1938 Washington Senators season

1938 Washington Senators
1938 Washington Senators
League	American League
Ballpark	Griffith Stadium
City	Washington, D.C.
Record	75–76 (.497)
League place	5th
Owners	Clark Griffith and William Richardson
Managers	Bucky Harris
Radio	WJSV ; (Arch McDonald)

Last updated July 06, 2025

The 1938 Washington Senators won 75 games, lost 76, and finished in fifth place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Offseason

December 1, 1937: Ed Linke was traded by the Senators to the St. Louis Browns for Elon Hogsett.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
American League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	99	53	.651	—	55‍–‍22	44‍–‍31
Boston Red Sox	88	61	.591	9½	52‍–‍23	36‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians	86	66	.566	13	46‍–‍30	40‍–‍36
Detroit Tigers	84	70	.545	16	48‍–‍31	36‍–‍39
Washington Senators	75	76	.497	23½	44‍–‍33	31‍–‍43
Chicago White Sox	65	83	.439	32	33‍–‍39	32‍–‍44
St. Louis Browns	55	97	.362	44	31‍–‍43	24‍–‍54
Philadelphia Athletics	53	99	.349	46	28‍–‍47	25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1938 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	12–6	12–10	10–12	11–11–1	14–8	17–5	12–9
Chicago	6–12	—	9–13	7–15	8–14	12–10	13–8–1	10–11
Cleveland	10–12	13–9	—	12–10	8–13	18–4	13–9–1	12–9
Detroit	12–10	15–7	10–12	—	8–14	14–8	12–10–1	13–9
New York	11–11–1	14–8	13–8	14–8	—	16–5–2	15–7–1	16–6–1
Philadelphia	8–14	10–12	4–18	8–14	5–16–2	—	12–9	6–16
St. Louis	5–17	8–13–1	9–13–1	10–12–1	7–15–1	9–12	—	7–15
Washington	9–12	11–10	9–12	9–13	6–16–1	16–6	15–7	—

Notable transactions

May 4, 1938: Harry Kelley was selected off waivers by the Senators from the Philadelphia Athletics.^[2]

Roster

1938 Washington Senators

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

30 Bucky Harris

Coaches

28 Nick Altrock
29 Clyde Milan

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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	Rick Ferrell	135	411	120	.292	1	58
1B	Zeke Bonura	137	540	156	.289	22	114
2B	Buddy Myer	127	437	147	.336	6	71
SS	Cecil Travis	146	567	190	.335	5	67
3B	Buddy Lewis	151	656	194	.296	12	91
OF	Al Simmons	125	470	142	.302	21	95
OF	George Case	107	433	132	.305	2	40
OF	Sam West	92	344	104	.302	5	47

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
Taffy Wright	100	263	92	.350	2	36
John Stone	56	213	52	.244	3	28
Mel Almada	47	197	48	.244	1	15
Ossie Bluege	58	184	48	.261	0	21
Jimmy Wasdell	53	140	33	.236	2	16
Tony Giuliani	46	115	25	.217	0	15
Goose Goslin	38	57	9	.158	2	8
Mickey Livingston	2	4	3	.750	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
Dutch Leonard	33	223.1	12	15	3.43	68
Wes Ferrell	23	149.0	13	8	5.92	36

Other pitchers