Mercer spent the first seven years of his major league career, 1894–1899, with the Washington Senators. The Senators were one of the worst teams in baseball during Mercer\'s years with them. During Mercer\'s tenure, the Senators were 45–87 (1894); 43–85 (1895); 58–73 (1896); 61–71 (1897); 51–101 (1898) and 54–98 (1899).\n', "

While Mercer's career record is 131–164, these figures do not reflect Mercer's talents. In Mercer's rookie season, 1894, he pitched 336-1/3 innings and had 29 complete games at age 20. His ERA of 3.85 was third best in the National League. Yet, his win-loss record for the hapless Senators was 17–23. In 1896, Mercer managed to win 25 games (5th best in the National League) despite playing for a losing team. If Mercer's decisions were removed from the Senators’ 1896 season, they would have finished 23–55 – a .294 winning percentage.\n", '

A game played on August 31, 1896 demonstrates how difficult it was for Mercer to secure wins for the Senators. On that day, Mercer shut out Chicago for 11 innings, but the Senators also failed to score a run against opposing pitcher Cy Young. The Senators finally scored a run in the 11th inning to give Mercer the win, but Mercer lacked the support to achieve the win totals he could have secured on a better hitting team.\n', '

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