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Walter Johnson

Pitcher
  • Series: Diamond Heads '15
  • City: Washington, D.C.
  • Team: Senators
  • League: American League
  • Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame

Walter Perry Johnson (1887-1946) played his entire 21-yr career for the Senators then managed them for 4 more. Ty Cobb’s first impression was of a “rube out of the cornfields.” But when the rube threw “The thing just hissed with danger.” Cobb wasn’t the last player to be stunned by this man’s fastball: Most shut-outs in MLB, 2nd in wins, 4th in complete games, etc.

  • Only member of 3000 SO club until Bob Gibson joined in 1974
  • Still holds record 12x league-leader in strikeouts
  • Elected to Hall of Fame: 1936

Auction History

Clark Griffith

Manager
  • Series: Diamond Heads '15
  • City: Washington, D.C.
  • Team: Senators
  • League: American League
  • Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame

Clark Calvin Griffith (1869-1955) was a successful pitcher for over 20 years but had only just begun his baseball career. AL founder Ban Johnson prevailed on Griffith to take the helm of the NY entry into the new league in 1903. That began a tenure as manager and owner that lasted until Griffith’s death in 1955. With a showman’s touch and a veteran player’s savvy, Griffith turned around the D.C. franchise.

  • Only one in history to be a player, manager and owner for over 20 years in each role
  • Counted eight U.S. presidents as friends during his long tenure as owner of the Senators
  • Elected to Hall of Fame: 1946

Auction History

Chick Gandil

First Base
  • Series: Diamond Heads '15
  • City: Washington, D.C.
  • Team: Senators
  • League: American League

Charles Arnold Gandil (1888-1970) was described in the Chicago Tribune in March 1917 as “the ideal type of athlete – a fighter on the field, a player who never quits under the most discouraging circumstances and … is one of the most dangerous batters in the league when a hit means a ball game.” This tribute heralded Gandil’s return to his original club, Charles Comiskey’s White Sox. He didn’t set the world on fire in ’17 and ’18 but the club became a strong favorite to win it all in 1919. Rife with dissension directed at the miserly owner, by his own admission in a 1956 SI account, Gandil led a conspiracy to throw the Series. Everything came undone and by 1921 eight Sox players were banned for life. Gandil admitted to being the main instigator of the affair but insisted the actual Series losses were unintentional.

  • Was a stand-out first-baseman for Clark Griffith’s Senators
  • Lifetime BA of .277

Auction History

Merito Acosta

Outfield
  • Series: Diamond Heads '15
  • City: Washington, D.C.
  • Team: Senators
  • League: American League
  • Hall: Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame

Baldomero Pedro Acosta Fernandez (1896-1963) began playing winter ball in his native Cuba in 1913 and debuted the same year with the Washington Senators as one of the first of his countrymen to play in MLB. As a sixteen-year-old that spring, The Sporting Life had heralded the young Cuban as “a second Ty Cobb.” That lofty promise went unfilled in American ball, as Merito played part time in the outfield, only making 200+ plate appearances twice with Washington. He finished his major league career in 1918 with the Philadelphia Athletics where he logged his best year at bat, hitting .302. Acosta was part of two remarkable feats in his career: in 1915 he and Chick Gandil walked, were sacrificed along and Gandil scored on a sac fly to record a rare run without an official at-bat in the inning. In 1919 with Havana, the fleet-footed center fielder accomplished an unassisted triple-play, racing to second after the catch to tag the bag and the runner coming from first. Acosta found a new home with the Louisville Colonels of the minor league American Association from 1919-28.

  • In 1922/23 Acosta was named manager of a new Cuban franchise in Marianao and led them to the championship
  • Elected to Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame: 1955

Auction History

Gabby Street

Catcher
  • Series: Pilgrims
  • City: Washington, D.C.
  • Team: Senators
  • League: American League

Charles Evard Street (1882-1951) was a catcher, manager and broadcaster over a long and storied career. He made news for two stunts: catching a ball dropped from the Wash. Monument (on his 13th try) and putting himself in for one AB as mgr of the Cards in ’31, giving him the “record” of longest gap between ML appearances.

  • Led St Louis to 2 pennants and one Series win in 1931
  • Mentored Walter Johnson and, in the booth, a young Harry Caray

Auction History

Cartophilia

T201 Mecca Canvas: Gabby Street