Baseball History: Earl Whitehill

Washington is back in the World Series.

It’s taken 86 years for the city to celebrate.

As the current National League franchise prepares for its first appearance in the Fall Classic, it’s time to remember the past.

The first group of Washington Senators, also known as the Nationals for a time, reached the World Series three times. The team won in 1924, while losing in 1925 and 1933.

A charter member of the American League, the Senators of Walter Johnson and Harmon Killebrew eventually moved to Minnesota prior to the 1961 season. The Twins would go on the win the World Series in 1987 and 1991.

The next group of Senators arrived as the AL expanded to 10 teams. That franchise didn’t have a lot of success from 1961 to 1971, which lead to the Senators leaving to become the Texas Rangers.

Frank Howard was known as the “Capital Punisher” and was team’s best player, but the four-time all-star and home run champ only played in the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963.

The best season for the team came in 1969 when the Senators finished fourth in the AL East under manager Ted Williams. Although the Rangers have never won the World Series, they grabbed the AL pennant in 2010 and 2011.

From 1972 to 2004, Washington didn’t have major league baseball until the Montreal Expos moved into RFK Stadium in 2005, where the expansion Senators had played their final contest.

Since 2005, the Nationals have made it to the playoffs five times and finally reached the summit this season.

Hopefully for Nationals fans, there will be a new answer to the trivia question, Who was the last Washington pitcher to win a World Series game?

As of now, the answer is Earl Whitehill. It seems likely that current Washington pitchers Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg along with the rest of the staff might be able change the answer to the question after 86 years.

A Sore Arm?

In 1933, the Senators would lose the World Series to the New York Giants four games to one.

After dropping the first two contests to the Giants, Washington manager Joe Cronin selected Whitehall to start game three despite rumors of a left sore arm.

An article written by Harold C. Burr in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle appeared the following day after Whitehill’s performance at Griffith Stadium.

Burr offered a pair of sentences to tell the story. “Nearly every pitch burned into Luke Sewell‘s big catching mitt with a searing plunk.” And then there was this, “If Whitehill’s arm was really sore, the lefthander qualifies as the greatest sore arm pitcher in the league.”

Whitehill blanked the Giants 4-0 on five hits. He had just two strikeouts in the contest and both were against future Hall of Fame star Mel Ott.

The Senators scored twice in the bottom of the first off Giants starter Freddie Fitzsimmons to give Whitehill all of the offense he would need. Buddy Myer knocked in runs in the second and seventh to finish the scoring.

Extra Innings

The final two contests of the series were decided in extra innings.

The Giants won both to claim the title, which would be the first without legendary manager John McGraw.

In game four, Carl Hubbell went the distance on the mound for the Giants to earn his second win of the series. Blondy Ryan‘s RBI single in the top of the 11th frame gave the Giants a 2-1 victory.

New York relief pitcher Dolf Luque won the fifth and final contest thanks to a solo homer by Ott in the 10th inning of a 4-3 Giants win.

The Best Season

Whitehill played in the big leagues from 1923 to 1939. He was 218-185 during his 17-year career with the Senators, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox.

For the Senators in 1933, Whitehill was 22-8 with a career-best 3.33 ERA in 37 starts.

Whitehill finished ninth in the voting for the AL Most Valuable Player. He was the third pitcher in the balloting behind Philadelphia’s Lefty Grove (24-8), who was fifth and Washington teammate General Crowder (24-15), who was seventh.