1957 Washington Senators season explained

The 1957 Washington Senators won 55 games and lost 99 in their 57th year in the American League, and finished in eighth place, attracting 457,079 spectators to Griffith Stadium, last in the major leagues. Chuck Dressen began the year as their manager, but after the Senators dropped 16 of their first 20 games, Dressen was replaced by Cookie Lavagetto on May 7. Lavagetto, a longtime aide to Dressen, went 51–83 for the rest of the year, but would remain at the club's helm into June 1961, its first season as the Minnesota Twins.

The 1957 Senators set an MLB record which still stands for the fewest stolen bases by a team in a season, with only 13.^[1] Washington left fielder Roy Sievers set a new team record with 42 home runs to the lead the Junior Circuit, as he benefited from Griffith Stadium's shorter dimensions in left and left-center field, which had been implemented before the 1956 campaign.

The 1957 season also marked the first time that Washington's American League franchise had used Senators as its official nickname since . For 52 years (1905–1956), the team called itself the Nationals, with Senators as an unofficial, but widely used, secondary appellation. From 1957 on, headline writers and baseball journalists would continue to use Nats as an accepted alternative name for both this Senators franchise and its expansion-era successor, the Senators of 1961–1971, until the "new Senators" relocated to Dallas–Fort Worth after the campaign. Since, the Nationals name is the official identity of Washington's National League franchise formerly called the Montreal Expos.

Offseason

• Prior to 1957 season: Choo-Choo Coleman was released by the Senators.^[2]

Regular season

Notable transactions

• April 29, 1957: Bob Chakales and Dean Stone were traded by the Senators to the Boston Red Sox for Faye Throneberry, Milt Bolling and Russ Kemmerer.^[3]
• June 17, 1957: Jim Kaat was signed as an amateur free agent by the Senators.^[4]

Roster

1957 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		99	264	69	.261	7	36
1B		134	473	109	.230	2	35
2B		104	329	89	.271	1	26
SS		120	391	89	.228	3	47
3B		110	414	104	.251	9	38
LF		152	572	172	.301	42	114
CF		96	295	77	.261	5	27
RF		137	518	147	.284	17	64

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	91	277	63	.227	4	19
	77	247	65	.263	4	35
	91	232	62	.267	6	27
	68	195	36	.185	2	12
	105	186	42	.226	2	22
	45	125	34	.272	1	13
	42	93	14	.151	1	4
	36	78	13	.167	0	4
	26	51	8	.157	0	3
	19	45	9	.200	0	5
	9	31	9	.290	2	5
	30	23	2	.087	0	0
	8	12	2	.167	0	0
	9	11	2	.182	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	43	231.0	12	16	4.79	91
	42	211.2	8	20	5.36	114
	29	175.2	8	17	4.10	113
	39	172.1	7	11	4.96	81
	2	13.2	0	1	3.29	12

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	52	139.2	7	6	4.19	75
	26	85.0	2	10	6.78	50
	8	19.0	0	3	8.05	8
	4	18.1	0	1	5.40	12
	3	16.1	1	1	4.41	9
	3	9.1	0	1	6.75	8
	2	9.1	0	1	4.82	7
	6	8.0	0	0	10.13	2

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	47	6	6	6	3.13	39
	52	4	3	1	4.12	46
	14	0	0	0	4.25	15
	7	0	1	0	7.11	2
	6	0	1	0	11.12	4
	3	0	0	0	8.10	3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

Kinston franchise transferred to Wilson and renamed, May 11, 1957; Midland franchise transferred to Lamesa, August 1, 1957

References

• 1957 Washington Senators at Baseball-Reference
• 1957 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Stolen Bases: Single Season Team Records. baseball-almanac.com. April 5, 2012.
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/colemch01.shtml Choo Choo Coleman page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thronfa01.shtml Faye Throneberry page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kaatji01.shtml Jim Kaat page at Baseball Reference