This text is slowly touring by means of the Greatest 50. That’s my listing of historical past’s 50 biggest ballclubs, as ranked by my new e book, Baseball’s Greatest (and Worst) Groups. At present’s story focuses on No. 29, the 1924 Washington Nationals.
Right here’s a fast boilerplate clarification that I’m appending to each story on this sequence:
I compiled the Greatest 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league groups from 1903 to 2024. These golf equipment have been ranked by their workforce scores (TS), that are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given membership’s all-time percentile is the proportion of the opposite 2,543 groups that it outperformed.)
See my e book for a proof of my TS calculations. The e book additionally provides separate breakdowns of one of the best and worst golf equipment for each decade and franchise, complete profiles of the Greatest 50 (together with position-by-position lineups and way more info than you’ll discover on this publication), and related summaries of the ten worst groups of all time.
Now on to at this time’s profile.
Group: 1924 Washington Nationals
Group rating: 86.545 factors
All-time rank: 29 of two,544
All-time percentile: 98.90%
Season file: 92-62 (.597)
Season place: First place in American League
Ultimate standing: World champion
Mediocrity was the watchword in Washington, whose 24-year-old franchise had by no means come near an American League pennant. The supervisor’s workplace appeared to want a revolving door. 4 completely different males guided the Nationals between 1920 and 1923, and none completed greater than fourth place.
Clark Griffith, the workforce’s cantankerous proprietor, made yet one more managerial transfer in 1924, and an odd one it was. He tapped Bucky Harris, the Nats’ 27-year-old second baseman. The brand new supervisor was youthful than 5 of Washington’s on a regular basis place gamers and three of its beginning pitchers. Sportswriters instantly tagged Harris with a derisive nickname, Griffith’s Folly.
And but the change progressively paid dividends. The Nationals have been caught at .500 as late as June 18, however they accelerated to a file of 66-36 (.647) the remainder of the best way. The schedule did the Nats no favors, sending them on an absurd season-ending odyssey, a 20-game highway journey. However they locked down the pennant by going 14-6.
Get the whole lowdown on the 50 biggest (and 10 weakest) golf equipment of all time
John McGraw and his Giants have been hardened veterans who have been making their fourth straight World Sequence look. Bucky Harris and his Nationals have been postseason neophytes. But the 2 golf equipment proved to be equally matched. They alternated victories within the first six video games of the 1924 sequence — first New York, then Washington. Three of these contests have been determined by a single run.
The Giants seized the benefit in Recreation Seven, taking a 3-1 lead into the underside of the eighth inning. However fortune — a gentle synonym for luck — intervened on Washington’s behalf. Bucky Harris slapped a floor ball that in some way bounded previous New York third baseman Freddie Lindstrom, knotting the sport at 3-3. A second grounder left out Lindstrom’s head within the twelfth, permitting Washington catcher Muddy Ruel to race dwelling with the series-clinching run.
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The Nationals have been related within the public thoughts with a single participant, Walter Johnson, broadly hailed as baseball’s biggest (and quickest) pitcher to that time. “He’s bought a gun hid on his individual,” columnist Ring Lardner laughed. “They will’t inform me he throws the ball together with his arm.” Johnson entered the 1924 season with a profession complete of 354 wins in 17 seasons, all with Washington.
However the erstwhile ace was nearing the top of the road. Johnson had reached the ripe previous age of 36, his arm had been sore for years, and he hadn’t received 20 video games in any season since 1919. He privately determined that 1924 can be his farewell tour.
Spring coaching modified his plans. Johnson’s arm was instantly pain-free — he had no thought why — and his fastball regained its zip. He would win the pitching Triple Crown in 1924 — main the American League in wins (23), earned run common (2.72), and strikeouts (158) — and delay his retirement for 3 extra seasons.
Considered one of Johnson’s staffmates, Fred “Firpo” Marberry, was actually a pioneer, the primary outstanding reliever in big-league historical past. Marberry made 14 spot begins in 1924, however his true worth lay in his 36 aid appearances. He was credited with a league-leading complete of 15 saves.
Washington’s nook outfielders topped the AL in a pair of offensive classes: Goose Goslin with 129 RBIs and Sam Rice with 216 hits. Goslin was a free spirit who flouted managerial authority. “It was all a lark to me, only a joyride,” he later stated of his profession. Rice was a quieter man who adhered to the principles.
