1933 World Series

New York Giants majority owner John McGraw retired as manager in 1932 after 30 years at the helm, naming his protégé, young star first baseman Bill Terry, recently the last .400 hitter in the National League, as his player-manager successor. Somewhat similarly, former superstar hurler Walter Johnson also retired in 1932 as Washington Senators manager in favor of young star shortstop Joe Cronin as their new player-manager. (McGraw watched the Series from the stands, and died four months later.)

The Senators were the surprise team of 1933, breaking a seven-year monopoly on the AL title jointly held by the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics from 1926 to 1932. But this could also be called a joint 13-year monopoly by all three, since the Senators had also won in 1924 and 1925 and the Yankees won from 1921 to 1923. 43-year-old future Hall of Famer Sam Rice, in his last year with the Senators, had only one at bat during the series, picking up a pinch hit single in the second game.

NL New York Giants (4) vs. AL Washington Senators (1)

1933 World Series (4–1): New York Giants (N.L.) beat Washington Senators (A.L.)

At the time, the winning margin of five runs was second-lowest for a five-game series (later equaled in 1942 and 1974); the 1915 margin was two runs, and three runs in 2000.

Until winning the National League pennant in 2019, Washington, D.C., had not hosted another World Series game since 1933. In 2012, the Washington Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos, brought postseason play back to Washington for the first time in 79 years but lost the National League Division Series (NLDS) after being one strike away from eliminating the St. Louis Cardinals after their early 6–0 lead had evaporated. In 2019, the Nationals won their first postseason series since their move—the Wild Card Game, NLDS, and NLCS—as their October stints in 2014, 2016, and 2017 had all ended in NLDS losses. (While in Montreal, the franchise made only one postseason appearance, winning the 1981 NLDS that was created due to that season's players' strike, then losing the 1981 NLCS.) The 2019 Nationals went on to win the World Series, which ended a 95-year championship drought for the city, dating back to the Senators' win in 1924.

This first Washington Senators franchise became the Minnesota Twins during the 1960–61 offseason, and would not reach the World Series again until 1965 as the Twins—since then, they have won two World Series, in 1987 and 1991. The second Washington Senators, inaugurated in 1961 to replace the first edition on its way to Minnesota, became the Texas Rangers in 1972, who were also defeated four games to one in their first World Series ever by the now San Francisco Giants in 2010, with both Series 77 years apart starting in the Giants' home park and the Giants losing only Game 3 on the road in each. The Rangers were then defeated again in 2011 by the St. Louis Cardinals, when they had two chances to win in Game 6 when they came within one strike of winning.

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990). The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 147–150. ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2141. ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
• Sarnoff, Gary A. (2009). The Wrecking Crew of '33: The Washington Senators' Last Pennant (1st ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-4291-1.

• 1933 World Series at WorldSeries.com via MLB.com
• 1933 World Series at Baseball Almanac
• 1933 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
• The 1933 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1933 at The Sporting News. Archived from the original in May 2006.