By the end of the 1923 season Powell Slocum was generally acknowledged as the greatest hitter in the nearly 50-year history of professional baseball. He was 37 years old, a 15-time batting champion, three-time World champion and was also known as a good leader on and off the field (although he was known to have a bit of a temper at times). When longtime manager Walter Love retired at the end of the 1920 season, Slocum found himself playing for another manager for the first time since joining the Clippers in 1905. He didn't mesh well with Davey Kincaid who was much more of a tactical manager than Love had been. By the end of the '23 season, which saw him post his worst average ever (a still respectable .320) and with the team falling into seventh place, Slocum decided he wanted out - going directly to owner Oscar Jones with his demand for a trade. Jones refused but Slocum threatened to retire, so the owner acquiesced. Kincaid found a good deal with Brooklyn - who had just won the pennant and fit Slocum's desire to both remain in the Continental (where he knew all the pitchers) and go to a contending club. Baltimore received SS Jesse Moore and RF Dick Hand while Brooklyn received Slocum, P Phil Miller and SS Jack Van Landingham. Slocum was happy and things looked promising for the Ragland Ripper. But that wouldn't last.
For baseball fans in the nation's capital, the 1922 season had been a thrilling ride with their hometown Eagles claiming the first pennant in nearly a decade, but it ended on a sour note when Washington was crushed under the heels of the Chicago Cougars. So 1923 represented a brand-new chance at the ultimate prize - a world championship. And the Eagles did repeat as Federal champs and found themselves with a World Series foe that few had expected to reach the championship series (much as few had given the Eagles a chance the year before).