In July of 1963 the Senators purchased Blasingame's contract from the Reds. Coming into 1964 he looked to replace Chuck Cottier and his weak bat at second base.
Blasingame apparently succeeded in displacing Cottier. He would play in 143 games for the Senators and spend 1054 innings at second base. In fact, all the time Don spent on defense was at second. He made 14 errors in 609 chances for a .977 fielding percentage. That was below the league average .980 but close enough to be acceptable.
Blasingame made 556 plate appearances for Washington in 1964 and posted a .267 batting average and .320 on-base percentage. In typical middle infielder style for the time, he didn't have much power. His lone home run, two triples, and 17 singles attested to that.
Don Blasingame's 1964 season hadn't been calculated to blow the doors off. On the other hand, with what the Senators had been getting from the middle infield, it was within the acceptable range. That would do for now but wouldn't cut it long term. The Senators needed to improve and holding down a starting job would become more difficult as the minor league depth stabilized.
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