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
American League (since 1961)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
RFK Stadium (since 1962) Washington, D.C. (since 1961)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bob Short
Manager(s)	Ted Williams
Local television	WTOP
Local radio	WWDC (FM) (Ron Menchine, Shelby Whitfield, Warner Wolf)
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Offseason

• January 8, 1969: John Orsino was purchased from the Senators by the New York Yankees.[1]

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	109	53	0.673	—	60–21	49–32
Detroit Tigers	90	72	0.556	19	46–35	44–37
Boston Red Sox	87	75	0.537	22	46–35	41–40
Washington Senators	86	76	0.531	23	47–34	39–42
New York Yankees	80	81	0.497	28½	48–32	32–49
Cleveland Indians	62	99	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	—	10–8	6–6	9–3	13–5	11–7	11–1	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–3	13–5
Boston	8–10	—	8–4	5–7	12–6	10–8	10–2	7–5	11–7	4–8	6–6	6–12
California	6–6	4–8	—	9–9	8–4	5–7	9–9	7–11	3–9	6–12	9–9–1	5–7
Chicago	3–9	7–5	9–9	—	8–4	3–9	8–10	5–13	3–9	8–10	10–8	4–8
Cleveland	5–13	6–12	4–8	4–8	—	7–11	7–5	5–7	9–8	5–7	7–5	3–15
Detroit	7–11	8–10	7–5	9–3	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	10–8	7–5	10–2	7–11
Kansas City	1–11	2–10	9–9	10–8	5–7	4–8	—	8–10	5–7–1	8–10	10–8	7–5
Minnesota	4–8	5–7	11–7	13–5	7–5	6–6	10–8	—	10–2	13–5	12–6	6–6
New York	7–11	7–11	9–3	9–3	8–9	8–10	7–5–1	2–10	—	6–6	7–5	10–8
Oakland	4–8	8–4	12–6	10–8	7–5	5–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	13–5	8–4
Seattle	3–9	6–6	9–9–1	8–10	5–7	2–10	8–10	6–12	5–7	5–13	—	7–5
Washington	5–13	12–6	7–5	8–4	15–3	11–7	5–7	6–6	8–10	4–8	5–7	—

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.

• CF Del Unser
• RF Ed Stroud
• LF Frank Howard
• 1B Mike Epstein
• 3B Ken McMullen
• SS Ed Brinkman
• 2B Tim Cullen
• C Paul Casanova
• P Camilo Pascual

[2]

Notable transactions

• June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball draft
  • Dave Moates was drafted by the Senators in the 4th round.[3]
  • Dave Criscione was drafted by the Senators in the 5th round.[4]
• June 20, 1969: Bill Denehy and cash was traded by the Senators to the Cleveland Indians for Lee Maye.[5]

Roster

1969 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers 37 Dave Baldwin 24 Frank Bertaina 27 Dick Bosman 31 Cisco Carlos 20 Joe Coleman 29 Casey Cox 22 Jan Dukes 16 Jim Hannan 28 Dennis Higgins 23 Bob Humphreys 32 Darold Knowles 22 Frank Kreutzer 21,24 Jim Miles 25 Barry Moore 17 Camilo Pascual 21 Jim Shellenback		Catchers 12 Doug Camilli  8 Paul Casanova 10 Jim French Infielders  7 Bernie Allen 11 Ed Brinkman  1 Tim Cullen  6 Mike Epstein 17 Toby Harrah  5 Gary Holman  2 Ken McMullen 15 Zoilo Versalles		Outfielders 35 Hank Allen  3 Brant Alyea 16,31 Dick Billings 31 Sam Bowens 33 Frank Howard  5 Lee Maye 14 Dick Smith 36 Ed Stroud 30 Del Unser		Manager  9 Ted Williams Coaches 40 Joe Camacho 12 Doug Camilli 42 Nellie Fox 41 Sid Hudson 43 George Susce 44 Wayne Terwilliger

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
C	Paul Casanova	124	379	26	82	.216	4	37	0
1B	Mike Epstein	131	403	73	112	.278	30	85	2
2B	Bernie Allen	122	365	33	90	.247	9	45	5
3B	Ken McMullen	158	562	83	153	.272	19	87	4
SS	Ed Brinkman	151	576	71	153	.266	2	43	2
LF	Frank Howard	161	592	111	175	.296	48	111	1
CF	Del Unser	153	581	69	166	.286	7	57	8
RF	Lee Maye	71	238	41	69	.290	9	26	1

[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 Allen	109	271	42	75	.277	1	17	12
Tim Cullen	119	249	22	52	.209	1	15	1
Brant Alyea	104	237	29	59	.249	11	40	1
Ed Stroud	123	206	35	52	.252	4	29	12
Jim French	63	158	14	29	.184	2	13	1
Zoilo Versalles	31	75	9	20	.267	0	6	1
Sam Bowens	33	57	6	11	.193	0	4	1
Dick Billings	27	37	3	5	.135	0	0	0
Gary Holman	41	31	1	5	.161	0	2	0
Dick Smith	21	28	2	3	.107	0	0	0
Doug Camilli	1	3	0	1	.333	0	0	0
Toby Harrah	8	1	4	0	.000	0	0	0

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 Coleman	40	247.2	12	13	3.27	182
Jim Hannan	35	158.1	7	6	3.64	72
Dick Bosman	31	193	14	5	2.19	99
Barry Moore	31	134	9	8	4.30	51
Camilo Pascual	14	55.1	2	5	6.83	34

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 Cox	52	171.2	12	7	2.78	73
Jim Shellenback	30	84.2	4	7	4.04	50
Frank Bertaina	14	35.2	1	3	6.56	25
Cisco Carlos	6	17.2	1	1	4.58	5

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 Higgins	55	10	9	16	3.48	71
Darold Knowles	53	9	2	13	2.24	59
Bob Humphreys	47	3	3	5	3.05	43
Dave Baldwin	43	2	4	4	4.05	51
Jim Miles	10	0	1	0	6.20	15
Jan Dukes	8	0	2	0	2.45	3
Frank Kreutzer	4	0	0	0	4.50	2

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

• Frank Howard, Starting LF
• Darold Knowles, Reserve

Farm system

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

• 1969 Washington Senators at Baseball Reference
• 1969 Washington Senators at Baseball Almanac
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.