March 22, 2008 – The Washington Senators who became the Minnesota Twins in 1961 certainly had more losing seasons then they had winning seasons between the time they started as a charter member team of the American League in 1901 and when they played their final game as the Washington Senators on October 2, 1960. During their 60 years as the Senators and Nationals, they compiled a 4,223 – 4,864 record while fielding winning teams in only 18 of their 60 years. Their best seasons were:
1924 – The Nationals won the AL pennant with a 92-62 record and went on to win their first and only World Series championship by beating the New York Giants 4 games to 3.
1925 – The Nats won the pennant for the second year in a row finishing the season 96-55 record. They played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fall classic and took a 3 games to 1 lead before losing 3 straight and the series 4 games to 3 and became the first team to lose the World Series after taking a 3 games to one lead in a seven game series.
1933 – The Nationals won the pennant with a 99-53 record and went on to lose the World Series in 5 games to the New York Giants in what turned out to be their final World Series appearance while in Washington.
The Washington teams had many exciting players and we will touch on many of them in the future. The Senators/Nationals had several Hall of Famers that played on their pennant winning teams such as RHP Stan Coveleski (1925-1927), SS Joe Cronin (1928-1934), OF Goose Goslin (1921-1930, 1933, 1938), OF Heinie Manush 1930-1935), OF Sam Rice from 1915-1933, and the incomparable RHP Walter (Big Train) Johnson who pitched for Washington from 1907-1927 compiling a record of 417-279 and winning 60% of his games for a team that only won 49.2% of their games. During his time with the Washington Nationals, he won 27% of the teams total games.