| 1961 Washington Senators | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| League | American League | |||
| Ballpark | Griffith Stadium | |||
| City | Washington, D.C. | |||
| Record | 61–100 (.379) | |||
| League place | 9th | |||
| Owners | Elwood Richard Quesada | |||
| General managers | Ed Doherty | |||
| Managers | Mickey Vernon | |||
| Television | WTOP | |||
| Radio | WTOP (Dan Daniels,John MacLean) | |||
| ||||
The1961Washington Senators season was the team's inaugural season, having been established as a replacement for theprevious franchise of the same name, which relocated to theTwin Cities ofMinnesota following the1960 season, becoming theMinnesota Twins. The Senators finished in a tie for ninth place in the ten-teamAmerican League with a record of 61–100,47+1⁄2 games behind the World ChampionNew York Yankees. It was also the team's only season atGriffith Stadium before moving its games toD.C. Stadium for the following season. Theexpansion team drew 597,287 fans, tenth and last in the circuit.[1] The old Senators had drawn 743,404 fans in 1960.
The Senators, along with theLos Angeles Angels, were the first everAmerican Leagueexpansion teams. Both teams participated inMajor League Baseball's first everexpansion draft. The Senators used their first pick in the1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft to selectpitcherBobby Shantz from theNew York Yankees (while the Angels pickedEli Grba). Grba wound up playing two-plus seasons for Los Angeles before returning to the minor leagues. However, Shantz never played for the Senators, as he was traded just two days later to thePittsburgh Pirates forHarry Bright,Bennie Daniels, andR. C. Stevens,[2] all of whom played for the Senators in 1961.
A 1992 Associated Press article which looked prospectively to the Rockies and Marlins expansion draft and retroactively at previous expansion drafts stated: "The Senators drafted for experience and got burned when players such as Dave Sisler, John Klippstein, Tom Sturdivant, Dale Long, Bobby Klaus and Gene Woodling didn't produce."[3]
As an expansion team, the Senators were not expected to do well. They finished tied for last in the league with theKansas City Athletics. They also finished 9 games behind their expansion brethren, theAngels. One bright spot was pitcherDick Donovan, who led the American League inearned run average andWHIP, making the All-Star team and finishing 17th in league MVP voting.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 109 | 53 | .673 | — | 65–16 | 44–37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 101 | 61 | .623 | 8 | 50–31 | 51–30 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 95 | 67 | .586 | 14 | 48–33 | 47–34 |
| Chicago White Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 23 | 53–28 | 33–48 |
| Cleveland Indians | 78 | 83 | .484 | 30½ | 40–41 | 38–42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 86 | .469 | 33 | 50–31 | 26–55 |
| Minnesota Twins | 70 | 90 | .438 | 38 | 36–44 | 34–46 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 70 | 91 | .435 | 38½ | 46–36 | 24–55 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 61 | 100 | .379 | 47½ | 33–47 | 28–53 |
| Washington Senators | 61 | 100 | .379 | 47½ | 33–46 | 28–54 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WAS | |||
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 9–9–1 | 14–4 | |||
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 9–9 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7–1 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 10–8 | |||
| Chicago | 7–11 | 9–9 | — | 12–6 | 6–12 | 14–4 | 10–8 | 9–9–1 | 6–12 | 13–5 | |||
| Cleveland | 9–9 | 13–5 | 6–12 | — | 6–12 | 8–9 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 4–14 | 12–6 | |||
| Detroit | 9–9 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 12–6 | — | 12–6–1 | 14–4 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 13–5 | |||
| Kansas City | 5–13 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 9–8 | 6–12–1 | — | 9–9 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 9–9 | |||
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 7–11–1 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 9–9 | — | 8–9 | 6–12 | 10–8 | |||
| Minnesota | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–9–1 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 11–7 | 9–8 | — | 4–14 | 8–9 | |||
| New York | 9–9–1 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 14–4 | 10–8 | 14–4 | 12–6 | 14–4 | — | 11–7 | |||
| Washington | 4–14 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 6–12 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–8 | 7–11 | — | |||
In the first game in franchise history, the "Presidential Opener" then held every year inWashington, the Senators were defeated by theChicago White Sox, 4–3, on Monday, April 10, 1961. With leadoff manCoot Veal getting its first-everhit (an infieldsingle) in the firstinning, Washington jumped out to a quick 2–0 advantage and led 3–1 after two innings. But the Senators were blanked thereafter and committed fourerrors, leading to twounearned runs, as Chicago battled back to win.Roy Sievers, former star of theprevious Washington franchise, drove in a pair of White Soxruns with ahome run and asacrifice fly.[7] It was the last Presidential Opener in the history ofGriffith Stadium, and the first one in whichJohn F. Kennedy threw out the first ball.
| 5 | Coot Veal | SS |
| 6 | Billy Klaus | 3B |
| 9 | Marty Keough | RF |
| 25 | Dale Long | 1B |
| 14 | Gene Woodling | LF |
| 1 | Willie Tasby | CF |
| 4 | Danny O'Connell | 2B |
| 8 | Pete Daley | C |
| 20 | Dick Donovan | P[8] |
| 1961 Washington Senators | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders | Manager Coaches | ||||||
| = Indicates team leader |
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Gene Green | 110 | 364 | 102 | .280 | 18 | 62 |
| 1B | Dale Long | 123 | 377 | 94 | .249 | 17 | 49 |
| 2B | Chuck Cottier | 101 | 337 | 79 | .234 | 2 | 34 |
| SS | Coot Veal | 69 | 218 | 44 | .202 | 0 | 8 |
| 3B | Danny O'Connell | 138 | 493 | 128 | .260 | 1 | 37 |
| LF | Chuck Hinton | 106 | 339 | 88 | .260 | 6 | 34 |
| CF | Willie Tasby | 141 | 494 | 124 | .251 | 17 | 63 |
| RF | Gene Woodling | 110 | 342 | 107 | .313 | 10 | 57 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marty Keough | 135 | 390 | 97 | .249 | 9 | 34 |
| Jim King | 110 | 263 | 71 | .270 | 11 | 46 |
| Billy Klaus | 91 | 251 | 57 | .227 | 7 | 30 |
| Bob Johnson | 61 | 224 | 66 | .295 | 6 | 28 |
| Pete Daley | 72 | 203 | 39 | .192 | 2 | 17 |
| Harry Bright | 72 | 183 | 44 | .240 | 4 | 21 |
| Bud Zipfel | 50 | 170 | 34 | .200 | 4 | 18 |
| Jim Mahoney | 43 | 108 | 26 | .241 | 0 | 6 |
| R.C. Stevens | 33 | 62 | 8 | .129 | 0 | 2 |
| Ken Retzer | 16 | 53 | 18 | .340 | 1 | 3 |
| Joe Hicks | 12 | 29 | 5 | .172 | 1 | 1 |
| Dutch Dotterer | 7 | 19 | 5 | .263 | 0 | 1 |
| Ron Stillwell | 8 | 16 | 2 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
| Ed Brinkman | 4 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Chet Boak | 5 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe McClain | 33 | 212.0 | 8 | 18 | 3.86 | 76 |
| Bennie Daniels | 32 | 212.0 | 12 | 11 | 3.44 | 110 |
| Dick Donovan | 23 | 168.2 | 10 | 10 | 2.40 | 62 |
| Ed Hobaugh | 26 | 126.1 | 7 | 9 | 4.42 | 67 |
| Tom Sturdivant | 15 | 80.0 | 2 | 6 | 4.61 | 39 |
| Hal Woodeshick | 7 | 40.1 | 3 | 2 | 4.02 | 24 |
| Claude Osteen | 3 | 18.1 | 1 | 1 | 4.91 | 14 |
| Héctor Maestri | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 1.50 | 2 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marty Kutyna | 50 | 143.0 | 6 | 8 | 3.97 | 64 |
| Pete Burnside | 33 | 113.1 | 4 | 9 | 4.53 | 56 |
| John Gabler | 29 | 92.2 | 3 | 8 | 4.86 | 33 |
| Tom Cheney | 10 | 29.2 | 1 | 3 | 8.80 | 20 |
| Carl Mathias | 4 | 13.2 | 0 | 1 | 11.20 | 7 |
| Carl Bouldin | 2 | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 16.20 | 2 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Sisler | 45 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 4.18 | 30 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 42 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6.78 | 41 |
| Mike Garcia | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.74 | 14 |
| Rudy Hernández | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 | 4 |
| Roy Heiser | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.35 | 1 |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | Pensacola Angels | Alabama–Florida League | Archie Wilson |
| D | Middlesboro Senators | Appalachian League | Lew Morton |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Middlesboro
1961 American LeagueERA leader