# 1970 Washington Senators season

The 1970 Washington Senators season involved the Senators finishing sixth in the American League East with a record of 70 wins and 92 losses. This was the franchise's penultimate season in Washington, D.C.

## Offseason

* December 5, 1969: Dennis Higgins and Barry Moore were traded by the Senators to the Cleveland Indians for Horacio Piña, Ron Law and Dave Nelson.
* December 31, 1969: John Roseboro was signed as a free agent by the Senators.
* January 17, 1970: Bill Madlock was drafted by the Senators in the 5th round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase). Player signed May 25, 1970.
* March 21, 1970: Brant Alyea was traded by the Senators to the Minnesota Twins for Joe Grzenda and Charley Walters.
* March 30, 1970: Pedro Ramos was signed as a free agent by the Senators.

## Regular season
### Opening Day starters

* Hank Allen
* Dick Bosman
* Ed Brinkman
* Paul Casanova
* Mike Epstein
* Frank Howard
* Ken McMullen
* Dave Nelson
* Del Unser

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 108 | 54 | .667 | — | 59‍–‍22 | 49‍–‍32 |
| New York Yankees | 93 | 69 | .574 | 15 | 53‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Boston Red Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 21 | 52‍–‍29 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 29 | 42‍–‍39 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 86 | .469 | 32 | 43‍–‍38 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Washington Senators | 70 | 92 | .432 | 38 | 40‍–‍41 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1970 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 13–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 14–4 | 11–7 | 12–0 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| Boston | 5–13 | — | 5–7 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 12–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 4–8 | 6–12 | — | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 2–16 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 4–14 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 9–9 |
| Kansas City | 0–12 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 12–6 | 5–13 | 1–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Milwaukee | 5–7 | 7–5 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–12 | — | 5–13 | 3–9–1 | 8–10 | 5–7 |
| Minnesota | 7–5 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 13–5 | 13–5 | — | 5–7 | 13–5 | 6–6 |
| New York | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 11–1 | 9–3–1 | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 16–2 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 6–6 | — | 10–2 |
| Washington | 6–12 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 27, 1970: Pedro Ramos was released by the Senators.
* April 27, 1970: Ken McMullen was traded by the Senators to the California Angels for Aurelio Rodríguez and Rick Reichardt.
* May 11, 1970: Hank Allen and Ron Theobald were traded by the Senators to the Milwaukee Brewers for Wayne Comer.
* June 4, 1970: 1970 Major League Baseball draft
** Rick Waits was drafted by the Senators in the 5th round.
** Bruce Sutter was drafted by the Senators in the 21st round, but did not sign.
* August 19, 1970: John Roseboro was released by the Senators.
* September 11, 1970: Lee Maye was selected off waivers from the Senators by the Chicago White Sox.

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | Paul Casanova | 104 | 328 | 75 | .229 | 6 | 30 |
| 1B | Mike Epstein | 140 | 430 | 110 | .256 | 20 | 56 |
| 2B | Tim Cullen | 123 | 262 | 56 | .214 | 1 | 18 |
| SS | Ed Brinkman | 158 | 625 | 164 | .262 | 1 | 40 |
| 3B | Aurelio Rodríguez | 142 | 547 | 135 | .247 | 19 | 76 |
| LF | Frank Howard | 161 | 566 | 160 | .283 | 44 | 126 |
| CF | Ed Stroud | 129 | 433 | 115 | .266 | 5 | 32 |
| RF | Lee Maye | 96 | 255 | 67 | .263 | 7 | 30 |

#### 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 |
| Del Unser | 119 | 322 | 83 | .258 | 5 | 30 |
| Rick Reichardt | 107 | 277 | 70 | .253 | 15 | 46 |
| Bernie Allen | 104 | 261 | 61 | .234 | 8 | 29 |
| Jim French | 69 | 166 | 35 | .211 | 1 | 13 |
| Wayne Comer | 77 | 129 | 30 | .233 | 0 | 8 |
| Tom Grieve | 47 | 116 | 23 | .198 | 3 | 10 |
| Dave Nelson | 47 | 107 | 17 | .159 | 0 | 4 |
| John Roseboro | 46 | 86 | 20 | .233 | 1 | 6 |
| Ken McMullen | 15 | 59 | 12 | .203 | 0 | 3 |
| Hank Allen | 22 | 38 | 8 | .211 | 0 | 4 |
| Greg Goossen | 21 | 36 | 8 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Billings | 11 | 24 | 6 | .250 | 1 | 1 |
| Jeff Burroughs | 6 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Nen | 6 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Biittner | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Dick Bosman | 36 | 230.2 | 16 | 12 | 3.00 | 134 |
| Joe Coleman | 39 | 218.2 | 8 | 12 | 3.58 | 152 |
| Casey Cox | 37 | 192.1 | 8 | 12 | 4.45 | 68 |
| George Brunet | 24 | 118.0 | 8 | 6 | 4.42 | 67 |

#### Other 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 |
| Jim Hannan | 42 | 128.0 | 9 | 11 | 4.01 | 61 |
| Jim Shellenback | 39 | 117.1 | 6 | 7 | 3.68 | 57 |
| Jackie Brown | 24 | 57.0 | 2 | 2 | 3.95 | 47 |
| Dick Such | 21 | 50.0 | 1 | 5 | 7.56 | 41 |
| Bill Gogolewski | 8 | 33.2 | 2 | 2 | 4.81 | 19 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Darold Knowles | 71 | 2 | 14 | 27 | 2.07 | 71 |
| Horacio Piña | 61 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2.79 | 41 |
| Joe Grzenda | 49 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5.00 | 38 |
| Denny Riddleberger | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.96 | 5 |
| Jan Dukes | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 4 |
| Bob Humphreys | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.35 | 6 |
| Cisco Carlos | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 2 |
| Pedro Ramos | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.56 | 10 |

## Awards and honors

* Frank Howard, A.L. Home Run Champion 1970
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Denver Bears | American Association | Whitey Kurowski and Dick Gernert |
| AA | Pittsfield Senators | Eastern League | Dick Gernert and Joe Klein |
| A | Burlington Senators | Carolina League | Joe Klein and Whitey Kurowski |
| A | Anderson Senators | Western Carolinas League | Frank Gable |
| A-Short Season | Geneva Senators | New York–Penn League | Bill Haywood |