The Washington Senators
baseball team was one of the
American League's eight charter franchises. The club was founded in Washington, D.C. in as the Washington Senators. In 1905 the team changed its official name to the Washington Nationals. The name "Nationals" would appear on the uniforms for only two seasons, and would then be replaced with the "W" logo for the next 52 years. However, the names "Senators", "Nationals" and shorter "Nats" would be used interchangeably by fans and media for the next sixty years; in 2005, the latter two names were revived for
the current National League franchise that had previously played in
Montreal. For a time, from 1911 to 1933, the Senators were one of the more successful franchises in
Major League Baseball. The team's rosters included Hall of Fame members
Goose Goslin,
Sam Rice,
Joe Cronin,
Bucky Harris,
Heinie Manush and one of the greatest players and pitchers of all time,
Walter Johnson. But the Senators are remembered more for their many years of mediocrity and futility, including six last-place finishes in the 1940s and 1950s.
Joe Judge,
Cecil Travis,
Buddy Myer,
Roy Sievers and
Eddie Yost were other notable Senators players whose careers were spent in obscurity due to the team's lack of success.