The Washington Senators

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

won 43 games, lost 94, and finished in eighth place in the American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

. They were managed by Tom Loftus

Tom Loftus

Thomas Joseph Loftus is a former manager in the American Association, the National League, and the American League. His playing career began in 1877 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National League, but he only played in nine career games in 1877 and 1883 as an outfielder...

 and played home games at National Park

Boundary Field

Boundary Field is a former baseball ground located in Washington, D.C. located on a larger block bounded approximately by Georgia Avenue, 5th Street, W Street and Florida Avenue, NW...

.

Washington had finished in sixth place in each of the previous two seasons (the first two seasons of the American League's existence). However, they fell to eighth and last in 1903. Their only star player, Big Ed Delahanty

Ed Delahanty

Edward James Delahanty , nicknamed "Big Ed", was a Major League Baseball player from 1888 to 1903 for the Philadelphia Quakers, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Infants and Washington Senators, and was known as one of the early great power hitters in the game.He was elected to the Baseball Hall of...

, got drunk and fell off a bridge into Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...

 midway through the season.

The Senators' pitching had always been bad, and indeed, they would allow the most runs in the AL, but without Delahanty the offense sputtered to a halt. Their collective batting average was .231, bad even for the dead-ball era, and no one drove in more than 49 runs.

Notable transactions

• June 13, 1903: The Senators traded Ducky Holmes
  Ducky Holmes
  For Howard Elbert Holmes, also known as Ducky, baseball player, see Ducky Holmes James William "Ducky" Holmes was an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played ten seasons in the National League and American League with the Louisville Colonels , New York Giants , St...
  
   to the Chicago White Stockings
  Chicago White Sox
  The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
  
   for a player to be named later. The White Stockings completed the deal by sending Davey Dunkle
  Davey Dunkle
  Edward Perks "Davey" Dunkle was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played all or parts of five seasons in the majors between 1897 and 1904, for the Philadelphia Phillies, National League's Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, and American League's Washington Senators...
  
   to the Senators on July 20.

Roster

1903 Washington Senators
Roster
valign="top" | Pitchers Catchers		valign="top" | Infielders		valign="top" | Outfielders		valign="top" | Manager

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		60	192	41	.214	0	16
1B		126	465	111	.239	2	38
3B		125	473	116	.245	1	31
SS		98	373	84	.225	1	24
OF		75	231	48	.208	0	13
OF		114	437	109	.249	7	46
OF		140	533	134	.251	3	49

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
	48	183	37	.202	0	23
	42	156	52	.333	1	21
	51	154	39	.253	0	23
	35	119	27	.227	0	27
	21	71	16	.225	1	8

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
	36	300	11	22	3.60	133
	36	279.2	10	22	4.34	88
	30	242.1	7	18	3.31	56
	22	166.2	8	12	3.08	70
	14	108.1	5	9	4.24	51

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
	20	126.2	2	11	4.76	54

League top five finishers

Al Orth

Al Orth

Albert Lewis Orth was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was born in Tipton, Indiana and died at age 76 in Lynchburg, Virginia...

• AL leader in earned runs allowed (135)
• #2 in AL in losses (22)
• #2 in AL in hits allowed (326)

Casey Patten

• AL leader in home runs allowed (11)
• #2 in AL in losses (22)
• #3 in AL in earned runs allowed (120)
• #4 in AL in hits allowed (313)
• #4 in AL in walks allowed (80)