“Throwing Out the First Ball”

I’d like to discuss a Washington baseball tradition that, unfortunately, in my opinion, has been lost “in the sands of time.”

The ceremonial first pitch was a long-standing tradition at Griffith Stadium and later at DC (RFK) Stadium in Washington DC. This tradition began in 1910 with President William Howard Taft “throwing out the first ball” to open the major league baseball season.

From that point on, every President of the United States – Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt (except during the “war years” 1942-45), Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower (except in 1959), John F. Kennedy (last opening day at Griffith Stadium – first opening day at DC Stadium), Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon in 1969, participated in this major league baseball tradition in our nation’s capital.

I believe the Washington Senators tradition of opening the major league baseball season was lost once the Washington Senators left Washington to become the Texas Rangers and Washington DC would be without major league baseball until 2005 when President George W. Bush would throw out the first pitch at RFK Stadium marking the return of major league baseball to Washington. In 2008, President Bush would toss out the first ball from the pitcher’s mound at the NEW Nationals Park! However, in seasons past, the President of the United States would “throw out the first ball” to the players gathered in front of the Presidential box and whomever caught the ball would then take the ball to the President for his autograph – a very high honor, indeed, for the lucky player! In our DVD “Around the League 1939-46″ there is color footage of FDR and the ceremonial first pitch at Griffith Stadium – 1940-41. Our website – www.timelessbaseball.com contains the DVD information

In my opinion, opening day of the major league baseball season was never the same once the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers. In 1973, President Nixon opened the season at Anaheim Stadium. In 1976, President Gerald Ford at Arlington (Texas) Stadium. 1984 and 1986, President Ronald Reagan at Memorial Stadium (Baltimore). 1988, President Reagan at Wrigley Field in Chicago. 1989, President George H.W. Bush at Memorial Stadium (Baltimore). 1990, President Bush at the Sky Dome in Canada. 1991, President Bush at Arlington (Texas) Stadium. 1992, President Bush at Camden Yards in Baltimore. 1993, President Bill Clinton at Camden Yards. 1994, President Clinton at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. 1996, President Clinton again at Camden Yards. 1997, President Clinton at Shea Stadium (NYC). 1990 President Clinton at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. 2001 President George W. Bush at Miller Park in Milwaukee (Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig had the honor of the first pitch, President Bush the second pitch). 2003, former President George H. W. Bush at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati (by the way, Cincinnati is recognized as having the first professional baseball team). 2004, former President Jimmy Carter at PETCO Park in San Diego. 2004, President George W. Bush at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, 2005, President Bush at RFK Stadium (as previously mentioned). 2006, President Bush again at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. 2008. President Bush at Nationals Park in Washington (as previously mentioned) and in 2010, President Barack Obama at Nationals Park celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the Presidential Opening Day!

100 years of celebrating the opening of the major league baseball season in Washington DC. Although the Washington Nationals are a National League team, the “original” Washington Senators, an American League team were often referred to as the Nationals (Nats), I would hope that the tradition of “throwing out the first ball” in Washington DC would be restored.

As the son of a former “original Washington Senators player and later a coach with the “expansion” Washington Senators, I’d like to tell you about my opening day experience in Washington. In 1961, President Kennedy would participate in the ceremonial “first pitch” at Griffith Stadium as the “expansion” Washington Senators were playing at Griffith Stadium for the 1961 season – DC (RFK) Stadium was not yet completed.

I had the good fortune to have been given the opportunity to “work out” with the ball club prior to the opening day game. After having taken batting and infield practice, I showered and dressed and was sitting in the Washington dugout by myself, next to the “Presidential Box” awaiting the entrance of President Kennedy. Suddenly I was surrounded by Secret Service agents demanding to know who I was and why was I sitting there! I mentioned that my father was a coach with the ball club and by then, the team was lined up along the first base line. I pointed out my father to one of the agents who went up to my dad and asked my father to come to the dugout in order to identify me!

Needless to say, I had the best seat in the house. I will always remember that 1961 Opening Day in Washington!

March 22, 2011 by Matt Dahlgren · Leave a Comment

I recently read a story about my grandpa, Babe Dahlgren and his father Peter that I’d never heard before. After all the years spent talking with my grandpa, all the countless months researching his life and career, somehow this one slipped past me like the easiest of ground balls. The story appeared in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune on October 13, 1939. The headline read:

Babe Dahlgren to Make Good Father’s Pledge 31 Years Ago in Minneapolis

As I read the aged words from the old newspaper, I felt a chill run down my spine while simultaneously looking up and thinking, my God.

I’ve always known that my grandpa wanted to become a first baseman because of his childhood idol, Lou Gehrig. This of course made that indelible day in Detroit even more surreal when he was the one called on to replace Gehrig on May 2, 1939. But now I’ve learned that perhaps his first base roots may have come from a place far beyond the San Francisco playgrounds of his youth.

*****

Babe Dahlgren meets his aunts Ida and Mayme in Minneapolis for the first time in October 1939

At the conclusion of the 1939 World Series where the Yankees rolled over the Reds in four straight games, my grandpa, as he did after every season, drove west to his home in San Francisco. This year however he decided to stop in Minneapolis, Minnesota to meet his two aunts on his father’s side for the very first time. Ida Kastner and Mayme Burmeister were thrilled to meet their world champion nephew. They’d followed Babe along the way by scrapbooking his young career and were eager to hear the stories about his experiences as a major leaguer and the bitter sweet year with the New York Yankees.

By now Babe had established himself in the eyes of many peers and scribes as the top defensive first baseman in the game. The adulation started while in the Pacific Coast League where even Charley Graham, president of the Seals and fierce rivals of the Missions, once said he always arrived early when the Missions were home, “So he could see Dahlgren practice.” Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin took it one step further in the spring of 1935. When talking about his rookie first baseman Cronin opined, “He’s the greatest first baseman I ever saw.” Writer John Lardner would later say, “If an old timer were to swear to me on a stack of testaments that there was a greater defensive first baseman than Ellsworth “Babe” Dahlgren of the Yankees I wouldn’t believe him.”

So when the local papers picked up on Babe’s plans to visit the Land of 10,000 Lakes, they interviewed his two aunts in an effort to preempt the trip with a human interest story about his late father and his love for baseball. And what a story it was!

Born in Minneapolis in 1890, Peter Dahlgren was the youngest of five siblings. The story has it that he was raised by his older sisters, Ida and Mayme. By the time he was twelve years old he had developed a love for baseball that was transparent. Throughout his teenage years Peter played on nearly every team on the east side of town working hard at honing his skills. The kids that played ball with him and went to Pierce school would often say that, “Pete was the best major league prospect in town.” That’s why it didn’t come as a surprise when he left home at the age of 18 to chase his dream by heading west to Sacramento, California to play baseball for the Highland Parks, one of the strongest semi-pro teams on the coast and managed by his older brother, Charlie.

Peter Dahlgren (standing second to right) next to brother Charlie (center) Sacramento circa 1908

Before leaving, Peter made a pledge to his sisters that “he wouldn’t return until he became the best darn first baseman in the world.” But that would never happen.

Soon after arriving in Sacramento, he met and fell in love with Addie Davey. They married and in 1910 they had their first child, Harold. Within a year they moved to San Francisco where Peter began working as a steam-fitter at the Western Sugar Refinery at 23^rd and 3^rd streets. On June 15, 1912, my grandpa (Ellsworth) was born and three years later a third boy named Raymond was born. But tragedy would strike that same summer when just one month after Ellsworth turned three, Peter was scalded to death when a pipe burst at the refinery. This left Addie to fend for herself with three small children. But Raymond would succumb a few months later in a horrific hot water accident, himself.

Within a couple of years, Addie remarried and little Ellsworth, now Babe, had begun his own love affair with the game of baseball. And like the father he never knew, he’d spend years roaming the sandlots and playgrounds in the Mission District until signing his first professional contract in 1931.

Thirty-one years had passed since Peter Dahlgren left home after making his bold pledge to his sisters. And in the crisp Minnesota fall of 1939 it wasn’t he who was returning home with the recognition of being the “best darn first baseman in the world,” but rather, his son.

*****

I can’t imagine the feeling my grandpa must have had while visiting his family to learn his father wanted to be a major league first baseman, too.

As far as I knew from the stories Babe told, the only memory he had of his father came from Christmas of 1914 when he thought Santa Claus had paid a visit. It wasn’t until years later that his mother told him that it was his father wearing a red sweater.

But the fact that he never told me this makes me question whether or not he even knew about his dad’s love of baseball and desire to play. He told me everything; surely he would have told me a remarkable story about his dad and baseball. Babe’s son, my dad, wasn’t aware of it either. Did his aunts, Ida and Mayme fail to tell him? Did he even read the article in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune? I’ll never know. What I do know is that Babe cherished a photo of his father with the Highland Parks baseball team. It’s one of the only photos he had of him. It would always put a smile on his face when he looked at it because it bared witness that his father liked baseball — and that was important to him. He felt a sense of peace and pride knowing that.

Well I’m here to say that he more than “liked it” Grandpa —he chased it like you!

My great-grandfather Peter has always been a mystery to my family because he died so young. But thanks to a story written in 1939 by a writer named Frank Diamond, a newfound light has been shed on him that cements an unmistakable love of baseball that now transcends four generations of Dahlgrens.

*Matt Dahlgren is the author of Rumor In Town: A Grandson’s Promise to Right a Wrong. To order your copy visit www.rumorintown.com.

Griffith Stadium opened in 1911 and, at the time was called National Park (sounds familiar.) In 1920 National Park was renamed Clark Griffith Stadium for the long-time owner of the Washington Nats/Senators (more commonly known as Griffith Stadium.)

This blog will not touch on the wonderful 1920′s – early 1930′s of the ball club. That period has been carefully documented in several outstanding books – Walter Johnson, Baseball’s Big Train by Hank Thomas (Walter Johnson’s grandson), Damn Senators by Mark Judge (Joe Judge’s grandson) and The Wrecking Crew of ’33 by Gary Sarnoff. These (3) books capture the time of Washington DC’s place in the major league baseball sun! In 1924, a World Series championship, 1925 an American League championship and another American League championship in 1933.

This “blog” will focus more on the significant role played by Griffith Stadium, Clark Griffith and some of the talented baseball players who called Griffith Stadium “home.” Please note I said baseball players as some of the greatest players in professional baseball history played at Griffith Stadium and were not members of the Washington Nats/Senators. Of course, I’m referring to the Homestead Grays including Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard – after many years, finally recognized by the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

The Nats/Senators of the WWII era were managed by “The Boy Wonder” Bucky Harris and later Ossie Bluege. There were several outstanding ballplayers during those years and the team itself just missed out on a possible AL championship on the last day of the 1945 season – thanks to a grand slam home run by Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Browns.

In my opinion, to completely understand the significance of Griffith Stadium, one needs to look at the legendary ballplayers who performed there – of course, probably the greatest pitcher of all time – Walter Johnson, his long-time friend and roommate Clyde Milan, Hall of Famers Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, and later Harmon Killebrew and two players whom I believe have been overlooked by Cooperstown – Joe Judge and Mickey Vernon – and, of course, “the Old Fox”, Mr. Clark Griffith! And not only Washington players – how about Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige – the list could go on and on! Baseball history occurred at Griffith Stadium – yet today, Griffith Stadium is just a memory!

One of the most significant aspects of the long and legendary history of Griffith Stadium and a tradition that I’m afraid has ended – “the throwing out of the first ball” by the President of The United States. This time-honored ritual was first performed by President Taft in, I believe, 1911 and from that time up until John F. Kennedy in 1961 at Griffith Stadium – every Chief Executive looked forward to the Opening Day “toss.” And, who should receive credit for this tradition? None other than Clark Griffith!. In addition to his roll in the “Presidential Opener” it was Clark Griffith who was instrumental in keeping baseball “alive” during WWII. In what has become known as the “Green Light” letter from President Roosevelt to then baseball commissioner Judge Landis in 1943 – Clark Griffith with his frequent visits and personal relationship with Mr. Roosevelt was able to convince FDR that major league baseball should continue for the morale of the country during the darkest days of the Second World War.

That brings us to a subject that has been discussed for many years. During WWII, major league ballplayers were to be called to military service the same as any other American citizen – and if a player was declared 4F by his draft board and therefore unfit for military service, that player would work in the off season in a defense related industry. In my opinion, there is no question that the talent level of major league baseball was diminished during WWII – however the game did continue as the President stated in his “Green Light” letter – “I honestly feel it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.”

The Washington Nats/Senators were deeply impacted as were many other major league ballclubs by military service “call-ups.” Just about everyone knows that Bob Feller was an anti-aircraft gunner on the USS Alabama and that Ted Williams was a Marine Crops flight instructor during WWII. However, today – who remembers that Cecil Travis, the great Washington shortstop and probably destined to be considered for the Hall of Fame, would have his feet frozen in the Battle of the Bulge and never regain his pre-war form? Or that Buddy Lewis would fly “The Hump” in Burma, or that Bert Shepard would be shot down over Germany and as a POW would have his leg partially amputated by German doctors and yet return to pitch in a major league game at Griffith Stadium? Or that Elmer Gedeon, of the 1939 Washington team would make the “ultimate sacrifice” – being killed during the war? I’m afraid that these painful memories are probably unknown to today’s Washington baseball fans – yet this was a piece of Washington baseball history that should not be forgotten!

Of course there were other Washington players who served their country including Mickey Vernon, Dutch Leonard and Stan Spence – great players who interrupted their major league careers in order to help preserve our way of life.

One other note of historical significance with regard to Griffith Stadium and major league baseball – and, by the way, this “blog” is not about the many political and religious events held at Griffith Stadium over the years nor is it about championship prize fights or the Washington Redskins – it is about baseball! In 1945, for the “home opener” the Nats/Senators honored three of the surviving Iwo Jima “flag-raisers” and were escorted to their box seats by Clatk Griffith and then Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn.

Griffith Stadium is no more – but the historic events that happened there should never be forgotten! While we remember – and rightly so – “Washington Crossing The Delaware,” the Civil War, Veterans Day, The Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, D Day, VE Day, VJ Day, Korea, JFK, MLK, Vietnam, the end of the “Cold War”, 9/11, The Gulf Wars – we should also remember Griffith Stadium and the the unique role that Griffith Stadium played – certainly not of the historical significance of the great events of our nation but still of great importance to the lives of baseball fans in our Nation’s Capital.

In the early days of baseball, the players played baseball because they “loved the game” – maybe they were a tough, no nonsense brand of person – often uneducated and unfortunately, up until Jackie Robinson, all white! However, my opinion they all had a deep respect for the game and its history. I do not believe that in most instances, today’s ballplayers have that same respect for baseball. The salaries are SO HUGE that I believe money has really gotten in the way of the “love of the game.”

For many years, baseball players were educated on the ball fields – as kids, they played ball on the sandlots, in the streets, cornfields, wherever they could make a diamond – they didn’t have travel teams, parental pressures, year round training, batting cages etc. They learned to play ball by playing – it was a GAME! I don’t think it is viewed by youngsters as a game today. This is not to say, today’s players are not better – I believe they are – physically – and with a much greater skill level – bigger, faster, stronger and, if they attend college, are often coached by former professional ballplayers and today college baseball is often a stepping stone to a major league career whereas in the past, few ballplayers attended college and had to climb the minor league “ladder” before making it to the “majors.”

This being said, however, I do not believe the majority of today’s players are as fundamentally sound as they were in the past. Youngsters in the past learned the game by playing – all the time, unless of course, it was snowing or raining or too cold! Today, drive by playgrounds and ball fields – they are empty unless there is a practice or a game scheduled. That is not a good sign for the future of baseball!

Another topic is equipment. From the earliest days of baseball, kids played the game with whatever equipment they could find – taped up balls, bats, borrowed gloves, cardboard for bases, special rules if they did not have enough players (right field “out”) somebody catching for both teams or pitching for both teams, choosing up sides etc. The bats were always wood so kids learned to hit a baseball with a wood bat just like the big leaguers! Today, kids grow up playing with metal bats and never use a wooden bat (unless they play in the summer in a collegiate wooden bat league.) And, they are playing often on youth league stadiums that were unheard of in the early days of the game – lights, dugouts, concession stands, public address announcers and in the case of the Little League World Series – television coverage that rivals major league baseball coverage – replays, video, interviews etc!

Baseball gloves are another example of how baseball has changed – in the early days of baseball, gloves were very small and in the very early days, were not even used. As the years went by, gloves became larger and in the 1950′s glove technology made great strides! However with the gloves that are available today, I’m not certain that many of today’s players, if they had to play with yesterday’s gloves, would be able to do so – obviously there would be exceptions as there are certainly many exceptional players today!

Uniforms are so much different also. In the early days of baseball, players had to play in wool flannel uniforms regardless of the temperature – often on a hot day in the middle of summer and sometimes playing doubleheaders without the benefit of air conditioning – you can imagine how much weight would be lost! And players wore their uniforms pretty much the same way – mid calf and with black, yellow back kangaroo shoes shined daily by club house boys – often you see today’s players with their baseball pants all the way down to their shoe tops – also baseball players wore white “sanitary hose” under their baseball stockings with “stirrups” – that style seems to be almost a thing of the past! And the prevalence of day games or if a night game, with somewhat primitive lighting and on grass fields that were often “doctored” up by the ground crews to serve the “home team.” The fields and stadiums at all levels today are so much superior although I’m not certain the playing of the game from a fundamentals aspect is that much superior – in fact, in my opinion, it might not be as good – baserunning mistakes, throwing to the wrong base, missing the cut-off man just some examples – although obviously, these are mistakes that have happened over the years – I personally think they just happen more often today!

And, again in my opinion – pitch counts and the DH – did not exist in the past and I think have changed how the game is played. In an earlier time, starting pitchers were expected to start and finish games – that is what they were paid to do. There was a bullpen to be used if a pitcher was getting “hit” but there were no short relievers, long relievers, “set up men” and closers – today’s game, many times will see at least (4) pitchers. And the game was the same as played in both leagues – pitchers were expected to hit and many times, if a pitcher was a good hitter, he would be used as a pinch hitter! As you can probably tell – I am NO FAN of the DH – either use it in both leagues OR DO NOT USE IT in either league!

One other change I’d like to discuss – if you see black/white footage or photos from an earlier time, most everyone who went to see a ball game was dressed – men, and the majority of fans in the early days, seemed to be men, wore coat and tie and a hat – in the warm months – a straw hat, the colder months a topcoat and “dress hat.” I’m not certain when fan shops came into being in the major leagues, but from whatever that time, casual dress and fan attire now seems to be the “norm.”

In closing, I understand the economics of the game – free agency and television and TV money have changed baseball dramatically since the early days when you either attended a ballgame in person or listened to it on the radio or read about it the next day in the newspaper. I also understand why metal bats are used – the cost of a metal bat compared to the number of wooden bats that would be needed because of breakage is no comparison – HOWEVER, hitting a baseball with a wooden bat has a totally different outcome than hitting a baseball with a metal bat. And today, there are youngsters playing college baseball or who will play professional baseball, who HAVE NEVER hit with a wood bat!

Again, just some of my opinions about the game we all love – as the son of a former major league ballplayer, I just may have been around the game a little longer and have noticed so many differences from the time when I was a youngster and baseball was SO IMPORTANT to all of us in America – it was our NATIONAL PASTIME!

The minor leagues were much different as well – there were numerous teams and league classifications.

AAA
AA
A
B
C
D

Today, there are far fewer leagues and classification in the “minors.”

AAA
AA
A (short season)

Often players would sign with a certain team and be brought up “through the ranks” of that particular team.  To give you an example – one I’m obviously very familiar with.

In 1936, my father graduated from The Peddie School in Hightstown NJ.  My dad attended Peddie as a post-grad having graduated from Trenton High School in 1934.  My father was trying to decide on whether to attend Brown University on a baseball scholarship or to become a professional baseball player.  After a standout baseball career at Peddie, my father was invited to attend a tryout at Shibe Park (later known as Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia under the watchful eye of non-other than the legendary Mr. Mack.

At the time my dad was a pitcher and second baseman, however Mr. Mack seeing his foot speed as well as his hitting ability, suggested to my father that he should consider switching to the outfield and while the A’s at the time were well stocked with outfielders, Connie Mack advised his good friend Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators to sign my dad to a professional baseball contract.

In 1936 my dad signed his first contract and was assigned to the Trenton Senators of the NYP League – a rather unique experience for a professional ballplayer to be playing his first years of baseball in his “home town” – in fact, when the Trenton Senators played at home, my father was able to live “at home.”

My dad would play with the Trenton Senators in 1936-37 and would be called up to Washington in September of 1937 and would play major league baseball until 1947 when injury forced his premature retirement that year.

During the time that my father played major league baseball, the players would sign one-year contracts which they negotiated directly with either the GM or owner of the team.  There were NO agents and NO long term contracts and NO such thing as free agency.  Now it has been said that players were bound to the team that employed them – which was true – either you played for the team that offered you your contract each year – or you didn’t play!  However, to the best of my knowledge, there were very few, if any players, who decided not to play – they were being paid quite well for the time and many felt very fortunate in being paid to play a game that many had played since childhood!

This is not to say there were no salary disputes – as there often were!  Players would demand to be paid a certain amount and the owner or GM would offer them a certain amount and if the player did not like what was being offered – he would decide to “hold-out.”  This was a regular occurrence during that era – sometimes the player would hold out and at the last minute he would sign or if the ball club thought highly of that particular player the team would meet the salary demand.  Often the offer of the ballclub to the specific player would be based on the performance of that player during the previous season.  However, in the case of the Washington Senators, often a player would have had a good previous season but the team might have had a poor performance on the field and at “the gate” resulting in a rather lengthy “hold-out” until some kind of compromise was reached!

Several other major differences between WWII era major league baseball and today’s game.  A 154 game schedule, no wild card, divisional and league championship series – the winner of the American League would play the winner of the National League in the World Series.  Most games were played during the day as night baseball was only played occasionally – the first night All-Star game was held at Shibe Park in Philadelphia in 1943.  Another major difference – doubleheaders – during the WWII era and before – doubleheaders were regularly scheduled – often on Sundays and almost always on certain national holidays – such as Memorial Day. July 4th and Labor Day

And length of games – often major league games would be in the neighborhood of two hours with starting pitchers pitching complete games (unless of course, they were being “shelled”).  There would be no pitch counts, and both leagues would play by pretty much the same rules – pitchers were expected to hit and many times, pitchers who were excellent hitters, would be used as pinch hitters.  In other words the DH did not exist!

Of course, there was virtually NO TELEVISION – just about all games had to be followed either at the ballpark or on the radio and The Sporting News was known as the “Bible of Baseball – players and fans would pour over statistics and the previous game coverage in the daily newspapers would bring the written word to millions the next morning.

In my opinion, the skill level of today’s players is much greater however I believe the “love of the game” and the knowledge of baseball fundamentals is much less that in an earlier time.

I believe the game of baseball is timeless – 9 innings, 9 players on a side, 3 strikes, 4 balls, 3 outs per inning, 90’ between bases, 60’6” pitcher’s mound to home plate – but today’s game is much different from yesterday’s game!

At one time baseball was our national pastime – I’m not certain that can be said today!

I’m happy to include Ed Johnson’s blog on our Timeless Baseball website as baseball history certainly is timeless!  There is a direct timeline from Walter Johnson and major league baseball to today’s game and I’m pleased to include Ed Johnson’s “blog” as evidence of that connection – enjoy!

It’s been quite some time since George asked me to write an entry for his blog. Life has a funny way of sending you on detours, which happened to me before when I first got to know George.

A bit of background: Having been born during the Kennedy Administration I’m too young to recall the original Washington American League franchise (let’s call them “Nats v1.0″). I did follow the expansion Senators (“Nats v2.0″) but maybe not as closely as I should have. I can’t claim to have been at the infamous final game in September 1971; in fact I never attended an expansion Senators game at all. (The closest I came was during a visit to an injured relative in Walter Reed Army Hospital in 1969, when my family had more important things to do with our time than go to a baseball game.) I do remember them leaving for Texas and not understanding why.

Fast forward to the early 1990s when, after a few years in the Northeast working in the pharmaceutical industry I decided to go to law school and ended up enrolling at George Washington University. During my time at GW, Major League Baseball flirted with Washington twice. First there was the rumor that John McMullen was going to sell the Houston Astros to a group that would move them into RFK Stadium. When that didn’t happen there was a push for Washington or Northern Virginia to get one of the two expansion franchises that would join the National League – franchises which ultimately were awarded to Denver and Miami.

All this revived my interest in Washington’s baseball past, particularly why the District lost two major league franchises. One thing led to another and I got involved with the Washington Baseball Historical Society. Through the WBHS I got to know a lot of great people including Walter Johnson’s grandson, Hank Thomas. Along with Tom Simon and Neal McCabe I helped edit Hank’s Walter Johnson: Baseball’s Big Train, which I still look on as one of my greatest accomplishments in life. I also began to research heavily to write my own book about Washington baseball and to contribute to the WBHS newsletter, Nats News.

It was also through WBHS that I got to know George. Living as I did in the same town as the Case family, I already knew of his dad not only as the long-time Nats star but also as a fixture in the metropolitan Trenton, New Jersey community. George and I began to work together closely on a number of projects, most notable among which was a museum exhibit on baseball in Trenton that coincided with the return of minor league baseball to that city in 1994. It wasn’t long after that the pressures of trying to develop a law practice took me away from combining work and play while delving into Washington’s baseball past.

As a result, that baseball book never got written. Given that we now have major league baseball (“Nats v3.0″) in Washington again, it never may. It’s nice that Washington baseball fans don’t have to live in the past anymore, but knowing about that past can help temper our expectations about its future while still enjoying the present. With this post I hope I can contribute to George’s blog from time to time and offer a healthy dose of perspective.

From: Ed Johnson

By DICK HELLER

In 126 years of major league baseball, only one non-pitcher named Case has appeared — and you could make a case for him as one of the original Washington Senators’ greatest players ever. George Washington Case Jr. played outfield for the Senators for most of an 11-year career (1937-47) cut short at 32 by injury. He was a fine defensive player and a line-drive hitter who batted .300 three times, had a lifetime average of .282 and once had nine hits in a doubleheader.

But that isn’t what old-timers remember about Case. They remember that he was a genius on the bases, an intriguing blend of speed and savvy who led the American League in steals six times. Five of them were consecutive (1939-43), with a high of 61 in ’43. His career totals of 349 steals in 458 attempts, or 76 percent, will do in anybody’s league. Oddly, though, one of Case’s most memorable moments did not come in a ballgame or while he was playing for the Senators. It occurred in August 1946, when he visited Washington’s Griffith Stadium during his one season as a member of the Cleveland Indians.

That was a remarkable season for the Senators, or at least as remarkable as seasons got in Washington. They drew a million fans at home for the first time and finished fourth, their last visit ever to the American League’s old first division. And first baseman Mickey Vernon, who had hit .268 in his previous season of 1943, beat out Ted Williams for the league batting title with an average of .353.

In those days, cash-strapped clubs like the Senators tried all sorts of gimmicks to boost attendance, and on the night of Aug. 21, Washington owner Clark Griffith had a couple of pregame stunts that attracted 24,123 customers – undoubtedly the club’s largest crowd since President Harry Truman had thrown out the first ball on Opening Day.

The first stunt had Cleveland’s Bob Feller, baseball’s best pitcher, hurling his legendary fastball through an Army device that clocked Rapid Robert at 98.6 mph. The second was an eagerly awaited match race between Case, 30, and Washington rookie Gil Coan, 22. That morning Washington Post sports columnist Shirley Povich had written, “The Case-Coan race has excited Washington fans like no other event in recent years. Who is the faster? It is a question that has been building since young Coan came out of the Southern Association last spring, preceded by tall tales of his speed.” Griffith “bought” the race for only $500 and asked Cleveland owner Bill Veeck to contribute a third of the $1,000 purse. Said the uninhibited Veeck: “Shucks, I’ll pay half. It’s worth it.”

Understandably, Griffith had mixed emotions, with one of his all-time favorite employees being challenged by a member of his current team. “I’d like to see Coan win,” Griff said, “but I never thought I’d live to see the man who could beat Case.” He wouldn’t see it this time either. Case had never lost a match race to a ballplayer – such events were fairly common then – and no whippersnapper like Coan was going to break his, er, streak (pun intended).

Available accounts of the race are somewhat sketchy, but Case won it by flashing down the 100-yard straightaway in 10 seconds flat while wearing baseball spikes, beating Coan by six feet.

Case led Coan from the second stride, gaining a 6-foot margin. Coan moved up slightly at the halfway mark, but Case then pulled away again to preserve his cherished reputation as the fastest man in baseball.

And now there was a special reward for Case, in addition to the $1,000 purse. Immediately afterward, he was summoned to a box seat where he received a handshake and a big grin from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. Everybody may have liked Ike, but Ike liked George Case. “I met David Eisenhower some years ago, and he told me his grandfather talked about my dad all the time and came to the ballpark that night specifically to see the race,” said Case’s son, George W. Case III. “My dad was a reserved man, very humble, but he was proud of his natural speed.”

Perhaps that night’s game seemed an anticlimax after the race. Case, leading off for the Indians, went 0-for-5 as Washington’s Early Wynn bested Cleveland’s Bob Lemon 4-3 in a pitching duel between future Indians teammates and Hall of Famers. And, oh yes, the game was played in 2:01.

At the time, Veeck talked of staging a mid-September rematch between Case and Coan in Cleveland, but it never happened. Instead Case raced against 1936 Olympic hero Jesse Owens at Muncipal Stadium – and lost. Owens, wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform and spikes, did the 100 in 9.9. Case again ran 10-flat.

“Afterward, my dad challenged Jesse to race him around the bases,” Case III said. “Jesse said no way.”

The match race in Washington proved to be the highlight of Case’s 1946 season. Hampered by injuries, he batted just .225 in 118 games for the Indians, although his 28 stolen bases earned him a sixth league title. The following spring, Griffith called Case and told him he was “bringing you home” to the Senators. But Case played only 36 more games for Washington in ’47, batting .150 and stealing five bases.

One day that June, Case bent to pick up a grounder in the outfield and found he couldn’t straighten up. He was carried off the field, and doctors at Johns Hopkins told him his career was over because of scar tissue from a previous back injury. All the years of sliding finally had taken their toll.

“Nowadays, they probably could have treated him and he would have kept on playing,” Case III said. “It was a shock. He was only 32, he loved baseball, and suddenly his career was over.”

So Case went home to New Jersey and opened a sporting goods store in Trenton. He also coached baseball for 10 years at Rutgers, managed Hawaii in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League and was third-base coach for manager Vernon with the expansion Senators from 1961 to ’63. In 1989, Case died of emphysema at 73. Some months later, he was enshrined in the Hall of Stars at RFK Stadium, his name looking down from the mezzanine with those of other great Washington athletes.

Coan, his rival on Aug. 21, 1946, failed to attain similar success. He batted .254 for 11 seasons with Washington and three other teams, achieving notoriety only because (a) his name is listed two spots before Ty Cobb’s in the Baseball Encyclopedia and (b) because the Senators obtained longtime slugger Roy Sievers when they traded Coan to Baltimore in 1954.

George Case III, who was only 7 when his father retired, carries on the family’s proud baseball tradition as executive director of the Society for American Baseball Research. And when SABR’s statistical wizards prowl through box scores of the ’30s and ’40s, they won’t find a better baserunner than his old man.

I was very fortunate to have literally “grown up” at Griffith Stadium in Washington DC, where my dad had patrolled the outfield for the Washington Senators from 1937-45 and again in 1947.

As a baby (I was born in 1940), my mother would take me to ball games and I would fall asleep in her arms. As I grew older, I couldn’t wait to got to a ball game – the players whom I all knew – Mickey Vernon, Walter Masterson, Buddy Myer, Rick Ferrell, Stan Spence, Buddy Lewis, Cecil Travis, Dutch Leonard, Sid Hudson, Ray Scarborough, Early Wynn and other Washington baseball “legends” including Bucky Harris, Ossie Bluege, Nick Altrock, Bennie Bengough, Clyde Milan, and of course, Mr. Griffith were all like family to me.

To this day, I can still see the green grass, hear the noise of the crowd, see the light towers during a night game against a blackened sky and recall the wonderful smell of baking bread – all part of my “growing up at Griffith Stadium.”

I also remember taking a trolley with my mother right to the ballpark. As a player, my father would have to go to the stadium early. After the game, I often would go with my dad into the Washington clubhouse and then we would go to our car, parked just outside the clubhouse, where many fans would be waiting for autographs of their favorite Washington players – after a win, no problem, although after a tough loss or a particularly bad game, many players were not inclined to spend a lot of time “signing”!

In 1961, the last year Griffith Stadium would be used for baseball, prior to the completion of DC (RFK) Stadium, I had the opportunity to “work out” with the “expansion” Senators at Griffith Stadium. At that time, I was a 20 year old student at Rutgers University and my dad was the third base coach for “Uncle” Mickey Vernon – of course, Mickey Vernon is widely regarded as the finest first baseman in the long history of Washington baseball and two-time AL batting champion.

I will never forget the thrill of putting on a Senators uniform and being on the same field where my father had played for so many years and where so much of Washington sports history had actually happened – Clark Griffith, Walter Johnson, Goose Goslin, Joe Judge, Sam Rice, the 1924-25, 1933championship years, Harmon Killebrew – the opposing players – Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Williams, Mantle, Berra and many, many others – all had played on this very field – in this very stadium! At that point, I knew how fortunate I was to have had that wonderful opportunity!

Let’s take a look at 1939 and what was happening in the world – war clouds had started to gather over Europe with the Nazi conquest of Poland. In just a few short years, the entire world would be in flames and major league baseball would be significantly affected –but that’s a subject I have already touched on in my previous blogs.

This blog is specifically about LOU GEHRIG – “THE IRON HORSE”

1939 would prove to be a good season for my father, George Case Jr. He batted .302 in his second full season with the Washington Senators and he began his major league record (at the time) of five consecutive years leading both major leagues in stolen bases. My father was named to the American League All Star team along with the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe, Luke Appling and “Indian” Bob Johnson against a National League contingent featuring Mel Ott, “Big Jawn” Mize, “Ducky” Medwick, Enos “Country” Slaughter, Lonnie Fry, Harry Danning and “Cookie Lavagetto.

This game featuring many of baseball’ greatest stars and future Hall of Famer’s would once again prove to be a victory for the “Junior Circuit” which had dominated All Star games since the game was established in 1933. The “mid-summer” classic had been the brainchild of Arch Ward, at the time, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune. The American League would be victorious in five of the first seven All Star games played through 1939.

However, 1939 would not be a good year for the Washington Senators as the team finished in 6th place in the American League with 65 wins against 87 losses, well behind the eventual World series Champion, NY Yankees who dominated the American League with a 106-45 record – one of the all-time great NY Yankee teams!

1939 would also not be a good year for the world in general, with the increasing possibility of war and for baseball, in particular, as the year would always be remembered when Lou Gehrig was forced to say good-bye to major league baseball.

My father and Lou Gehrig were quite friendly, even though they were competitors. Lou, as the Yankees first baseman and my father, being the Senators lead-off man spent quite a bit of time together “on the field.” My dad carried with him, for all of his life, his “Lou Gehrig scar” – apparently from an errant pick-off throw when Lou had to jump to reach and came down on my father’s leg!

At the beginning of the 1939 season, many of the American League players were puzzled by the rapid deterioration in Lou’s skills. It is a well-known fact that all athletes will lose their athletic ability over time but in Gehrig’s case, the decline was dramatic and swift. On April 30th, 1939 Lou Gehrig would play his final major league game in a 3-2 loss to Washington at Yankee Stadium – I have been told, although I cannot verify this with certainty, that my father caught the last ball ever hit by Lou Gehrig in the major leagues – a fly ball to centerfield.

On May 2, 1939, in Detroit, following an off day, Lou Gehrig would take himself out of the Yankees line-up – an amazing streak of 2,130 consecutive games coming to an end!

In June of that fateful year, Lou was diagnosed by doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, as having ALS ( to always be known later as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.) Two weeks later, Lou Gehrig would be honored by the NY Yankees at Yankee Stadium and would give his famous “Luckiest Man” speech. As the Yankees were playing a doubleheader that day – July 4, 1939, my father was lined up with his Washington Senators teammates along the first base line – he would later tell me that ALL of the players on both teams had tears in their eyes for this great player and even greater human being as he said good-bye to the game he loved!

That same year, Lou Gehrig was named by Joe McCarthy as the honorary captain of the 1939 American League All Star team and in less than two years, Lou Gehrig passed away – just before his 38th birthday – major league baseball and all of America had lost a “hero.” In the years to come, unfortunately, many more “heroes” would be lost – not on the ball fields but on the battlefields!

The great, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate of the UK, penned these famous words in his poem, Locksley Hall….and as baseball players and fans for many generations have added…..and baseball!

With the 2011 spring training season “just around the corner” I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the history of this annual baseball ritual.

As most fans know, today there are two spring training leagues – the Florida “Grapefruit League” and the Arizona “Cactus” League. What many of today’s baseball fans might not realize is that the tradition of spring training in Florida and Arizona dates back to the early years of the 20th Century!

In Florida, the tradition began with an exhibition game between the Cincinnati Reds and the semi-pro St. Petersburg Saints. Then in 1913, the Chicago Cubs arrived in Tampa for the region’s FIRST spring training. In Arizona minor league teams began playing exhibition games in the area before the start of their regular season. However, it is noteworthy, that it wasn’t until 1946, when Bill Veeck took over the ownership of the Cleveland Indians that the Cactus League began to take shape when Veeck convinced New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham to begin training in Arizona as well.

In 1913, only two major league teams trained in Florida – the Cubs in Tampa and the Indians in Pensacola. However, in a very short period of time, several other teams began training in “The Sunshine State.”
The Cubs in Tampa, the St. Louis Browns in St. Petersburg, the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Augustine and the Philadelphia Athletics in Jacksonville.

The tradition of spring training in Florida for major league baseball teams “runs deep.” According to a 1998 article – St. Petersburg and Tampa – 87 years, Bradenton and Clearwater – 76 years, Lakeland 75 years, Sarasota 74 years, Fort Myers 64 years, West Palm Beach 63 years, Orlando, 62 years, Vero Beach 58 years, and Winter Haven 55 years.

Now, from personal experience, as the son of a major league baseball player, I can tell you how ballplayers have always looked forward to spring training – probably not so much the physical aspect of conditioning but to the “love of the game” – being out in the sunshine and being paid to play a “kids” game once again!

In the DVD “Around the League 1939-46” you will see COLOR footage of the Washington Senators at their spring training facility at Tinker Field in Orlando – certainly primitive by today’s standards however all of the players of that era, couldn’t wait to take the field again in their “home away from home.”

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, due to travel restrictions during WWII, major league teams were unable to train in Florida and it was not until 1946, following the end of WWII, that teams were allowed to resume their preparations for the upcoming season in a warm climate.

And, the cry of ‘Play Ball” will once again be heard this spring in Florida and Arizona – and the 2011 major league season will soon be here!