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

by Mark Gauvreau Judge

In Damn Senators, Mark Judge has written a book that is at once a touching memoir of his grandfather, star first baseman for the old Washington Senators; a history of baseball in its golden age; and an exciting account of the Senators' 1924 World Series victory. As one advance reader says, "This book is not only for the dedicated fan but for anyone interested in human endurance and courage and the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." For decades, the Senators were the doormat of the American League, a disappointment to the U.S. presidents and the ordinary folks who flocked to Griffith Stadium to watch Walter Johnson, arguably the best pitcher of all time, "Goose" Goslin, one of the most feared hitters in baseball and another future Hall of Famer, and other great players labor year after year in vain. Then, in 1924, everything unexpectedly came together. Team owner Clark Griffith made shrewd off-season deals for journeyman players who had their best years ahead. Johnson, thought by some sportswriters to have lost his powers, pulled off one more great season. Bucky Harris, the "Boy Manager," ran the team with a shrewdness that confounded those who considered him too young for the job. The author's grandfather, Joe Judge, the best fielding first baseman in the league and a lifetime .300 hitter, anchored the team.

Damn Senators recounts how Washington beat Babe Ruth and the Yankees, perennial champions of the American League, and then triumphed over the heavily favored New York Giants in what sportswriters regard as one of the most thrilling World Series in baseball history. Into this drama the author interweaves the story of Judge, son of an Irish immigrant who became a celebrity not only for his steady play (he would eventually be inducted into RFK Stadium's Ring of Stars) but also for what came later. After his retirement, Judge was befriended by writer Douglass Wallop, who made him the prototype for Joe Hardy, the lead character in his novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, later fabulously successful as a stage play and a movie under the title Damn Yankees. Recalling The Boys of Summer and other classics, Damn Senators is filled with unforgettable portraits of baseball legends like the wily Clark Griffith; the noble "Big Train," Walter Johnson; Ty Cobb, the meanest player of the day; Al Schacht, "The Clown Prince of Baseball," whose comedy act played between innings; the Giants' "Little Napoleon," John McGraw; and of course, the larger-than-life Babe Ruth. Mark Judge returns us to a golden past. But with a new baseball franchise rumored to be on its way to the nation's capital, he may be taking us back to the future as well.

Genres: Baseball, Sports

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good history on baseball in DC. the chapter comparing DC and NYC in the 1920s -- and how that carried over to the respective baseball clubs -- was very insightful.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basing it a lot on family lore as handed down from his grandfather Joe Judge, Mark Gauvreau Judge
has written a fine book about that year the Washington Senators won it all. Grandpa was the Senators first baseman for a dozen or so years during the Twenties and was an integral part of the
team Clark Griffith put together that won 3 pennants and one World Series.

Until Griffith came the Senators in 1912 , the Washington Senators were pretty much a joke team. In
the American League or the National League they were perennially at the bottom. Griffith inherited
one real asset, a pitcher who may have been the greatest ever who had been plucked out of obscurity
by the Senators to pitch and win with damn little behind him. With the joke team he had the accomplishments of Walter Johnson are stunning even today. 2nd Most wins lifetime 414, most shutouts 110. Johnson who threw with blinding speed with a loping motion that looked like it had
nothing on it. Fooled most of the batters of the American League for 20 years.

Griffith very slowly built the team around Johnson until the 20s when they actually contended for
the pennant. Of course they were up against the new powerhouse in New York, the Yankees of
Babe Ruth. The Senators broke free in 1924 and went to the top that year.

Oddly enough Johnson had a subpar year for him and many thought he was through. Still a lot of
America rooted for Johnson and the Senators to beat that other New York powerhouse, the Giants of
John McGraw who won their fourth straight National League pennant.

It went 7 games and it was an extra inning miracle that won it for the Senators in that 7th game with Johnson pitching. I won't go into the detail, but little things can really make a difference.

The Senators won in 1925 as well, but after building a 3 to 1 game lead in 4 games, they lost the
last 3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. They only won one other American League pennant in 1933 and it
was the New York Giants that beat them in the World Series in 5 games.

Like his good friend and rival in Philadelphia Connie Mack, Clark Griffith was not a wealthy man and couldn't compete over the long haul with the Yankees that Jacob Ruppert built. The Senators
fell out of contention gradually and by the time Griffith died in 1955 they were once again pretty
much a joke. The Senators played their last year in the nation's capital in 1960 and would move to
Minneapolis-St.Paul and become the Minnesota Twins. Another Washington Senators team came
into being the following year with the American League expansion. But after 1971 those Senators
left for the Dallas-Fort Worth area to become the Texas Rangers.

As for Joe Judge whose grandson wrote this story. He was a pretty good first baseman, great defensively, better in the field than the more well known Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg. They
put up better power numbers. But Judge was far better defensively. He had a good career, but
missed that last Washington pennant winner.

But his story and the rest of the team that brought the championship of baseball to Washington, DC
is lovingly told by his grandson in this fine baseball book.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child, I grew up worshipping old time baseball - 1950s and before. Even though I wasn't alive, I loved the stories. This book was a great remembrance of when baseball was meaningful (these days I have lost interest due to all the selfishness and lack of humility).

Although I am not a Senators fan, this book is outstanding - it brought back to me all the greats I grew up reading about.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for the Senators fan. The book is about Joe judge and the Senators 1924 World Series win but in reality a book of history of baseball in the nation,s capital with a focus on Walter Johnson and Clark Griffith.

[bup · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do you do with a non-fiction book that is so emotionally satisfying, yet so fact-challenged?

I guess you hope that it gets another edition (emphasis on edit).

I am a casual baseball fan - a dilettante. I love the game, but I'm hardly a maven, much less a guru, much less a Nate Silver. Yet even I could pick out rookie errors in this otherwise quick, narratively-satisfying read.

1) He called the NY American League team the "New York Yankees" in 1909 on page 34 - they were the Highlanders then, and would not become the Yankees until 1912. My bad. Although the official nickname wouldn't be the Yankees until 1913, sports writers called them the Yankees as early as 1904.

2) Clark Griffith, in the 1924 season, announced an increase in his stadium's seating - to 36,000. 3 pages later, we learn that he plans an increase (without contradiction) to 32,245.

3) He mentions and describes a famous photo of Babe Ruth unconscious after knocking himself out on the right field fence chasing a Joe Judge fly ball - looking dead with eyes closed and mouth open. The book includes the photo - Ruth's mouth is closed.

4) Circa page 89 we learn of Walter Johnson's 107th career shutout in August 1924. He had (a still-standing record) 110 shutouts all time. 3 came in 1925, 2 in 1926, 1 in 1927. Ummm.....

5) On page 104 we learn that Ty Cobb batted .222 off Johnson until 1915, until he learned to crowd the plate, where apparently the nice Johnson was reticent to throw inside for fear of injuring somebody. Then we learn that 'from 1915 to 1936 Cobb averaged .435 against the Big Train.' (emphasis added) While for all I know that's technically true, Johnson retired in 1927 and Cobb in 1928.

6) On page 47, the famous death of Ray Chapman (the guy struck in the head by a pitch in 1920) is alleged to have immediately led to the banning of all 'doctored' pitches - yet those regulations were already coming down - by opening day 1920, clubs were limited to 2 'spitball' pitchers per squad, and then the regulations were further battened down following Chapman's death.

That's just on a casual reading - not looking for inaccuracies. Still, the writing is strong enough and the subject matter unmined enough that I sincerely hope that another edition comes out with these (and any other) problems rectified. There's a book out there called "Baseball's Greatest Season: 1924" that I'd like to get my hands on, but the narrative strength of the book I read (particularly the two chapters on the world series itself) that I hope Mark Judge (grandson of Senators' first baseman Joe Judge) sees his version corrected and reprinted.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story, but the poor writing (and a couple of sloppy errors, such as confusing the Chicago White Stockings and Chicago White Sox) took some of the fun out of it for me.

[Rodger Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's grandfather played first base for the 1924 Nats team that won the World Series. I had read most of the story previously in the Henry Thomas biography of Walter Johnson.