practices in the area of commercial litigation, with a focus on property rights, eminent domain, real estate disputes and contract disputes. He is a lifelong baseball fan and a member of SABR since 2015. The highlight of his playing days was being drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2001 amateur draft. He resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with his wife and four children. For firm information please visit www.phelpsdunbar.com, or contact Chris directly at chris.jones@phelps.com.

 

Sources

In addition to the sources noted in the Notes, the author also accessed Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Shirley Povich, “Doherty Beams Over Nat Depth of Mound Staff,” The Sporting News, January 18, 1961: 20.

2 Leo Fischer, “Grab-Bag Picks Could Bring Big Surprise,” The Sporting News, January 4, 1961: 20.

3 James R. Hartley, Washington’s Expansion Senators (1961-1971) (Germantown, Maryland: Corduroy Press, 1997, 1998), v.

4 Ibid.

5 Dan Daniel, “A.L.’s Expansion Drive Too Hasty, Mahatma Claims,” The Sporting News, November 30, 1960: 16.

6 Hartley. In 1967 the FAA was renamed the Federal Aviation Administration.

7 Shirley Povich, “Showdown Is Near on Bidding for New Club in Washington,” The Sporting News, November 16, 1960: 4.

8 Ibid.

9 Bob Addie, “Cal Tipped Quesada on Club Shift Last Summer,” The Sporting News, November 23, 1960: 15.

10 “Showdown Is Near.”

11 Hartley.

12 Shirley Povich, “Vernon Saluted as Capital Pick for Pilot’s Post,” The Sporting News, November 30, 1960: 20.

13 Bob Addie, “Ex-Lieutenant Recalls His Old Boss, Gen. Quesada,” The Sporting News, November 30, 1960: 20.

14 “Vernon Saluted as Capital Pick.”

15 Ibid.

16 “Showdown Is Near.”

17 “Vernon Saluted as Capital Pick.”

18 Ibid.

19 Shirley Povich, “Now It’s Official – Capital’s New Nats Open for Business,” The Sporting News, December 7, 1960: 6.

20 Oscar Kahan, “Bill Veeck Busiest Selector – Chooses Four for Pale House,” The Sporting News, December 7, 1960: 13.

21 Ibid.

22 “Now It’s Official.”

23 Hartley.

24 Shirley Povich, “Nats to Sprinkle Vets With Youth in Player Picks,” The Sporting News, December 14, 1960: 24.

25 Ibid.

26 Dan Daniel, “Hidden Factors in 75-Gee Price Tag,” The Sporting News, December 14, 1960: 10.

27 Hy Hurwitz, “Senators’ Brass Snowbound, Arrived in Hub 9 Hours Late,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1960: 4.

28 Burt Hawkins was the club’s traveling secretary.

29 “Senators’ Brass Snowbound.”

30 Bob Hunter, “Haney Landed Power Sockers for L.A. Crew,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1960: 3.

31 Hy Hurwitz, “Grba, Shantz First Hurlers to Be Nabbed,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1960: 3.

32 Ibid.

33 Shirley Povich, “Beaming Nats Land ‘Most Wanted’ Pair – Shantz and Tasby,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1960: 5.

34 Andy McCue and Eric Thompson, “Mis-Management 101: The American League Expansion for 1961,” The National Pastime (Phoenix: SABR, 2011), https://sabr.org/research/mis-management-101-american-league-expansion-1961, accessed April 22, 2018.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Hartley, v-vi.

38 “Beaming Nats Land ‘Most Wanted’ Pair.”

39 Hartley, 196.

40 Hartley, vi.

41 Bob Addie, “Three of Four A.L. Starters Needed Relief,” The Sporting News, March 8, 1961: 8.

42 Bob Hunter, “Angels, Senators Hoping to Top 50-Win Forecast,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1960: 22.

43 Les Biederman, “Buccos Beef Up Bull Pen in Deal for Lefty Shantz,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1960: 11.

44 Dan Daniel, “Yanks Revive Advance Camp as Cushion for Draft Losses,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1960: 12.

45 “Buccos Beef Up Bull Pen.”

46 Oscar Kahan, “Bing Clicks Heels Over Prize Pair, Landrum, Cicotte,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1960: 13.

47 Hartley, 245.

48 Hartley, 208, 219.

49 Shirley Povich, “Nats Clear Decks for Quick Start in Free-Agent Grabs,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1960: 22.

50 Ibid.

51 Joe Shabo, “Pompano Beach Clears Way for Okay as Nat Spring Base,” The Sporting News, January 4, 1961: 25.

52 Shirley Povich, “Nats’ Doherty Clears Decks for Club Debut,” The Sporting News, January 11, 1961: 11.

53 Ibid.

54 “Showdown is Near on Bidding for New Club in Washington.”

55 “Nats’ Doherty Clears Decks for Club Debut.”

56 Shirley Povich, “Nats Flashing New Hill Gem – Joe McClain,” The Sporting News, March 22, 1961: 25.

57 Hartley, 1.

58 Shirley Povich, “Kennedy Sets Presidential Mark With Fireball Pitch,” The Sporting News, April 19, 1961: 3.

59 Hartley, 4.

60 Hartley, 37, 91.

61 Hartley, 136.