Three stories about the Washington Monument, including a woman jumping down the elevator shaft, a baseball thrown from the top, and a sniper shooting and killing a bomber.
This is awesome and appears to be the latest minor D.C. Internet meme. Well, I love baseball and I love D.C., so I want to share this with those of you who haven’t seen it yet (if you haven’t seen this, you don’t surf the Interwebs enough).
Ron Paul is the only player in the history of the Congressional baseball game to hit a home run over the fence. He also killed it in this game, going 2 for 3. Below you can watch him stroke a double. Not bad for a 47-year-old doctor from Texas.
Celebrating the New Year in 1929, Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse himself, was in Washington, DC to ring in the New Year. Read about his famous farewell speech and his stay at the Occidental Hotel.
The eternally woeful Washington Senators were headed to the World Series in October of 1924 to face the New York Giants. Actually, during the 1920s, they were not that woeful. In fact, they were one of the better teams in the American League. They had beaten Babe Ruth and the hated New York Yankees by two games and were league champs.
The town was abuzz with excitement and ready to rally around their star pitcher, and Mount Pleasant resident, Walter Johnson. Johnson was the best pitcher ever to represent a baseball team in the nation’s capital and, quite possibly, was the best pitcher in the history of professional baseball (our modern-day Johnson is Stephen Strasburg, as long as he can dominate as a Washington National until the year 2030).
On October 3rd, a large party was held at the Willard Hotel to show support for the team and send them off in style to the World Series the next day.
I came across an article in the Post talking about what the citizens of Washington did to show their gratitude for Walter Johnson.
The most popular man in America, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, arrived with the New York Yankees in May of 1924 to play two games against the Washington Senators. Several days earlier, he had enlisted with the New York National Guard in a well-publicized event in Times Square – a large National Guard recruitment push.
Thanks Shorpy for these great Babe Ruth photos.
The front page of the Washington Times reported a big local signing in December of 1902 for the Washington Senators. They had inked the Georgetown shortstop, Charley Moran, to a contract
Learn about Nick Altrock, former Major League baseball player who gained fame pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 1906, helping them win the World Series.
