CLARK GRIFFITH, OWNER
1928 WASHINGTON SENATORS
“YOU GOTTA HAVE HOPE!”
March 18, 1928. The air of spring is a powerful intoxicant. In baseball, it sometimes empacts how we view the near future of our favorite club, what we hope for, and, if we are the team owner, it very definitely has the power, along with our concern for the bottom line, how we want our team’s fans to see the case for fresh hope. Here, with a good example of the owner’s loaded lungs of spring and personal fiduciary investment, is how Washington Senators owner Calvin Griffith saw the coming of the 1928 season.
Keep in mind that the 1927 New York Yankees were the club that came to be regarded by many over time as the greatest club of all time. The ’27 “Murderers’ Row” Yankees won 110 games, while losing only 44. They finished 15 games ahead of the second place Philadelphia Athletics and 25 games up on the third place Washington Senators before sweeping the NL’s Pittsburgh Pirates 4 games to nothing in the World Series. And, oh yes, 1927 was Babe Ruth’s apex 60 HR year and also the season that Lou Gehrig chipped in 47 homers of his own.
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SENATOR OWNER SEES OPEN RACE AMERICAN LOOP
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Clark Griffith Is One Who Doesn’t
Believe Yanks Can Make It Runaway Affair
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Tampa, Fla., March 17. (AP) – Clark Griffith, president of the Washington baseball club, first a great pitcher in the American League and later a smart manager in both the American and National, votes a straight and emphatic “no” on the resolution to turn the 1928 pennant over to the world champion New York Yankees.
“Not at all,” said the gray thatched baseball man with young eyes when asked if the Yankees could be considered “in.” “In spite of all that has been said of the murderous qualities tucked away in the Yankees’ bats, you can count the real hitters of the club on one hand.
“Against ordinary pitchers, yes, but against real, outstanding, smart pitchers, no.
“A clever pitcher can stop the New York sluggers with a base on balls here and there, and when they are not piling up the runs, they will not be such terrors. They can be scored on plenty. The champions’ pitching staff is not a world beater.
“I confidently look forward to a race this year. I hope and believe we will be in it.
“I am as confident as I can be of anything at this time of year that we will get good pitching. I don’t know who the pitchers will be. That’s Bucky’s (Manager Harris) business but there are 14 out there working their heads off to get on the team and there will be a tough crowd to beat when they are finally picked.”
~ Associated Press, Wichita Daily Times, March 18, 1928, Page 13.
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Fall of 1928. The New York Yankees did win 9 fewer games in 1928, but they still repeated as AL champions, with a record of 101 and 153 that was still good enough to edge the second place Philadelphia Athletics by 2.5 games and 19 games over the third place St. Louis Browns. Mr. Griffith’s club, the Washington Senators, failed to live up to their owner’s hopes, slipping to fourth place in 1928, and 26 games behind the pennant repeating Yankees – or one full game further behind New York than they did in 1927. Ruth again led the big leagues in homers in 1928, but he also slipped from 60 to 54 in that single season.
The 1928 New York Yankees again swept the World Series – this time, avenging that seven-game loss they suffered in 1926 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
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From Here to Eternity, In Baseball and in Life: Hope returns every spring. It’s really with us everyday, if we are open to its scent in some new form. And we need to sense it – no matter what we may be up against. It is the breath of life itself and the portal to all spiritual awakenings.
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Tags: Hope Rules in Baseball
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