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.