1957 Washington Senators season

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. 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, 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.

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.
June 17, 1957: Jim Kaat was signed as an amateur free agent by the Senators.

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	Lou Berberet	99	264	69	.261	7	36
1B	Pete Runnels	134	473	109	.230	2	35
2B	Herb Plews	104	329	89	.271	1	26
SS	Rocky Bridges	120	391	89	.228	3	47
3B	Eddie Yost	110	414	104	.251	9	38
LF	Roy Sievers	152	572	172	.301	42	114
CF	Bob Usher	96	295	77	.261	5	27
RF	Jim Lemon	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
Milt Bolling	91	277	63	.227	4	19
Art Schult	77	247	65	.263	4	35
Clint Courtney	91	232	62	.267	6	27
Faye Throneberry	68	195	36	.185	2	12
Julio Bécquer	105	186	42	.226	2	22
Ed Fitz Gerald	45	125	34	.272	1	13
Jerry Snyder	42	93	14	.151	1	4
Whitey Herzog	36	78	13	.167	0	4
Neil Chrisley	26	51	8	.157	0	3
Lyle Luttrell	19	45	9	.200	0	5
Harmon Killebrew	9	31	9	.290	2	5
Jerry Schoonmaker	30	23	2	.087	0	0
Karl Olson	8	12	2	.167	0	0
Dick Tettelbach	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
Pedro Ramos	43	231.0	12	16	4.79	91
Chuck Stobbs	42	211.2	8	20	5.36	114
Camilo Pascual	29	175.2	8	17	4.10	113
Russ Kemmerer	39	172.1	7	11	4.96	81
Hal Griggs	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
Tex Clevenger	52	139.2	7	6	4.19	75
	26	85.0	2	10	6.78	50
Jim Heise	8	19.0	0	3	8.05	8
	4	18.1	0	1	5.40	12
Bob Wiesler	3	16.1	1	1	4.41	9
Ralph Lumenti	3	9.1	0	1	6.75	8
Don Minnick	2	9.1	0	1	4.82	7
Garland Shifflett	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
Bud Byerly	47	6	6	6	3.13	39
Dick Hyde	52	4	3	1	4.12	46
	14	0	0	0	4.25	15
Joe Black	7	0	1	0	7.11	2
Dick Brodowski	6	0	1	0	11.12	4
Dean Stone	3	0	0	0	8.10	3

Farm system

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