1969 Washington Senators season

The 1969 Washington Senators season involved the Senators finishing fourth in the newly established American League East with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses, their first winning season in franchise history, and only in Washington.

Offseason

January 8, 1969: John Orsino was purchased from the Senators by the New York Yankees.

Regular season

The year 1969 was a turning point in Washington sports history. The Senators named Ted Williams as manager. The Washington Redskins hired Vince Lombardi as Head Coach and he had brought a winning attitude to the nation's capital. In the same year, the nearby University of Maryland had hired Lefty Driesell to coach basketball. It marked a renaissance in sports interest in America's most transient of cities.
The hiring of Ted Williams sparked at least increased curiosity in the team. Williams' fanatical approach to hitting helped improve the Senators offense considerably, and inspired the team to its one and only winning season during its 11-year stay in Washington. The Senators won 86 games, 21 more than in 1968, and improved from last place in the ten-team 1968 American League to one game out of third in the new AL East division. For this remarkable turnaround, Williams was voted American League Manager of the Year. As a result, attendance at RFK Stadium improved to over 900,000, the highest attendance for the "new" Senators and, at the time, the highest in Washington's baseball history.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball draft
*Dave Moates was drafted by the Senators in the 4th round.
*Dave Criscione was drafted by the Senators in the 5th round.
June 20, 1969: Bill Denehy and cash was traded by the Senators to the Cleveland Indians for Lee Maye.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C		124	379	26	82	.216	4	37	0
1B		131	403	73	112	.278	30	85	2
2B		122	365	33	90	.247	9	45	5
3B		158	562	83	153	.272	19	87	4
SS		151	576	71	153	.266	2	43	2
LF		161	592	111	175	.296	48	111	1
CF		153	581	69	166	.286	7	57	8
RF		71	238	41	69	.290	9	26	1

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
	109	271	42	75	.277	1	17	12
	119	249	22	52	.209	1	15	1
	104	237	29	59	.249	11	40	1
	123	206	35	52	.252	4	29	12
	63	158	14	29	.184	2	13	1
	31	75	9	20	.267	0	6	1
	33	57	6	11	.193	0	4	1
	27	37	3	5	.135	0	0	0
	41	31	1	5	.161	0	2	0
	21	28	2	3	.107	0	0	0
	1	3	0	1	.333	0	0	0
	8	1	4	0	.000	0	0	0

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
	40	247.2	12	13	3.27	182
	31	193.0	14	5	2.19	99
	35	158.1	7	6	3.64	72
	31	134.0	9	8	4.30	51
	14	55.1	2	5	6.83	34

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	171.2	12	7	2.78	73
	30	84.2	4	7	4.04	50
	14	35.2	1	3	6.56	25
	6	17.2	1	1	4.58	5

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
	55	10	9	16	3.48	71
	53	9	2	13	2.24	59
	47	3	3	5	3.05	43
	43	2	4	4	4.05	51
	10	0	1	0	6.20	15
	8	0	2	0	2.45	3
	4	0	0	0	4.50	2

Awards and honors

Del Unser, American League Leader, Triples
Del Unser, American League Record, Fewest Triples in One Season by an American League Leader
Ted Williams, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year

All-Star Game

Frank Howard, starting LF
Darold Knowles, reserve

Farm system

Savannah affiliation shared with Houston Astros