The Wrecking Crew of '33: The Washington Senators' Last Pennant

In the spring of 1933, with a new president in office and a banking crisis narrowly averted, there was optimism in Washington, D.C., even among the baseball fans. The hard-luck Senators, who topped 90 wins in each of the previous three seasons only to finish well in back of the pennant winner, seemed full of promise. They secured a "new deal" of their own with 26-year-old Joe Cronin, their peppery shortstop, who had emerged as one of the best players in the American League. Newly signed as ...