Despite having a line-up that included Baseball Hall of Famers Walter Johnson, Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, and Bucky Harris, the 1922 Senators finished the season with a 69-85 record and in sixth place in the American League. In December 1922, Washington owner Clark Griffith hired Bush to replace Clyde Milan as player-manager for the 1923 season. "The Sporting News" opined that Bush had the characteristics to make a solid manager: "The same traits that made our friend Donie a great little ball player have been recognized when Clark Griffith appoints him manager. Brains, a good pair of hands, and a bulldog disposition made him a playing success against the handicap of being undersized and rather weak of arm. . . . He ought to make quite a manager; ought to put something into that Washington team that it lacked."