1930s Signed Baseball - Ed Gharrity

The next player on my 1930s signed baseball is another Washington Senator, Ed 'Patsy' Gharrity.  Gharrity (b. 1892 - d. 1966) played in the majors from 1916-1923 and 1929-1930, all for the Senators.  He was a coach for then manager, Walter Johnson, in 1929 and 1930 and again later from 1933 to 1935 while Johnson managed the Indians.

In his career, Gharrity had 513 hits, 20 home runs and a .262 batting average.

As far as I can tell, Gharrity now becomes the oldest player (born in 1892) that I have an autograph of on a ball, as well as the person who played the longest ago, his career beginning in 1916).

As far as the baseball goes, Gharrity only matches up well with the other Senators I have featured for the 1930 season.  That places the time the ball was signed maybe late 1930 or possibly early 1931, if Gharrity happened to be with the Senators for Spring Training in 1931.

Taking a look at the 1916 Senators on which Gharrity debuted, the team finished the season 76-77 (7th in the AL).  The team was managed by Hall of Famer Clark Griffith and featured two other Hall of Famers, Walter Johnson and Sam Rice.  The team's hits leader was Clyde Milan (154); batting average was Milan again (.273); RBIs was Howie Shanks (48) and the Home Runs leader was Elmer Smith with 2.  On the pitching side, Walter Johnson led the way with 25 wins (and also led with 20 losses), ERA with 1.90 (WOW!!!) and 228 strikeouts.  Imagine if Johnson had gotten more run support that year, he would have probably won 40 games.

Players Identified:
Joe Cronin
Lance Richbourg
Randy Moore
Bill Sherdel
Sam West
Joe Kuhel
Ossie Bluege