The old saw about the original Senators, "first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League," was true almost from the first, but has been greatly overinflated. When the American League declared itself a major league in 1901, it was considered important to make a good showing on the East Coast, so players from the 1900 Kansas City franchise were used to form a team in Washington, which had been a National League town until the league pared down to eight teams following the financially troubled 1899 season. The Senators finished last four times in their first nine seasons and didn't rise above sixth place until second-place finishes in 1912 and 1913. The major catalysts in the improvement were the ascendance to greatness of Walter Johnson, who emerged in 1910 as the AL's best pitcher, and the hiring of Clark Griffith as manager in 1912. Griffith acquired first baseman Chick Gandil and pioneered in the use of relief pitchers and in signing Carribbean talent. But the team's new respectability faded a bit over the next decade.

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The 1924 hiring of the team's regular second baseman, the 27-year-old Bucky Harris, as player-manager brought instant results with a surprise World Championship in his first season at the helm. The foundation had been laid by Griffith, who had bought the team in 1920. Besides Harris and Johnson, the club featured offensive stars Roger Peckinpaugh (the 1924 MVP) and Hall of Famers Goose Goslin and Sam Rice. Star pitchers included Tom Zachary and Firpo Marberry, considered by most to be the first relief ace. The club repeated as AL champions in 1925 with the acquisition of Hall of Fame pitcher Stan Coveleski.

Washington finished lower than fourth place only once in the next seven years, and then had the city's best season in 1933, capturing the AL title with a team-record 99-53 mark under the leadership of shortstop Joe Cronin. But the club dropped to seventh place in 1934, the team's worst showing since 1916, and Cronin (Griffith's son-in-law) was sold to the Red Sox after the season. The Senators had only four more winning seasons over the next 26 years. The greater incompetence of the Browns and the Athletics generally kept them out of last place, but when the Browns won the pennant in 1944, the Senators finished last. They had finished second the year before, and they finished second in 1945, due to the confusion of the war years, but the hardships of the Depression and the war years cut into attendance and left Griffith, never financially secure, on shaky fiscal ground.

On Clark Griffith's death in October 1955, the club passed to his son, Calvin. The club had finished last that season, the first of four last-place finishes in the space of six years. Clark had pondered the signing of Josh Gibson and other stars of the Negro Leagues to bolster attendance in the 1930s and 1940s, but had ultimately decided not to challenge the unwritten color line; Calvin felt that the team's attendance problem stemmed from Washington's increasingly largely black population, who were less well-off and who tended not to support the Senators, although they had often packed Griffith Stadium for Negro League games. He began lobbying to be allowed to move the franchise to Minneapolis. At first the other owners refused to consider it; the nation's lawmakers were protective of their city's ballclub and often spoke threateningly of reconsidering baseball's anti-trust exemption should the Senators be taken from them. But the decision to expand gave the AL and Griffith a new option, and the AL expanded a year earlier than the NL to allow the Senators become the Minnesota Twins in 1961, replacing them in the capital with the expansion Senators. (SH)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » May 7th, 1894: Baltimore routs the Washington Senators 17-0 for Baltimore's only shutout of the season. » November 10th, 1919: Clark Griffith becomes a club owner and president when he joins Philadelphia grain broker William Richardson in buying controlling interest in the Washington Senators for $175,000. Griffith, unable to get financial help from the AL, mortgages his Montana ranch to raise funds. » July 4th, 1933: The Washington Senators widen their lead over the 2nd-place Yankees to 21Ž2 games with a double-bill win before 77,365 holiday fans at Yankee Stadium, 6-5 in 10 innings and 3­2. » August 4th, 1939: Mike Kreevich of the Chicago White Sox equals the ML record by grounding into four successive DPs against the Washington Senators. » September 3rd, 1947: Rookie Bill McCahan of the Philadelphia Athletics no-hits the Washington Senators 3-0. 1B Ferris Fain allows the only runs when his toss to McCahan on an easy grounder in the 2nd inning goes wide. McCahan, the former Duke University star, was the losing pitcher when Don Black threw his no-hitter July 10th. The Senators have not suffered a no-hitter since Ernie Shore pitched his 26-out perfect game in 1917. » April 17th, 1953: Mickey Mantle hits the longest HR in Griffith Stadium history, a 565-feet shot off of Chuck Stobbs of the Washington Senators. The Yanks win 7-3. » September 24th, 1955: The Washington Senators lose their 99th and 100th games of the season, the first time the franchise has ever reached the century mark. The Orioles do the damage 1-0 and 8­5. » May 30th, 1956: Mickey Mantle hits one of the most memorable HRs in his career, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader with the Washington Senators. He tags a pitch from Pedro Ramos that comes within 18 inches of leaving Yankee Stadium, something never accomplished by any major leaguer. The ball was still climbing when it caromed off the upper-stand facade, about 396 feet from home plate. Estimates are that the ball could have traveled more than 600 feet. It is Mantle's 20th HR of the season; no one else has ever hit 20 HRs before June. » June 2nd, 1958: Brooks Robinson, in a 2-1 Orioles loss to the Washington Senators, hits into the first triple play of the record four of his career. » May 1st, 1959: The Washington Senators start a baseball lecture series for women. » October 27th, 1960: Trying to jump ahead of the NL, the AL admits Los Angeles and Washington to the league with plans to have the new clubs begin competition in 1961. Calvin Griffith is given permission to move the existing Washington Senators franchise to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. League president Joe Cronin says the AL will play a 162-game schedule, with 18 games against each opponent. » September 19th, 1970: Brothers Billy and Tony Conigliaro of the Red Sox hit HRs against the Washington Senators. Billy homers off Jim Hannan in the 4th inning and Tony follows against Joe Grzenda in the 7th. » June 22nd, 1984: In a teary home plate ceremony before the Twins-White Sox game at the Metrodome, Calvin Griffith and his sister, Thelma Haynes, sign a letter of intent to sell their 52 percent ownership of the Twins to Minneapolis banker Carl Pohlad for $32 million. Griffith and his sister had been involved with the franchise since 1922, when they were adopted by owner Clark Griffith when the team was the Washington Senators. » October 25th, 1987: Series MVP Frank Viola and reliever Jeff Reardon hold the Cardinals to 6 hits as the Twins capture game seven 4-2 to win their first World Championship in Minnesota. The franchise's last World Championship came in 1924 as the Washington Senators.