1955 Washington Senators season

The 1955 Washington Senators season was the franchise's 55th in Major League Baseball. The Senators won 53 games, lost 101, and finished in eighth and last place in the American League. They were managed by Chuck Dressen and played home games at Griffith Stadium, where they draw 425,238 fans, eighth and last in the American League and 16th and last in MLB.[1]

1955 Washington Senators
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Clark Griffith (majority owner)
Manager(s)Chuck Dressen
Local televisionWTTG
Local radioWWDC (FM)
(Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Les Sands)
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It was Dressen's first year as the Senators' manager, after Bucky Harris had led the 1954 club to a 66–88, sixth place finish. Dressen, 60, came to Washington two years removed from a highly successful three-year term as skipper of the Brooklyn Dodgers, where his teams finished in a dead heat for first in 1951 (losing the 1951 National League tie-breaker series on Bobby Thomson's famous home run), then won back-to-back NL titles in 1952 and 1953. But in each of the latter seasons, his Dodgers were defeated by the New York Yankees in the World Series, and when Dressen decided to demand a three-year contract to return to Brooklyn for 1954, his owner, Walter O'Malley, let his 1953 contract expire. Dressen spent 1954 managing Oakland in the highly competitive Pacific Coast League, and his return to the major leagues was viewed with anticipation by some observers.[2]

His hiring was a departure for the Senators' management and ownership. He was the first manager outside the Washington team's "family" hired during Clark Griffith's presidency, which began in 1920. Through 1954, Griffith had appointed eight different men to manage his club (with one, Harris, serving three different terms), and all had been current or former Senator players. Dressen, as a veteran National Leaguer and a high profile manager with New York ties, broke that 35-season trend.

And, though no one knew it at the time, 1955 would be a milestone for baseball in Washington when it proved to be Griffith's last season as the club's president and chief stockholder. He died at age 85 on October 27, and his nephew Calvin, who succeeded him, would move the franchise to Minneapolis–Saint Paul as the Minnesota Twins after only five seasons as the Senators' president.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 9658 0.623 — 52–25 44–33
Cleveland Indians 9361 0.604 3 49–28 44–33
Chicago White Sox 9163 0.591 5 49–28 42–35
Boston Red Sox 8470 0.545 12 47–31 37–39
Detroit Tigers 7975 0.513 17 46–31 33–44
Kansas City Athletics 6391 0.409 33 33–43 30–48
Baltimore Orioles 5797 0.370 39 30–47 27–50
Washington Senators 53101 0.344 43 28–49 25–52

Record vs. opponents
1955 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC NYY WSH
Baltimore —8–1410–12–13–199–1310–12–13–1914–8
Boston 14–8—9–1311–1113–914–88–1415–7
Chicago 12–10–113–9—10–1214–814–811–1117–5
Cleveland 19–311–1112–10—12–1017–513–99–13
Detroit 13–99–138–1410–12—12–1010–1217–5
Kansas City 12–10–18–148–145–1710–12—7–1513–9
New York 19–314–811–119–1312–1015–7—16–6
Washington 8–147–155–1713–95–179–136–16—

Notable transactions

Roster
1955 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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
SSJosé Valdivielso9429465.221228

Other batters

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
Clint Courtney7523871.298230
Jim Busby4719144.230614

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ted Abernathy40119.1595.9679

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Bob Chakales272305.2728
Vince Gonzales100027.001

Award winners

All-Star Game

  • Mickey Vernon, starter, first base

[6]

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AA Chattanooga Lookouts Southern Association Cal Ermer
A Charlotte Hornets Sally League Jimmy Bloodworth
B Hagerstown Packets Piedmont League Johnny Welaj
B Rock Hill Chiefs Tri-State League Buster Boguskie, Frank Colasinski
and Pete Treece
D Orlando C.B.s Florida State League Tommy O'Brien
D Fulton Lookouts KITTY League Ned Waldrop, Sam Lamitina,
Mel Simons and Bob Harmon
D Erie Senators PONY League Ted Sepkowski

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Orlando

References
  1. Baseball Reference: 1955 Miscellaneous Team Information
  2. Povich, Shirley, "Schemeboat on the Potomac", Baseball Digest, May 1955
  3. Choo Choo Coleman page at Baseball Reference
  4. Al Sima page at Baseball Reference
  5. Bob Chakales page at Baseball Reference
  6. http://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1955as.shtml
  • 1955 Washington Senators at Baseball-Reference
  • 1955 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
  • 1955 Washington "Nationals" promotional film
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
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