Imagine that we, all of us together, tried manage the Nats for a game. Imagine a giant WNFF meet&greet after which we matched wits with Joe Girardi or the great Tony LaRussa.
Bill Veeck, the coolest owner ever in baseball, did just that in 1951, on August 24, in a game against Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. Jimmy Dykes managed rather than Mack, but I think Mack was there. Probably in suit, string tie, and bowler hat.
Here is the Baseballs Reference game sheet...the box score, the significant plays, the winning probability in each inning, and each play. Did the ever-losing Browns have a chance?
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLA/SLA195108240.shtmlTurns out the fans did a pretty good job. The Browns won.
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/in-1951-bill-veeck-let-the-fans-manage-the-st-louis-browns-on-grandstand-managerOf interest to Nats fans:
- Elmer Valo, OF for the A's, was traded to the 1960 Washington Senators, the last of the AL-founding Nats teams.
- Maybe of more interest: Roy Sievers did NOT play. Sievers had been AL Rookie-of-the-Year in 1949. A rising star. In that 1951 season, however, Sievers hurt his right shoulder, his throwing shoulder. All the next season, Bill Veeck hit grounders to Sievers at 1B. In 1953, the Browns' last, Sievers came back, hitting .270 in 92 games at 1B. However, the Baltimore Hoffberger beer family bought the Browns -- the league forced Veeck to sell -- and the Baltimore team immediately traded Sievers down Rte. 1 to the Nats for Gil Coan, costing the Nationals their slogan: "Get goin' with Gil Coan!" Sievers broke the Washington home run record each season though 1957, when he won the AL home run championship. Roy's power enthralled the fans, including me, and the Griffith family -- they moved the LF fence a couple of times, from 407 feet to a mere 350 feet. The short porch.