(Top Center)

Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed “Barney” and “The Big Train”, was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators from 1907 to 1927. He later served as manager of the Senators from 1929 through 1932 and of the Cleveland Indians from 1933 through 1935.

In 1936, Johnson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its “first five” inaugural members. His gentle nature was legendary, and to this day he is held up as an example of good sportsmanship, while his name has become synonymous with friendly competition.

(Center)

Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW.

The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Boundary Field, or National Park after the team that played there: the Washington Senators/Nationals. It was destroyed by a fire in 1911.

It was replaced by a steel and concrete structure, at first called National Park and then American League Park; it was renamed for Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith in 1923. The stadium was home to the American League Senators from 1911 through 1960, and to an expansion team of the same name for their first season in 1961. 

(Bottom Center)

Bing Miller, of the Philadelphia Athletics, tagged out at home plate by Washington Nationals catcher “Muddy” Ruel during baseball game in 1925.

Herold Dominic “Muddy” Ruel (February 20, 1896 – November 13, 1963) was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and general manager. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1934. One of the top defensive catchers of his era, Ruel was notable for being the personal catcher for Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, Walter Johnson and for scoring the winning run for the Washington Senators in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series. He also played for the St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and the Chicago White Sox during a career that lasted 19 seasons. After his playing career, Ruel served as a coach and a baseball executive.

(Top Right)

Griffith Stadium served as home for the Negro league Homestead Grays during the 1940s, when it hosted the 1943 and 1944 Negro World Series. A group of Homestead Grays players pose together in 1946. From left to right: Sam Bankhead, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Dave Hoskins and Jerry Benjamin.

(Center Right)

Every president of the United States from William Howard Taft to John F. Kennedy threw a ceremonial first pitch at least once at Griffith. The Senators even constructed a special presidential box near the first-base dugout for the annual ritual.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a good friend of Clark Griffith, and had attended games at the stadium since his days as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the 1910s. When FDR returned to Washington in 1933 as president, Griffith visited the White House early every season to give Roosevelt season passes; he also constructed a special ramp at the ballpark that accommodated the president’s special mobility needs after his bout with polio in 1921. On Opening Day 1941, Roosevelt stood up in the stadium’s presidential box on the arm of a military aide, and threw out the first pitch. In 1942, Griffith urged Roosevelt to keep baseball going during the war, and took credit for doing so after Roosevelt’s initial “Green Light letter”, which allowed baseball to continue.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt throwing a baseball at Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC, Boston Red Sox vs. Washington Senators 04/24/1934. (National Archives)

(Bottom Right)

The Chicago Colleens and Springfield Sallies played Exhibition games at Griffith, 1948-1950.

The Springfield (Illinois) Sallies and Chicago Colleens were added to the League’s roster in 1948 but lost their franchises by the end of that season. For the next two years the Colleens and Sallies became rookie training teams that played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Highlights of these tours included contests in Washington, D.C.’s Griffith Park and New York’s Yankee Stadium.