1969 Washington Senators season

The 1969 Washington Senators season involved the Senators finishing 4th in the newly established American League East with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.

1969 Washington Senators
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Bob Short
Manager(s)Ted Williams
Local televisionWTOP
Local radioWWDC (FM)
(Ron Menchine, Shelby Whitfield, Warner Wolf)
< Previous season     Next season >

Offseason

Regular season

The year 1969 was a turning point in Washington sports history. The Senators named Ted Williams as manager. The Washington Redskins hired Vince Lombardi as Head Coach and he had brought a winning attitude to the nation's capital. In the same year, the nearby University of Maryland had hired Lefty Driesell to coach basketball. It marked a renaissance in sports interest in America's most transient of cities.

The hiring of Ted Williams sparked at least increased curiosity in the team. Williams' fanatical approach to hitting helped improve the Senators offense considerably, and inspired the team to its one and only winning season during its 11-year stay in Washington. The Senators won 86 games, 21 more than in 1968, and improved from last place in the ten-team 1968 American League to one game out of third in the new AL East division. For this remarkable turnaround, Williams was voted American League Manager of the Year. As a result, attendance at RFK Stadium improved to over 900,000, the highest attendance for the "new" Senators and, at the time, the highest in Washington's baseball history.

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 10953 0.673 — 60–21 49–32
Detroit Tigers 9072 0.556 19 46–35 44–37
Boston Red Sox 8775 0.537 22 46–35 41–40
Washington Senators 8676 0.531 23 47–34 39–42
New York Yankees 8081 0.497 28½ 48–32 32–49
Cleveland Indians 6299 0.385 46½ 33–48 29–51

Record vs. opponents
1969 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA WSH
Baltimore —10–86–69–313–511–711–18–411–78–49–313–5
Boston 8–10—8–45–712–610–810–27–511–74–86–66–12
California 6–64–8—9–98–45–79–97–113–96–129–9–15–7
Chicago 3–97–59–9—8–43–98–105–133–98–1010–84–8
Cleveland 5–136–124–84–8—7–117–55–79–85–77–53–15
Detroit 7–118–107–59–311–7—8–46–610–87–510–27–11
Kansas City 1–112–109–910–85–74–8—8–105–7–18–1010–87–5
Minnesota 4–85–711–713–57–56–610–8—10–213–512–66–6
New York 7–117–119–39–38–98–107–5–12–10—6–67–510–8
Oakland 4–88–412–610–87–55–710–85–136–6—13–58–4
Seattle 3–96–69–9–18–105–72–108–106–125–75–13—7–5
Washington 5–1312–67–58–415–311–75–76–68–104–85–7—

Opening Day starters
President Richard Nixon throwing out the first pitch of the Senators' season in April 1969; manager Ted Williams is at left; owner Bob Short at right.

[2]

Notable transactions

Roster
1969 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
CPaul Casanova1243792682.2164370
1BMike Epstein13140373112.27830852
2BBernie Allen1223653390.2479455
3BKen McMullen15856283153.27219874
SSEd Brinkman15157671153.2662432
LFFrank Howard161592111175.296481111
CFDel Unser15358169166.2867578
RFLee Maye712384169.2909261

[6]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Hank Allen1092714275.27711712
Tim Cullen1192492252.2091151
Brant Alyea1042372959.24911401
Ed Stroud1232063552.25242912
Jim French631581429.1842131
Zoilo Versalles3175920.267061
Sam Bowens3357611.193041
Dick Billings273735.135000
Gary Holman413115.161020
Dick Smith212823.107000
Doug Camilli1301.333000
Toby Harrah8140.000000

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 Coleman40247.212133.27182
Jim Hannan35158.1763.6472
Dick Bosman311931452.1999
Barry Moore31134984.3051
Camilo Pascual1455.1256.8334

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
Casey Cox52171.21272.7873
Jim Shellenback3084.2474.0450
Frank Bertaina1435.2136.5625
Cisco Carlos617.2114.585

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
Dennis Higgins55109163.4871
Darold Knowles5392132.2459
Bob Humphreys473353.0543
Dave Baldwin432444.0551
Jim Miles100106.2015
Jan Dukes80202.453
Frank Kreutzer40004.502

Awards and honors
  • Del Unser, American League Leader, Triples (8)[7]
  • Del Unser, American League Record, Fewest Triples in One Season by an American League Leader (8)[7]
  • Ted Williams, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Buffalo Bisons International League Héctor López
AA Savannah Senators Southern League Hub Kittle
A Burlington Senators Carolina League Buddy Hicks and Bill Haywood
A Shelby Senators Western Carolinas League Joe Klein
Rookie Wytheville Senators Appalachian League Dick Gernert

Savannah affiliation shared with Houston Astros

Notes
  1. John Orsino at Baseball-Reference
  2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS2/WS2196904070.shtml
  3. Dave Moates at Baseball Reference
  4. Dave Criscione at Baseball Reference
  5. Lee Maye at Baseball Reference
  6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSA/1969.shtml
  7. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.96, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

References
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.