Heading into their ninth season, the expansion Washington Senators had never won more than 76 games in a season. New Senators owner Bob Short hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams to manage the team. Williams sparked the Senators to their only winning record for a Washington team since 1952. This book recounts that 1969 season in-depth.

Heading into their ninth season, the expansion Washington Senators had never won more than 76 games in a season. New Senators owner Bob Short hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams to manage the team. Williams sparked the Senators to their only winning record for a Washington team since 1952. This book recounts that 1969 season in-depth.

Despite a long and uneven history, Major League Baseball's Washington franchises have hardly been the stuff of legend. However, in 1969, when new owner Bob Short coaxed batting legend and rookie manager Ted Williams out of retirement, these annual no-names climbed out of the depths and straight into the hearts of Washington baseball fans starving for a winner. Led by The Capital Punisher Frank Howard, whose tape-measure home runs sometimes seemed like optical illusions, the Senators simply won ball games with a determination rarely seen in D.C. environs. A Whole New Ballgame showcases the 1969 Senators' magical season, complete with updated player bios, new photographs, stats, game action, and stories. Foreword by Dick Bosman.

Ted Williams tells of his childhood, his military experience, and his baseball career.

"A biography of a baseball player whose path to stardom was cut short by war. Chapters cover his childhood years, high school and his professional career with the Chattanooga Lookouts, and the Washington Senators. Travis's time as a soldier is discussed,followed by chapters on postwar playing decline from 1945 to 1947 and his retirement from baseball"--Provided by publisher.

In the history of sports, few comeback stories compare to that of Edgar Charles Rice better known as "Sam." Away from home, trying out for a low-level minor league team, Sam Rice received a telegram on an April morning that would turn his world upside down: his wife, mother, both of his children and two younger siblings had been killed by a tornado. A few days later, his father died from injuries suffered in the tornado, as well. By the time he reached the major leagues three years later with the Washington Senators, Rice apparently had buried his past deep inside. He never spoke of the tragedy publicly while embarking on a career in which he would amass 2,987 base hits, 13 hits short of one of baseball's most hallowed milestones. In this moving biography, Jeff Carroll explores the great achievement and tragedy of a Hall of Fame outfielder and Washington Senators favorite.

“First in War, First in Peace . . . and Last in the American League.” Expressions such as this characterized the legend and lore of baseball in the nation's capital, from the pioneering Washington Nationals of 1859 to the Washington Senators, whose ignominious departure in 1971 left Washingtonians bereft of the national pastime for thirty-three years. This reflective book gives the complete history of the game in the D.C. area, including the 1924 World Series championship team and the Homestead Grays, the perennial Negro League pennant winners from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s who consistently outplayed the Senators. New chapters describe the present-day Nationals, who, in 2012, won the National League East led by the arms of Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg and the bats of Ryan Zimmerman, Adam LaRoche and rookie Bryce Harper. The book is filled with the voices of current and former players, along with presidents, senators, and political commentators who call the team their own.