April 4, 2020: When Ryan Zimmerman won the first game at Nationals Park with a walk-off home run in 2008, it was the fourth time Zim had hit a game-ending homer. His total now stands at 11, the last coming on August 22, 2018, against the Phillies. The 11 game-ending home runs tie Zimmerman for … Continue reading Ryan Zimmerman’s 11 walk-off home runs →

March 14, 2020: Clyde Kluttz was a backup catcher in the majors for nine seasons, the last two of them with the Washington Senators in 1951 and ’52, the last Griffith team to finish above .500. After seven years in the National League, Kluttz was sent to the minors by the Pirates after the 1948 … Continue reading Clyde Kluttz, veteran catcher on the last winning Griffith team →

March 13, 2020: I remember reading Douglass Wallop’s 1954 novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant in junior high school around 1960, not knowing at the time that it had been turned into  the hit 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees. Wallop was born 100 years ago in Washington, attended the University of Maryland in … Continue reading ‘First in War…’: the myth that never died →

January 13, 2020: After the dramatic comeback win over the Brewers to keep their season alive, the Nationals opened the division series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 3 against Los Angeles, a team that had the league's best won-loss record: 106-56. N.L Division Series Game One: Patrick Corbin started against 14-game-winner Walker Buehler. The Nats … Continue reading How the Nats won the NLDS, NLCS and World Series →

January 10, 2020 (updated August 2020): A number of other places on the web are devoted to Washington, D.C., baseball, past and present. Here's are links to some of them: "The Expansion Nats" Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/groups/463338547208950/ . Because the page is now private, you need an invitation from a current member to join. D.C. Baseball … Continue reading Social media groups and other Nats sites →

December 9, 2019: One of the most famous stories about Babe Ruth’s career – especially when he was a pitcher – was the day he started a game against the Senators and was ejected after walking the first batter. The runner was thrown out trying to steal on the first pitch by Ruth’s replacement, Ernie … Continue reading Ernie Shore’s ‘perfect game’ against the Nats →

December 2, 2019: The Homestead Grays, a renowned team before baseball’s desegregation, traced its roots to black workers in a steel-mill town across the river from Pittsburgh in 1912. The Grays called Washington home for at least half of their league games, beginning in 1940. The Negro National League team, lead by Buck Leonard and … Continue reading D.C. and the Homestead Grays →

November 20, 2019: The 2019 season that ended with a world championship for Washington began slowly, even before a month-long slump dropped the Nationals – famously in retrospect – to 19-31, the farthest any team had fallen in the wild-card era (since 1995) before eventually winning the World Series. Surprisingly, given the team's hot finish, … Continue reading The ups and downs of a championship season →

November 1, 2019: The Nationals' five-month sprint to victory in the World Series elicited feelings of disbelief, joy and relief at the same time after so many years of frustration for fans of Washington baseball. As bad as the Nats played the first two months, they never fell behind the Braves by more than 10 … Continue reading World Series winners at last! →

September 28, 2019: When the two worst teams in the American League met at Shibe Park for a September 20, 1942, doubleheader, Philadelphia’s legendary owner-manager Connie Mack readily admitted that the results were not foremost on his mind. His A’s had clinched the basement for a third season in a row, but the team avoided … Continue reading Sept. 20, 1942: War shadows Nats’ comeback against A’s →