1933 Washington Senators season

The 1933 Washington Senators was a season in American baseball. They won 99 games, lost 53, and finished in first place in the American League. It was the third and final pennant of the franchise while based in Washington. The team was managed by Joe Cronin and played home games at Griffith Stadium. They lost the best-of-seven World Series in 5 games to the New York Giants.

1933 Washington Senators
American League Champions
President Franklin D. Roosevelt throwing the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day at Griffith Stadium
League	American League
Ballpark	Griffith Stadium
City	Washington, D.C.
Owners	Clark Griffith and William Richardson
Managers	Joe Cronin
Seasons

It would be the last time a Major League Baseball postseason series would be held in Washington until the 2012 season. The Senators franchise, which moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul after the 1960 season, has since won three American League pennants (1965; 1987; 1991) and two World Series (1987 and 1991) as the Minnesota Twins. The Series also marked the last time the nation's capital hosted a World Series game until the Washington Nationals -- spiritual successors to the Senators -- played in and ultimately won the 2019 World Series over the Houston Astros in seven games.

Regular season

Player-manager Cronin was selected to the All-Star team as the starting shortstop and finished second in MVP voting. He also led the Senators with 118 runs batted in. 19-year-old infielder Cecil Travis had five hits in his major league debut.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Washington Senators	99	53	0.651	—	46–30	53–23
New York Yankees	91	59	0.607	7	51–23	40–36
Philadelphia Athletics	79	72	0.523	19½	46–29	33–43
Cleveland Indians	75	76	0.497	23½	45–32	30–44
Detroit Tigers	75	79	0.487	25	43–35	32–44
Chicago White Sox	67	83	0.447	31	35–41	32–42
Boston Red Sox	63	86	0.423	34½	32–40	31–46
St. Louis Browns	55	96	0.364	43½	30–46	25–50

Record vs. opponents

1933 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	11–7	6–16	11–11	8–14	14–8	9–13	4–17
Chicago	7–11	—	9–13	10–12	7–15–1	12–10	15–7	7–15
Cleveland	16–6	13–9	—	10–12	7–13	6–16	15–7	8–13
Detroit	11–11	12–10	12–10	—	7–15	11–11	14–8–1	8–14
New York	14–8	15–7–1	13–7	15–7	—	12–9	14–7–1	8–14
Philadelphia	8–14	10–12	16–6	11–11	9–12	—	14–6	11–11–1
St. Louis	13–9	7–15	7–15	8–14–1	7–14–1	6–14	—	7–15
Washington	17–4	15–7	13–8	14–8	14–8	11–11–1	15–7	—

Roster

1933 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers 18 Bobby Burke 26 John Campbell 19 Ed Chapman 12 Alvin Crowder 20 Ed Linke 19 Bill McAfee 26 Alex McColl 30 Ray Prim 17 Jack Russell 14 Lefty Stewart 21 Bud Thomas 15 Tommy Thomas 16 Monte Weaver 11 Earl Whitehill		Catchers 10 Moe Berg  9 Cliff Bolton  8 Luke Sewell Infielders  7 Ossie Bluege 25 Bob Boken  4 Joe Cronin 23 John Kerr  2 Joe Kuhel  1 Buddy Myer 26,31 Cecil Travis		Outfielders  5 Goose Goslin 24 Dave Harris  3 Heinie Manush 22 Sam Rice  6 Fred Schulte Other batters 27 Nick Altrock		Manager  4 Joe Cronin Coaches 27 Nick Altrock 28 Al Schacht

Player stats

Batting

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	Luke Sewell	141	474	125	.264	2	61
1B	Joe Kuhel	153	602	194	.322	11	107
2B	Buddy Myer	131	530	160	.302	4	61
3B	Ossie Bluege	140	501	131	.261	6	71
SS	Joe Cronin	152	602	186	.309	5	118
LF	Heinie Manush	153	658	221	.336	5	95
CF	Fred Schulte	144	550	162	.295	5	87
RF	Goose Goslin	132	549	163	.297	10	64

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
Dave Harris	82	177	46	.260	5	38
Bob Boken	55	133	37	.278	3	26
Sam Rice	73	85	25	.294	1	12
Moe Berg	40	65	12	.185	2	9
Cecil Travis	18	43	13	.302	0	2
John Kerr	28	40	8	.200	0	0
Cliff Bolton	33	39	16	.410	0	6
Nick Altrock	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

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
Alvin Crowder	52	299.1	24	15	3.97	110
Earl Whitehill	39	270.0	22	8	3.33	96
Lefty Stewart	34	230.2	15	6	3.82	69
Monte Weaver	23	152.1	10	5	3.25	45

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
Bobby Burke	25	64.0	4	3	3.23	28
Alex McColl	4	17.0	1	0	2.65	5
Ed Linke	3	16.0	1	0	5.06	6
Ray Prim	2	16.0	0	1	3.14	6
Ed Chapman	6	9.0	0	0	8.00	4

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
Jack Russell	50	12	6	13	2.69	28
Tommy Thomas	35	7	7	3	4.80	35
Bill McAfee	27	3	2	5	6.62	14
Bud Thomas	2	0	0	0	15.75	1
John Campbell	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Joe Cronin, starter, shortstop Alvin Crowder, reserve, pitcher

League top five finishers

Joe Cronin

• #4 in AL in RBI (118)

Alvin Crowder

• MLB leader in wins (24)

Joe Kuhel

• #4 in AL in stolen bases (17)

Heinie Manush

• #2 in AL in batting average (.336)
• #3 in AL in runs scored (115)

Earl Whitehill

• #3 in AL in wins (22)

1933 World Series

Main article: 1933 World Series

Game 1

October 3, 1933, at the Polo Grounds in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington (A)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	3
New York (N)	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	x	4	10	2
W: Carl Hubbell (1–0)   L: Lefty Stewart (0–1)
HR: NYG – Mel Ott (1)

Game 2

October 4, 1933, at the Polo Grounds in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington (A)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
New York (N)	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	x	6	10	0
W: Hal Schumacher (1–0)   L: Alvin Crowder (0–1)
HR: WAS – Goose Goslin (1)

Game 3

October 5, 1933, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Washington (A)	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	x	4	9	1
W: Earl Whitehill (1–0)  L: Freddie Fitzsimmons (0–1)   S: Hi Bell (1)

Game 4

October 6, 1933, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
New York (N)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	11	1
Washington (A)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	8	0
W: Carl Hubbell (2–0)  L: Monte Weaver (0–1)
HR: NYG – Bill Terry (1)

Game 5

October 7, 1933, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
New York (N)	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	11	1
Washington (A)	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	10	0
W: Dolf Luque (2–0)  L: Jack Russell (0–1)
HR: NYG – Mel Ott (2)   WAS – Fred Schulte (1)

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Chattanooga Lookouts	Southern Association	Bert Niehoff
C	Springfield Chicks	Middle Atlantic League	Jake Pitler

References

• 1933 Washington Senators at Baseball-Reference
• 1933 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.