Baseball returns to DC

Baseball returns to the nation's capital today, which led me to learn more about the old Washington Senators. The original club played in Washington from 1901-1960 before becoming the Minnesota Twins. Those Sens won 1 World Series in their history. It came in 1924 behind the bat of Goose Goslin (.344 with 12 HR, 129 RBI, 100 R) and the arm of Walter "Big Train" Johnson (23-7, 2.72 ERA, 20 CG, 6 shutouts).

The "expansion" Senators played in Washington from 1961-71 before becoming the Texas Rangers. Those Senators never made a playoff appearance. In fact, only once did they finish above .500, in 1969 as first-year manager Ted Williams guided them to a 86-76 record.

Which brings us to an interesting piece of trivia. Williams was the last person to manage a team in Washington. Frank Robinson is the skipper of the new Washington Nationals. Both men won baseball's Triple Crown, Williams in 1942 and 1947 and Robinson in 1966. That means Washington has its current team and its most recent team managed by different Triple Crown winners. Unprecedented.