1961 Washington Senators season

The 1961 Washington Senators season was the team's inaugural season, having been established as a replacement for the previous franchise of the same name, which relocated to the Twin Cities of Minnesota following the 1960 season, becoming the Minnesota Twins. The Senators finished in a tie for ninth place in the ten-team American League with a record of 61–100, 47½ games behind the World Champion New York Yankees. It was also the team's only season at Griffith Stadium before moving its games to D.C. Stadium for the following season. The expansion team drew 597,287 fans, tenth and last in the circuit.[1] The old Senators had drawn 743,404 fans in 1960.

1961 Washington Senators
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record61–100 (.379)
League place10th
Other information
Owner(s)Elwood Richard Quesada
General manager(s)Ed Doherty
Manager(s)Mickey Vernon
Local televisionWTOP
Local radioWTOP
(Dan Daniels, John MacLean)
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Offseason

The Senators, along with the Los Angeles Angels, were the first ever American League expansion teams. Both teams participated in Major League Baseball's first ever expansion draft. The Senators used their first pick in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft to select pitcher Bobby Shantz from the New York Yankees (while the Angels picked Eli 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 the Pittsburgh Pirates for Harry Bright, Bennie Daniels, and R. 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]

Notable transactions

Regular season

As an expansion team, the Senators were not expected to do well. They finished tied for last in the league with the Kansas City Athletics. They also finished 9 games behind their expansion brethren, the Angels. One bright spot was pitcher Dick Donovan, who led the American League in earned run average and WHIP, making the All-Star team and finishing 17th in league MVP voting.

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10953 0.673 — 65–16 44–37
Detroit Tigers 10161 0.623 8 50–31 51–30
Baltimore Orioles 9567 0.586 14 48–33 47–34
Chicago White Sox 8676 0.531 23 53–28 33–48
Cleveland Indians 7883 0.484 30½ 40–41 38–42
Boston Red Sox 7686 0.469 33 50–31 26–55
Minnesota Twins 7090 0.438 38 36–44 34–46
Los Angeles Angels 7091 0.435 38½ 46–36 24–55
Kansas City Athletics 61100 0.379 47½ 33–47 28–53
Washington Senators 61100 0.379 47½ 33–46 28–54

Record vs. opponents
1961 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —11–711–79–99–913–58–1011–79–9–114–4
Boston 7–11—9–95–138–1010–811–7–111–75–1310–8
Chicago 7–119–9—12–66–1214–410–89–9–16–1213–5
Cleveland 9–913–56–12—6–128–910–810–84–1412–6
Detroit 9–910–812–612–6—12–6–114–411–78–1013–5
Kansas City 5–138–104–149–86–12–1—9–97–114–149–9
Los Angeles 10–87–11–18–108–104–149–9—8–96–1210–8
Minnesota 7–117–119–9–18–107–1111–79–8—4–148–9
New York 9–9–113–512–614–410–814–412–614–4—11–7
Washington 4–148–105–136–125–139–98–109–87–11—

Opening Day lineup

In the first game in franchise history, the "Presidential Opener" then held every year in Washington, the Senators were defeated by the Chicago White Sox, 4–3, on Monday, April 10, 1961. With leadoff man Coot Veal getting its first-ever hit (an infield single) in the first inning, Washington jumped out to a quick 2–0 advantage and led 3–1 after two innings. But the Senators were blanked thereafter and committed four errors, leading to two unearned runs, as Chicago battled back to win. Roy Sievers, former star of the previous Washington franchise, drove in a pair of White Sox runs with a home run and a sacrifice fly.[7] It was the last Presidential Opener in the history of Griffith Stadium, and the first one in which John F. Kennedy threw out the first ball.

  5Coot VealSS
  6Billy Klaus3B
  9Marty KeoughRF
25Dale Long1B
14Gene WoodlingLF
  1Willie TasbyCF
  4Danny O'Connell   2B
  8Pete DaleyC
20Dick DonovanP[8]

Roster
1961 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers
  • 19 Mike Garcia
 Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders 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
CGene Green110364102.2801862
1BDale Long12337794.2491749
2BChuck Cottier10133779.234234
SSCoot Veal6921844.20208
3BDanny O'Connell138493128.260137
LFChuck Hinton10633988.260634
CFWillie Tasby141494124.2511763
RFGene Woodling110342107.3131057

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
Marty Keough13539097.249934
Jim King11026371.2701146
Billy Klaus9125157.227730
Bob Johnson6122466.295628
Pete Daley7220339.192217
Harry Bright7218344.240421
Bud Zipfel5017034.200418
Jim Mahoney4310826.24106
R.C. Stevens33628.12902
Ken Retzer165318.34013
Joe Hicks12295.17211
Dutch Dotterer7195.26301
Ron Stillwell8162.12501
Ed Brinkman4111.09100
Chet Boak570.00000

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
Joe McClain332128183.8676
Bennie Daniels3221212113.44110
Dick Donovan23168.210102.4062
Ed Hobaugh26126.1794.4267
Tom Sturdivant1580264.6139
Hal Woodeshick740.1324.0224
Claude Osteen318.1114.9114
Héctor Maestri16011.502

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
Marty Kutyna50143683.9764
Pete Burnside33113.1494.5356
John Gabler2992.2384.8633
Tom Cheney1029.2138.8020
Carl Mathias413.20111.207
Carl Bouldin23.10116.202

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
Dave Sisler4528114.1830
Johnny Klippstein422206.7841
Mike Garcia160104.7414
Rudy Hernández70103.004
Roy Heiser30006.351

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
D Pensacola Angels Alabama–Florida League Archie Wilson
D Middlesboro Senators Appalachian League Lew Morton

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Middlesboro

Awards and Honors

1961 American League ERA leader

References
  1. Baseball Reference 1961 Miscellaneous Team Records
  2. Bobby Shantz page at Baseball Reference
  3. Rockies, Marlins Are Gearing Up : Expansion: Lessons of the past indicate that drafting young players is the key to success, Associated Press (Los Angeles Times), Nov. 14, 1992.
  4. Ray Semproch page at Baseball-Reference
  5. Jim King page at Baseball Reference
  6. Coot Veal page at Baseball Reference
  7. Retrosheet box score, 1961-04-10
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