People mistakenly dismiss the men who played for the Washington Senators as losers, but a close look at the careers of the 1969 Senators reveals the opposite. Twelve of Ted Williams’ men, albeit with other teams, participated in post-season play.

Some earned World Series’ rings with virtuoso and clutch performances, others contributed nothing. Two set records with outstanding play, including a mark impossible to break. One former Senator sustained a heartbreaking injury that limited his play to one game and likely cost his team a World Series berth.

Who were these men, the 1969 Senators’ biggest baseball winners?

Darold Knowles – Oakland A’s, 1971 American League Championship Series (ALCS), 1973 World Series, 8 games, 6 2/3 innings pitched, 2 saves, 0.00 ERA.

Knowles appeared in all seven games of the 1972 World Series for the World Champion Oakland A’s, setting a record that a future pitcher may equal, but never break. He pitched brilliantly, retiring the New York Mets’ Wayne Garrett for the series’ final out.

Frank Howard – Los Angeles Dodgers, 1963 World Series, 3 games, .300 batting average, 2 Runs, 1 HR, 1 RBI.

Washington’s beloved Hondo helped the Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the New York Yankees in four games. He gave the Dodgers the lead in Game 4, an eventual 2-1 victory, with a 5th inning home run off of Whitey Ford.

Joe Coleman – Detroit Tigers, 1972 ALCS, 1 game, 9 innings pitched, 1 win, 14 strikeouts, 0.00 ERA.

With his team, the Detroit Tigers, facing elimination, Coleman pitched a dazzling shutout against the Oakland A’s at Tiger Stadium. He won the game, 3-0. His 14 strikeouts stood as the ALCS record until Baltimore’s Mike Boddicker tied the mark in 1983. Another Oriole, Mike Mussina, broke the record with 15 strikeouts in the 1997 ALCS.

Ed Brinkman – Detroit Tigers, 1972 ALCS, 1 game, .500 batting average, 2 doubles.

Brinkman, in the playoffs for the first time in his career with Billy Martin’s Tigers, hit two doubles and handled two chances flawlessly at shortstop. The A’s won the game 3-2 in 11 innings, on pinch hitter Gonzalo Marquez’s single. Al Kaline’s throwing error on the same play plated two runs and erased Detroit’s 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 11th inning. Late in the game, Brinkman injured his back and missed the rest of the series. The Tigers missed his glove in Game 5. An error by his replacement, Dick McAuliffe, led to the A’s second run in their 2-1 victory.

Dick Bosman – Oakland A’s, 1975 ALCS, 1 game, 1/3 inning pitched, 0.00 ERA.

Bosman pitched in Game 1 for the Oakland A’s. He retired the only batter he faced, Rico Petrocelli, on a pop out in the 7th inning. The Red Sox won the game 7-1 and swept the three game series, putting an end to Oakland’s three-year reign as baseball’s best.

Mike Epstein – Oakland A’s, 1971 ACLS, 2 games, .200 batting average; 1972 ALCS, 5 games, .188 batting average, 1 homer run, 1 RBI, 1 stolen base; 1972 World Series, 6 games, .000 batting average, 1 run, 2 errors.

Epstein played post-season baseball for the Oakland A’s in 1971 and 1972. His 13 playoff games are the most of any 1969 Senator. While he performed poorly, never hitting above .200, he earned his 1972 World Series ring by playing a major role in getting the A’s into the playoffs with his fine hitting and play at first base.

Del Unser – Philadelphia Phillies, 1980 National League Championship Series (NLCS), 5 games, .400 average, 2 runs, 1 double, 1 RBI; 1980 World Series, 3 games, .500 average, 2 runs, 2 doubles, 2 RBI.

The Phillies have one World Series title in their history and Del Unser played a crucial role. In Game 5 of the NLCS, with his club four outs from elimination and trailing 5-3, he stroked a pinch-hit, game-tying single. He doubled in the 10th inning and scored the run that put Philadelphia in the series. In the Fall Classic, Game 2, 8th inning, he hit an RBI pinch-hit double and scored the tying run to help the Phillies rally from a 4-2 deficit on their way to a 6-4 victory. In the 9th inning of Game 5, the Kansas City Royals led 3-2. They stood three outs away from a 3-2 lead in the series. Unser, once again in a pinch hitting role, doubled home Mike Schmidt with the game tying run. The former Senator later scored the winning run on Manny Trillo’s infield hit against Royals’ closer Dan Quisenberry. Two days later, the Phillies returned to Philadelphia and won the series.

Ken McMullen – Los Angeles Dodgers, 1973 NLCS, 1 game, .000 batting average (1 at-bat)

McMullen played for the World Champion Dodgers in 1963, but was not on the post-season roster. In 1974, again for the Dodgers, he struck out in a pinch-hitting role in Game 3, a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. McMullen did not appear in the Dodgers’ loss to the A’s in the 1974 Fall Classic.

Camilo Pascual – Minnesota Twins, 1965 World Series, 1 game, 5 innings pitched, 5.40 ERA, 0-1 record.

The 1969 Senators’ opening day pitcher appeared in Game 3 of the series for the Minnesota Twins. Another former Senator, Claude Osteen, pitched a brilliant complete game shutout to beat him. The Dodgers defeated Pascual’s Twins in seven games.

Tim Cullen – Oakland A’s, 1972 ALCS, 2 games, .000 batting average (1 at-bat)

Cullen appeared in Games 3 and 4 of for the Oakland A’s as a defensive replacement at shortstop.

Brant Alyea – Minnesota Twins, 1970 ALCS, 3 games, .000 batting average, 1 run

Alyea appeared in all three games, two as the starting left fielder, for the Minnesota Twins, who lost all three to the eventual World Champion Baltimore Orioles. He went hitless in seven at-bats. Alyea played for the 1972 Oakland A’s, but a September injury ended any chance of making Oakland’s post-season roster.

Zoilo Versalles – Minnesota Twins, 1965 World Series, 7 games, .286 average, 3 runs, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run, 4 RBI, 1 SB, 0 errors.

The 1965 American League Most Valuable Player, a late season addition to the 1969 Senators, played valiant baseball in a losing effort, as Versalles’ Twins fell to the Dodgers in seven games. His three-run homer led the Twins to an 8-2 win over Don Drysdale in Game 1. He scored two runs in the Twins’ 5-1 victory in Game 2. He managed a hit against the overpowering Sandy Koufax in Game 7, but Minnesota lost to the Hall of Fame pitcher, 2-0.

See www.Retrosheet.org for complete statistics on these men, the 1969 Senators’ biggest winners.

Information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. 
Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at "www.retrosheet.org".