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Harrisburg Senators (1893–1952)

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Harrisburg Senators
Minor league affiliations
Previous classes
  • Class B (1895, 1907–1914, 1916–1917, 1924–1932, 1940–1952)
  • Class A (1933–1935)
  • Class AA (1915)
  • Class D (1901)
Previous leagues
Major league affiliations
Previous teams
Minor league titles
League titles (7)
  • 1912
  • 1914
  • 1927
  • 1928
  • 1931
  • 1941
  • 1946
Team data
Previous names
  • Harrisburg Senators (1907–1915, 1924–1925, 1940–1952)
  • Harrisburg Islanders (1916–1917)
  • Harrisburg Ponies (1911)
  • Harrisburg (1900)
  • Harrisburg Senators (1894–1895)
  • Harrisburg Hustlers (1893)
Previous parks
Island Park

The Harrisburg Senators was originally a name given to several minor league baseball clubs between 1893 and 1952. The name is also currently used by the modern-day team in the Double-A Eastern League, since 1987.

History

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Early teams

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The first Senators teams can be traced to the Pennsylvania State League, where the team played as the Harrisburg Hustlers, before taking on the Senators name the following year. In 1900, the city fielded a team in the Atlantic League for one season. In 1911, the team was called the Harrisburg Ponies. In 1912, Harrisburg won the first of three Tri-State League championships. In 1915, the Newark Indians of the International League team moved to Harrisburg. The club lasted one year before moving to the New York State League and playing as the Harrisburg Islanders before disbanding in 1917. This left the city without professional baseball for seven years.

First incarnation

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In 1924, the first incarnation of the Senators joined the newly formed New York–Penn League which was eventually renamed the Eastern League. Initially, the Senators and most of the other New York–Penn League teams were not affiliated with a Major League Baseball team. In 1925, Joe Munson hit a .400 batting average, a record which stands to this day in Senators history, and 33 home runs, a Senators record that was not broken until 1999. In 1927, the Senators started a five-year campaign with three Eastern league championships, winning titles in 1927, 1928, and 1931. The year 1932 brought the Senators an affiliation with the Boston Braves. The original Harrisburg Senators' reign ended in 1936, when flood waters from the surrounding Susquehanna River ruined their home ballpark, Island Field. The flood effectively ended Eastern League participation for the next 51 years.

Second and third incarnations

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Another Senators team, representing Harrisburg and affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates, formed four years later in the smaller Interstate League. Like the Senators before it, the team gained success quickly, winning the league title one year later with stars Billy Cox and Dennis Taylor. The success, however, was short lived, as the team moved to nearby York, Pennsylvania to become an incarnation of the York White Roses in 1943. Another team affiliated with the Cleveland Indians was created, but was not as successful. The Interstate League disbanded this Harrisburg team in 1952, and any form of professional baseball was not played in the city for the next 35 years.[1][2] The 1952 team in June signed a contract for Eleanor Engle, the first woman to sign a contract to play affiliated baseball, though she would never actually take the field.[3]

Season-by-season

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Year Record Finish Manager Playoffs
1893 49-52 5th Felix Marks / Jack Huston
1894 56-45 2nd Jack Huston Lost disputed title game
( vs. Pottsville Colts)
1895 19-16 -- Frank Seiss Team disbanded on June 14
1904 58-51 3rd Peter Agnew
1905 76-51 4th Billy Hamilton
1906 52-74 5th Billy Hamilton
1907 79-47 2nd George Heckert no playoffs
1908 80-47 2nd George Heckert no playoffs
1909 49-65 6th George Heckert no playoffs
1910 52-59 6th Al Selbach no playoffs
1911 47-61 7th Al Selbach
1912 75-37 1st George Cockill League Champs
No playoffs
1913 59-52 2nd (t) George Cockill no playoffs
1914 78-32 1st George Cockill League Champs
No playoffs
1915 61-76 6th Harry Smith Newark Indians moved to Harrisburg July 2
1916 48-47 8th Louis Wachter / George Cockill /
Walter Blair
1924 70-60 4th Steve Yerkes (19–16) / Mickey LaLonge (6–3) /
Glenn Killinger (40–34) / Nig Clarke (5–7)		 No playoffs
1925 61-69 6th Rankin Johnson, Sr.
1926 47-84 8th Rankin Johnson, Sr. (35–49) / Lee Dempsey (0–1) /
Joe Lightner (12–34)		 No playoffs
1927 87-51 1st Win Clark League Champs
No playoffs
1928 82-54 1st Glenn Killinger League Champs
No playoffs
1929 75-62 3rd Johnny Tillman No playoffs
1930 70-69 4th Johnny Tillman No playoffs
1931 83-56 1st Joe Cobb (6–8) / Eddie Onslow (77–48) League Champs
No playoffs
1932 74-66 2nd Eddie Onslow No playoffs
1933 60-76 7th Eddie Onslow No playoffs
1934 60-75 8th Leslie Mann
1935 59-77 6th Art Shires
1940 60-62 5th Les Bell
1941 81-43 1st Les Bell League Champs
(vs. Trenton Senators, 4 games to 3)
Won in first round
(vs. Reading Brooks, 3 games to 1)
1942 69-68 3rd Danny Taylor Lost in 1st round
(vs. Hagerstown Owls, 3 games to 1)
1946 76-64 2nd Les Bell League Champs
(vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks, 4 games to 1)
Won in first round
(vs. Allentown Cardinals, 4 games to 1)
1947 71-69 4th Les Bell Lost in 1st round
(vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks, 4 games to 1)
1948 64-76 6th Les Bell
1949 74-64 3rd Les Bell Lost League Finals
(vs. Trenton Giants 4 games to 3)
Won in first round
(vs. Allentown Cardinals, 4 games to 2)
1950 77-62 3rd Les Bell Lost in 1st round
(vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks, 4 games to 3)
1951 55-84 6th Les Bell / Harold Cox
1952 46-94 8th Buck Etchison / Woody Wheaton

References

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  1. ^ Weiss, Bill; Wright, Marshall. "A History of the Harrisburg Senators". MiLB. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  2. ^ "Top 100 Teams: 1993 Senators". MiLB. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  3. ^ "Media tarnished Engle's historic moment". MiLB.com. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
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