1939 Washington Senators season

The 1939 Washington Senators won 65 games, lost 87, and finished in sixth place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

1939 Washington Senators
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Griffith Stadium (since 1911) Washington, D.C. (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Clark Griffith and William Richardson
Manager(s)	Bucky Harris
Local radio	WJSV (Walter Johnson, Harry McTigue)
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Offseason

• December 29, 1938: Al Simmons was purchased from the Senators by the Boston Bees for $3,000.[1]

Regular season

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	106	45	0.702	—	52–25	54–20
Boston Red Sox	89	62	0.589	17	42–32	47–30
Cleveland Indians	87	67	0.565	20½	44–33	43–34
Chicago White Sox	86	69	0.555	22	50–27	36–42
Detroit Tigers	81	73	0.526	26½	42–35	39–38
Washington Senators	65	88	0.425	42	37–40	28–48
Philadelphia Athletics	55	97	0.362	51½	28–48	27–49
St. Louis Browns	43	111	0.279	64½	18–59	25–52

Record vs. opponents

1939 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	8–14	11–11	10–12	11–8–1	18–4	16–6	15–7
Chicago	14–8	—	12–10	12–10	4–18	11–11	18–4	14–8–1
Cleveland	11–11	10–12	—	11–11	7–15	18–4	16–6	14–8
Detroit	12–10	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	11–11	14–8–1	14–8
New York	8–11–1	18–4	15–7	13–9	—	18–4	19–3	15–7
Philadelphia	4–18	11–11	4–18	11–11	4–18	—	13–9–1	8–12
St. Louis	6–16	4–18	6–16	8–14–1	3–19	9–13–1	—	7–15
Washington	7–15	8–14–1	8–14	8–14	7–15	12–8	15–7	—

Roster

1939 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers 18 Pete Appleton -- Dick Bass 14 Alex Carrasquel 11 Ken Chase 15 Jimmie DeShong 19 Joe Haynes 50 Bill Holland 20 Bucky Jacobs 22 Harry Kelley 12 Joe Krakauskas 16 Dutch Leonard 33 Walt Masterson 35 Mike Palagyi 31 Bud Thomas 44 Lou Thuman 44 Early Wynn		Catchers  9 Jake Early 43 Al Evans  8 Rick Ferrell 10 Tony Giuliani Infielders 40 Morrie Aderholt  7 Jimmy Bloodworth 27 Ossie Bluege 21 Charlie Gelbert 10 Ed Leip  2 Buddy Lewis  1 Buddy Myer 17 Bob Prichard 39 Hal Quick  5 Cecil Travis 34 Mickey Vernon  7 Jimmy Wasdell		Outfielders  6 George Case  3 Bobby Estalella 34 Elmer Gedeon 17 Bob Loane 36 Alex Pitko 24 Johnny Welaj 23 Sam West  4 Taffy Wright		Manager 30 Bucky Harris Coaches 28 Nick Altrock 29 Clyde Milan

Player stats

Starters by position

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Rick Ferrell	87	274	77	.281	0	31
1B	Mickey Vernon	76	276	71	.257	1	30
2B	Jimmy Bloodworth	83	318	92	.289	4	40
SS	Cecil Travis	130	476	139	.292	5	63
3B	Buddy Lewis	140	536	171	.319	10	75
OF	Taffy Wright	129	499	154	.309	4	93
OF	Sam West	115	390	110	.282	3	52
OF	George Case	128	530	160	.302	2	35

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Bobby Estalella	82	280	77	.275	8	41
Buddy Myer	83	258	78	.302	1	32
Johnny Welaj	63	201	55	.274	1	33
Charlie Gelbert	68	188	48	.255	3	29
Tony Giuliani	54	172	43	.250	0	18
Jimmy Wasdell	29	109	33	.303	0	13
Bob Prichard	26	85	20	.235	0	8
Jake Early	32	84	22	.262	0	14
Ossie Bluege	18	59	9	.153	0	3
Hal Quick	12	41	10	.244	0	2
Ed Leip	9	32	11	.344	0	2
Morrie Aderholt	7	25	5	.200	1	4
Al Evans	7	21	7	.333	0	1
Elmer Gedeon	5	15	3	.200	0	1
Bob Loane	3	9	0	.000	0	1
Alex Pitko	4	8	1	.125	0	1

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
Dutch Leonard	34	269.1	20	8	3.54	88
Ken Chase	32	232	10	19	3.80	118
Joe Krakauskas	39	217.1	11	17	4.60	110
Joe Haynes	27	173	8	12	5.36	64
Jimmie DeShong	7	40.2	0	3	8.63	12
Early Wynn	3	20.1	0	2	5.75	1
Dick Bass	1	8	0	1	6.75	1

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
Alex Carrasquel	40	159.1	5	9	4.69	41
Walt Masterson	24	58.1	2	2	5.55	12
Harry Kelley	15	53.2	4	3	4.70	20

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
Pete Appleton	40	5	10	6	4.56	50
Bud Thomas	4	0	0	0	6.00	0
Lou Thuman	3	0	0	0	9.00	1
Bill Holland	3	0	1	0	11.25	2
Bucky Jacobs	2	0	0	0	0.00	1
Mike Palagyi	1	0	0	0	∞	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A1	Chattanooga Lookouts	Southern Association	Kiki Cuyler
A	Springfield Nationals	Eastern League	Spencer Abbott
B	Charlotte Hornets	Piedmont League	Calvin Griffith
B	Greenville Spinners	Sally League	Alex McColl
C	Oswego Netherlands	Canadian–American League	Art Funk and Blaine Kunes
D	Salisbury Indians	Eastern Shore League	Vic Keen and Spud Nachand
D	Orlando Senators	Florida State League	John Ganzel
D	Shelby Nationals	Tar Heel League	Ed Montague

Notes

1. Al Simmons page at Baseball Reference

References

• 1939 Washington Senators at Baseball-Reference
• 1939 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com