Presidents and Celebrities: Calvin Coolidge and the World Series Champions
It was probably Ronald Reagan who began the ongoing tradition of inviting the World Series championship teams to visit the White House, but the Gipper was not the first President to do so. The 1924 Washington Senators were the first title-winning professional team to visit the White House. Their host was a man not generally known as a trend-setter, none other than Calvin Coolidge, who welcomed the team to his home on September 28, 1925.
The event was described in a Washington Post story published on September 29, 1925, which reported: "President Coolidge took time off from his official duties yesterday to shake hands with each member of the Nationals to congratulate them on winning their second American league pennant and pose with them for pictures on the White House’s lawn”. Earlier in the day, the Senators, who were the defending World Series champions, had clinched their second consecutive American League title with a win over Cleveland.
The team had visited Coolidge in the previous year, but they were not yet a championship team. On September 5, 1924, Coolidge welcomed the team to the White House on an off day. The Senators were up two games on the Yankees in the American League standings. They were getting read for a three-game set against the Red Sox before beginning a 20-game road trip to close the regular season. During the visit, Coolidge signed a baseball for pitcher Walter Johnson.
Reporter Frank Young of the Post wrote: “While President Coolidge has not, perhaps, shown as great a fondness for baseball as some of his predecessors, that he has the welfare of the Nationals at heart was demonstrated yesterday when, at his request, Manager Stanley Harris and the whole team visited the White House. The chief executive not only shook hands with all of the players, but told them that he was "mighty proud" of the showing the Nationals have made to date and was confident they would keep up their good work and return to the Capital in October for the world’s series. Needless to say he was assured by one and all that his hopes would be fulfilled.
Coolidge gave the team good luck as the Senators won 14 of 20 games on their road trip. They clinched the pennant on the second last day of the regular season with a 4-2 win at Boston. It is said that Grace Coolidge was a bigger baseball fan than her husband was. She was the first to receive the news at the White House that the Sens had clinched the 1924 Pennant. The Washington Post reported that "Immediately after hearing the news, C. Bascom Slemp, secretary to the President, telegraphed his congratulations to Manager ‘Bucky’ Harris. ‘Heartiest congratulations to you and your team for your great work in bringing Washington its first pennant,’ the telegram read. ‘We of Washington are proud of you and behind you. On to the world’s championship.’ "
The Senators lost their last game by a lopsided score of 13-1 loss, but the game was a meaningless one. The Senators arrived home to Union Station in the nation's capitol by train on the morning of October 1 where they were welcomed by hundreds of fans. An estimated crowd of 100,000 lined the parade route that ended at The Ellipse. Coolidge addressed the team at the celebration and presented Harris with a silver cup. He told the club:
"As the head of an enterprise which transacts some business and maintains a considerable staff in this town, I have a double satisfaction in welcoming home the victorious Washington baseball team. First, you bring the laurels from one of the hardest-fought contests in all the history of the national game. Second, I feel hopeful that with this happy result now assured it will be possible for the people of Washington gradually to resume interest in the ordinary concerns of life. So long as we could be satisfied with a prompt report of the score by innings, a reasonable attention to business was still possible. But when the entire population reached the point of requiring the game to be described play by play, I began to doubt whether the highest efficiency was being promoted."
Coolidge attended Games 1, 6 and 7 of the 1924 World Series against the New York Giants at Griffith Stadium. Washington clinched its only world series title with an exciting 4-3 extra-innings win in the 12th. Coolidge issued a statement congratulating both teams. He said:
“Of course I am not speaking as an expert or as a historian of baseball, but I do not recollect a more exciting world’s series than that which has finished this afternoon. The championship was not won until the twelfth inning of the last game. This shows how evenly the teams were matched. I have only the heartiest of praise to bestow upon the individual players of both teams."
The Senators’ 1924 championship resulted in a large number of letters from fans urging Coolidge to honor the team. The team wasn't invited back to the White House until 11 months later.
1924 was a good year for both the Senators and the President. Coolidge won the 1924 presidential election by a landslide. But the Senators good luck gae to an end when, shortly after their 1925 visit to the White House, the team blew a three-games-to-one lead in the World Series and lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.
Following is a YouTube video from the White House Historical Association telling the story of Coolidge and the Senators:
The event was described in a Washington Post story published on September 29, 1925, which reported: "President Coolidge took time off from his official duties yesterday to shake hands with each member of the Nationals to congratulate them on winning their second American league pennant and pose with them for pictures on the White House’s lawn”. Earlier in the day, the Senators, who were the defending World Series champions, had clinched their second consecutive American League title with a win over Cleveland.
The team had visited Coolidge in the previous year, but they were not yet a championship team. On September 5, 1924, Coolidge welcomed the team to the White House on an off day. The Senators were up two games on the Yankees in the American League standings. They were getting read for a three-game set against the Red Sox before beginning a 20-game road trip to close the regular season. During the visit, Coolidge signed a baseball for pitcher Walter Johnson.
Reporter Frank Young of the Post wrote: “While President Coolidge has not, perhaps, shown as great a fondness for baseball as some of his predecessors, that he has the welfare of the Nationals at heart was demonstrated yesterday when, at his request, Manager Stanley Harris and the whole team visited the White House. The chief executive not only shook hands with all of the players, but told them that he was "mighty proud" of the showing the Nationals have made to date and was confident they would keep up their good work and return to the Capital in October for the world’s series. Needless to say he was assured by one and all that his hopes would be fulfilled.
Coolidge gave the team good luck as the Senators won 14 of 20 games on their road trip. They clinched the pennant on the second last day of the regular season with a 4-2 win at Boston. It is said that Grace Coolidge was a bigger baseball fan than her husband was. She was the first to receive the news at the White House that the Sens had clinched the 1924 Pennant. The Washington Post reported that "Immediately after hearing the news, C. Bascom Slemp, secretary to the President, telegraphed his congratulations to Manager ‘Bucky’ Harris. ‘Heartiest congratulations to you and your team for your great work in bringing Washington its first pennant,’ the telegram read. ‘We of Washington are proud of you and behind you. On to the world’s championship.’ "
The Senators lost their last game by a lopsided score of 13-1 loss, but the game was a meaningless one. The Senators arrived home to Union Station in the nation's capitol by train on the morning of October 1 where they were welcomed by hundreds of fans. An estimated crowd of 100,000 lined the parade route that ended at The Ellipse. Coolidge addressed the team at the celebration and presented Harris with a silver cup. He told the club:
"As the head of an enterprise which transacts some business and maintains a considerable staff in this town, I have a double satisfaction in welcoming home the victorious Washington baseball team. First, you bring the laurels from one of the hardest-fought contests in all the history of the national game. Second, I feel hopeful that with this happy result now assured it will be possible for the people of Washington gradually to resume interest in the ordinary concerns of life. So long as we could be satisfied with a prompt report of the score by innings, a reasonable attention to business was still possible. But when the entire population reached the point of requiring the game to be described play by play, I began to doubt whether the highest efficiency was being promoted."
Coolidge attended Games 1, 6 and 7 of the 1924 World Series against the New York Giants at Griffith Stadium. Washington clinched its only world series title with an exciting 4-3 extra-innings win in the 12th. Coolidge issued a statement congratulating both teams. He said:
“Of course I am not speaking as an expert or as a historian of baseball, but I do not recollect a more exciting world’s series than that which has finished this afternoon. The championship was not won until the twelfth inning of the last game. This shows how evenly the teams were matched. I have only the heartiest of praise to bestow upon the individual players of both teams."
The Senators’ 1924 championship resulted in a large number of letters from fans urging Coolidge to honor the team. The team wasn't invited back to the White House until 11 months later.
1924 was a good year for both the Senators and the President. Coolidge won the 1924 presidential election by a landslide. But the Senators good luck gae to an end when, shortly after their 1925 visit to the White House, the team blew a three-games-to-one lead in the World Series and lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.
Following is a YouTube video from the White House Historical Association telling the story of Coolidge and the Senators:
Click to view