Damn Senators: My Grandfather and the Story of Washington's Only World Series Championship

Mark Gauvreau Judge has done a fine job of putting together the story of the Washington Senators in the 1920s and 1930s. He has also, thankfully, shed some light on a very good player of that time, Joe Judge, his grandfather. Through player development and some good trades, the Senators were built into an excellent team in the mid-20s, good enough to beat the Yankee (when they were bad in 1924) and when they were good in 1925. They also beat back rugged competition from the Indians and the Tigers, who could hit but had pitching difficulties. One of the more interesting aspects of that time was how close the players were back then, with general harmony in the Senator locker room. A surprise in the book was what seemed to be a kind of bashing of Goose Goslin by the author; I always kind of liked Goose based on his interview in "The Glory of Their Times" and while I realize that he can have his moments like anyone else, there never really seemed to be anything good said about the man. Be it a personal matter or my perception, it is a minor point to a book worth reading.

Mark Judge's book, Damn Senators, is as finely executed as any 3-6-3 double play turned by the author's grandfather, Washington Senators first baseman Joe Judge. The book focuses on Joe Judge and the Senators victorious season in 1924. In addition to writing about his grandfather, Mark Judge includes fine descriptions of Senators owner Clark Griffith, legendary Senators pitcher Walter Johnson and a superb sketch of Washington D.C. and its citizens at the time of the Senators all too brief ascendency.Those who believe game six of the 1975 World Series is the best game ever played in the fall classic should read Damn Senators. Mark Judge does a fine job depicting the excitment of game seven of the 1924 World Series, when Walter Johnson came out of the bullpen to gain victory for the Senators in their one and only World Series triumph. I saw game six of the 1975 World Series on television. After reading Damn Senators I almost feel as though I have seen game seven of the 1924 Series as well. Damn Senators is well worth its purchase price. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the winning combination of baseball and fine writing.

Thanks to this superb book, the reader can almost taste, feel and see what it was like to live in Washington in the mid-1920s. At the time, DC was by far the smallest city in the major leagues, but baseball fever overtook the Nation's Capital in 1924 after years of horrendous teams. Judge takes you week by week through that wonderful season, culminating in what is arguably still the most exciting World Series ever. A heartstopper won by the Senators over the highly favored New York Giants in the 12th inning of Game 7. The city broke out in celebrations wilder than those following the end of the Civil War or World War I. Judge nicely reproduces the legendary sportswriter Fred Lieb's account of his conversation with Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis the night Washington won it all, in which Landis described the Capital's unprecedented celebration as the "zenith" of baseball's popularity in America. Sadly, of course, it wasn't long after the glory days of the author's grandfather that Washington fans were forced to endure nearly 4 decades of teams that did not even try to compete, with the inevitably attendance problems resulting. Judge poignantly recounts the departure of the Senators in 1960, and then of their expansion replacement in 1971. Ironically, today Washington is the center of huge metropolis, the 6th largest media market in the U.S. Yet it has no baseball team. Mark Judge's book reminds us of a better time for baseball fans in the DC area, and points us to toward a day when the Washington Senators may be reborn.Some minor quibbles with the background chapter that opens the book: Judge seems to confuse the identity of various 19th century teams (e.g., the Chicago "White Stockings", "Colts", and "Cubs" are all the same team). He conflates the founding of the short-lived National Association in 1971 with that of the enduring National League in 1876. And the number of pennants and World Series championships won by Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics are grossly understated. But none of this detracts from the excellence of the book as a whole, and particular the heart of it which recounts so beautifully Washington's experience as World Champs in 1924. We can only hope that there will be future authors to write so artfully about the championships of future Washington baseball teams.

Although this book was about the great Senators' franchise of the Walter Johnson era that included the "Big Train" Walter Johnson, Sam Rice, Goose Gooslin, Bucky Harris and the perennial first baseman Joe Judge, the author's grandfather, it also reflects on a City that had struggling teams in the last two decades of D.C. baseball only to lose them to a new owner that took the team to Texas with great sadness to the D.C. fans. Judge tells the story of one of the worst teams in baseball that eventually unfolds into a star-studded team that could beat the Yankees and actually win a World Series in 1925. Judge intermixes the play by play with biographies of the players of that era anchored by quality detail about Walter Johnson the dominating pitcher, a modest gentleman, and of course his grandfather who typically hit 300 plus with a tremendous fielding percentage. The exciting description of the Senators great team is also full of sports articles and editorials of that era that contribute to the telling of how the fans felt about their team and their national good guy, Walter Johnson. The author has a special view of Judge through his family as they presented a personal picture of the player that played consistently at a Hall of Famer level in 17 seasons with the Senators. The star players of the Senators of the twenties are in stark contrast to Ty Cobb with his bad guy image and the outgoing and sometimes wild Ruth. The author quotes a Ruthian binge of eating 12 hotdogs and 5 sodas at a train stop resulting in intestinal injury. The good guy Senators of the twenties reminds me of my favorite Senator of modern times, Ken McMullen. McMullen, a lifetime 260 hitter with Washington wasn't the star sacker like Judge but he anchored the infield and played steady and had a consistent bat. But what I remember most about McMullen was that he signed autographs after the game for kids including me while most of the ball players of this second division team ran to their cars. McMullen like the Big Train and Judge were players that were gentleman far from the era of today made up of individuals. Bob Short, the 70's owner of the Senators, traded the left side of the infield (Rodriguez and Brinkman) for Denny McLain who lost over 20 games while Detroit flourished. That bad trade seemed to start Short's cruel destruction of a team that literally went south.

When I bought this book, I expected to read about one man (Joe Judge) and one team (the 1924 World Champion Washington Senators). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the author had actually written much more: a condensed yet thorough history of the Washington Senators franchise; a nice biographical sketch of the legendary Walter Johnson, as well as numerous anecdotal insights about many other baseball players of the early 20th century; and a glimpse of life in Washington, D.C. as it was almost 100 years ago.Because I am an amateur baseball historian, I loved the accounts of the players, games, franchises, and even stadiums of the early 1900's, and the detailed descriptions of the 1924 World Series games made me feel like I was there. The author wrote quite a bit about Walter Johnson, and did an excellent job of illustrating his superlative career and the enormous amount of respect and admiration that teammates, opponents, and fans had for "Barney."I really enjoyed the author's writing style and his skill in weaving descriptions of baseball games, personal information, historical anecdotes, and cultural background into a smart, well-flowing narrative- something that is difficult to do without sounding awkward or uneven. Possibly the best example of this is the story from which the book derives its name, about the retired Joe Judge serving as the inspiration for a famous play and movie.The included history of the Senators franchise is great- even though the franchise had painfully few highlights during its existence, the author covers them all, as well as some of the more infamous moments such as the record-setting futility of the 1909 team, Clark Griffith's attempt to buy Ty Cobb, and the mess surrounding the team's departure in 1971. There are plenty of nuggets of baseball lore to savor within these 170 pages (including some great photos).If you are an old-school baseball fan, or a resident of the Washington D.C. area who remembers baseball in the nation's capital (or waits patiently for its long-overdue return), I strongly recommend this book. Mark Gauvreau Judge successfully combined the histories of a family, a city, and a sport into an excellent work.