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
American League (since 1961)
Location
Griffith Stadium (since 1961) Washington, D.C. (since 1961)
Results
Record	61–100 (.379)
League place	10th
Other information
Owner(s)	Elwood Richard Quesada
General manager(s)	Ed Doherty
Manager(s)	Mickey Vernon
Local television	WTOP
Local radio	WTOP (Dan Daniels, John MacLean)
Next season >

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

• November 28, 1960: Ray Semproch was drafted by the Senators from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960 rule 5 draft.[4]
• December 14, 1960: 1960 MLB expansion draft
  • Jim King was drafted by the Senators from the Cleveland Indians.[5]
  • Coot Veal was drafted by the Senators from the Detroit Tigers.[6]

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	109	53	0.673	—	65–16	44–37
Detroit Tigers	101	61	0.623	8	50–31	51–30
Baltimore Orioles	95	67	0.586	14	48–33	47–34
Chicago White Sox	86	76	0.531	23	53–28	33–48
Cleveland Indians	78	83	0.484	30½	40–41	38–42
Boston Red Sox	76	86	0.469	33	50–31	26–55
Minnesota Twins	70	90	0.438	38	36–44	34–46
Los Angeles Angels	70	91	0.435	38½	46–36	24–55
Kansas City Athletics	61	100	0.379	47½	33–47	28–53
Washington Senators	61	100	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	—	11–7	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	—

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.

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]

Roster

1961 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers 34 Carl Bouldin 16 Pete Burnside 23 Tom Cheney 21 Bennie Daniels 20 Dick Donovan 26 John Gabler 19 Mike Garcia 47 Roy Heiser 23 Rudy Hernández 18 Ed Hobaugh 17 Johnny Klippstein 22 Marty Kutyna 24 Héctor Maestri 24 Carl Mathias 27 Joe McClain 34 Claude Osteen 15 Dave Sisler 35,47 Tom Sturdivant 19 Hal Woodeshick		Catchers  8 Pete Daley 11 Dutch Dotterer 12 Gene Green 19 Ken Retzer Infielders 28 Chet Boak 10 Harry Bright  2 Ed Brinkman  7 Chuck Cottier 29 Bob Johnson  6 Billy Klaus 25 Dale Long 29 Jim Mahoney  4 Danny O'Connell  2 R. C. Stevens 29 Ron Stillwell  5 Coot Veal 11 Bud Zipfel		Outfielders 31 Joe Hicks 32 Chuck Hinton  9 Marty Keough 30 Jim King  1 Willie Tasby 14 Gene Woodling		Manager  3 Mickey Vernon Coaches 41 George Case 42 Rollie Hemsley 40 Sid Hudson 43 George Susce

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
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

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 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

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 McClain	33	212	8	18	3.86	76
Bennie Daniels	32	212	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	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	1	1.50	2

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 Kutyna	50	143	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

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 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

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

• Dick Donovan

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

External links

• 1961 Washington Senators team page at Baseball Reference
• 1961 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com