Founding When the original
Washington Senators announced their move to
Minnesota in 1960 to become the
Twins in
1961, Major League Baseball decided to expand a year earlier than planned to stave off the twin threats of competition from the proposed
Continental League and loss of its
exemption from the
Sherman Antitrust Act. As part of the expansion, the American League added two expansion teams for the season–the
Los Angeles Angels and a new Washington Senators team. However, the new Senators were (and still are) considered an expansion team since the Twins retained the old Senators' records and history. The new Senators and Angels began to fill their rosters with American League players in a chaotic, last-minute
expansion draft.
1961–1962: Quesada era, initial struggles Ownership changed hands several times during the franchise's stay in Washington and was often plagued by poor decision-making and planning. Owner
Elwood Richard Quesada once wondered why he needed to pay players who did not belong in the majors and later agreed to a ten-year lease at D.C. Stadium—a move that would come back to haunt the Senators. In , Quesada resigned and sold his stake in the club to Washington stockbrokers
James Johnston and
James Lemon.
1961 In the inaugural season of the Senators, under general manager
Ed Doherty and manager
Mickey Vernon, the team immediately struggled. The team was over .500 for only one day, with a record on June 2, 6½ games behind the
Detroit Tigers. The Senators finished the season in ninth place, with a dismal record, and 47½ games behind the
World Series winning
New York Yankees. This was the only season the team played at
Griffith Stadium, which closed following the conclusion of the season.
1962 from 1962 to 1971. In the sophomore season of the Senators, the team performed worse than the previous year. The team was in last place from game 7 on April 21 through the end of the season. The Senators ended the season with a dismal record, 35½ games behind the
World Series winning
New York Yankees. The Senators played in the brand-new
District of Columbia Stadium.
1963–1968: Johnston & Lemon era, struggles continue What turned out to be the longest ownership era of the Washington Senators was through Washington stockbrokers
James Johnston and
James Lemon, having bought the team from
Elwood Richard Quesada. Over the course of six seasons, both suffered massive financial losses. Johnston died in and Lemon sold the team a year later to hotel and trucking executive
Bob Short, who outbid a group headed by
Bob Hope.
1963: Worst season in franchise history The season saw a total overhaul of the team's leadership. Owner
Elwood Richard Quesada sold his stake in the team, leaving
James Johnston and
James Lemon as new owners. The season also saw new general manager
George Selkirk. and new manager
Eddie Yost. Though the season did not start as bad as the previous season, from May 18 through the end of the season, the team was again in last place. Following the game on May 21, manager
Mickey Vernon was fired. Following the firing, third base coach Eddie Yost was acting manager for one game. The next day saw
Gil Hodges take over as manager. The Senators ended the season with their worst season in franchise history (including all
Texas Rangers seasons), with a record, 48½ games behind the
New York Yankees.
1964 The season saw the Senators' best season to date, though still with an abysmal showing. For the entire season, the team mostly wavered between seventh and eighth place prior to June 19. From then on, the team was exclusively in ninth or last place. The Senators ended the season in ninth place with a record, 42 games behind the
New York Yankees.
1965 The season continued the trend of the Senators' having their best season to date, though the team was still well under .500. This was the first season the team had fewer than 100 loses. Prior to July, the team was mostly in ninth place, while from July 2 on, the team did not leave eighth place. The Senators ended the season with a record, 32 games behind the formerly Washington-based team, the
Minnesota Twins.
1966 The season continued the trend of the Senators' having their best season to date, though the team was still well under .500. Aside from June 2–4, the team spent the entire season wavering between seventh and last place. The Senators ended the season in eighth place with a record, 25½ games behind the
World Series winning
Baltimore Orioles.
1967 The season continued the trend of the Senators' having their best season to date, though the team was still under .500. Though the team looked to be having another dismal season by the All-Star break (having been in last place for most of June), the team rose to sixth place by July 21 and stayed there for most of the remaining season. The Senators ended the season tied for sixth place with the
Baltimore Orioles, with a record, 15½ games behind the
Boston Red Sox. Co-owner
James Johnston died in December, leaving his control of ownership to his estate.
1968 The season, under new manager
Jim Lemon, saw the Senators' worst season since
1964. The team slowly dropped in the standings after starting as a "
first division" team, having placed in the upper half of the league team in April. From June 11 through the end of the season, the team held last place. The Senators ended the season with a record, 37½ games behind the
World Series winning
Detroit Tigers. One of the few bright spots was left fielder
Frank Howard leading the entire Major Leagues with 44 home runs.
1969–1971: Bob Short era, temporary success and return to failure throwing the
Opening Day ceremonial first pitch at
RFK Stadium on April 7,
1969, with
Ted Williams (left) and
Bob Short (right, partially obscured by
Ralph Houk)
1969: Only winning season The season saw the Senators be placed into the newly formed
AL East, following the
1969 expansion of the
American League. The season also saw a reshuffle of the team's leadership.
James Lemon and the
James Johnston estate sold the team to trucking executive
Bob Short. Short named himself general manager and hired
Hall of Famer Ted Williams as manager. Although Williams had never coached or managed at any level of baseball, he seemed to light a spark under the once-moribund Senators. After May 16, the team spent most of the season in fourth place and from May 23, were over 10 games behind. The Senators ended the season in fourth place in the AL East with an record, 23 games behind the
Baltimore Orioles. Attendance surged to over 918,000, at the time the highest in Washington baseball history.
1970: Return to failure Following their brief success in 1969, owner
Bob Short was forced to make many questionable trades to lower the debt he had incurred to pay for the team in late 1968; the purchase price was reported at $9.4 million. Serving as his own general manager, Short was forced to make many questionable trades to service the debt and bring in much-needed revenue. As a result, the team rapidly fell back into the American League's cellar. Moreover, like their predecessors in their final few years in the nation's capital, the new Senators had to compete for an audience with the
Baltimore Orioles, 45 miles (72 km) to the northeast, who by the 1960s were perennial contenders. The rise of the Orioles to regular championship contenders (winning their first World Series in ) did not help the Senators' cause either. Fans kept their distance from the Senators while the Orioles won four American League pennants and two World Series from 1966 through 1971. The season for the Senators was a return to failure the team traditionally had. While competitive in April, the team fell to 10 games back by June. From June 6 on, the team was consistently in fifth and last place for the rest of the season. The Senators ended the season in last place in the AL East with a record, 38 games behind the
World Series winning
Baltimore Orioles.
1971: Bob Short's ultimatum By the end of the
1970 campaign, Short had issued an ultimatum: unless someone was willing to buy the Senators for $12 million (by comparison, the
New York Yankees were sold in
1973 for $8.8 million), he would not renew the stadium lease and would move the team elsewhere. At that season's end, Short dealt his best starting pitcher and the left side of his infield to the
Detroit Tigers for erstwhile 30-game-winner
Denny McLain, who had spent most of the 1970 campaign suspended because of gambling allegations. The deal—alleged by onetime Senators broadcaster
Shelby Whitfield to have been made in order to secure the Tigers' vote in favor of the Senators' eventual move to Texas—turned Detroit back into contenders, while McLain was a monumental bust, losing a league-worst 22 games. The season continued the Senators' downward trend that followed their
1969 season. While the team was once again competitive in April, the team fell to fifth place by May 9, and would waver between fifth and last place for the rest of the season. Though the team finished with a worse record than the previous year, the team ended the season in fifth place, ahead of the
Cleveland Indians, in the AL East with a record, 38½ games behind the
Oakland Athletics.
Relocation to Arlington, Texas At first, it looked like a move to
Buffalo, New York, was in the works as at the time, a proposed multi-use stadium was in the cards in either downtown Buffalo where the current
KeyBank Center is, or in suburban
Lancaster to share with the
Buffalo Bills; however, the project went over budget and the Senators started to look elsewhere while the Bills opened up
Rich Stadium instead. Short was especially receptive to an offer brought up by
Arlington, Texas, mayor
Tom Vandergriff, who had been trying to obtain a major league sports team to play in the Metroplex for over a decade. Years earlier,
Charles O. Finley, the owner of the
Kansas City Athletics, sought to relocate his baseball team to Dallas, but the idea was rebuffed and ultimately declined by the other AL team owners (the A's ultimately moved to
Oakland, California in 1968). Arlington's
hole card was
Turnpike Stadium, a 10,000-seat park built in 1965 to house the
Double-A Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs of the
Texas League. However, it had been built to MLB specifications, and only minor excavations would be necessary to expand the park to accommodate major league crowds. Vandergriff's offer of a multimillion-dollar down payment prompted Short to make the move to Arlington. On September 21,
1971, American League owners voted 10–2 to allow the move of the franchise to Arlington for the
1972 season. Senators fans were livid, and enmity came to a head at the club's last game in Washington on Thursday, September 30. Thousands simply walked in without paying after the security guards left early, swelling the paid attendance of 14,460 to around 25,000, while fans unfurled a "SHORT STINKS" banner. With two outs in the top of the ninth inning and the Senators leading 7–5, several hundred youths stormed the field, raiding it for souvenirs. One man grabbed
first base and ran off with it. With no security in sight and only three bases,
umpire crew chief
Jim Honochick forfeited the game to the
New York Yankees. ==Legacy==