June 1, 2020: The Washington Nationals had seen their 2005 season go south after a 50-31 start kept them in first place in the N.L. East as late as July 25. About to send John Halama, a reclamation project, to face 23-year-old Dontrelle Willis on the Wednesday night after Labor Day, the Nats were five … Continue reading Sept. 7, 2005: Zim’s first start turns into a milestone for Dontrelle Willis
Category: The Washington Nationals, 2005 to date
The former Montreal Expos, relocated to D.C. for the 2005 season
The unlikely story of a baseball fan from Scotland
A guy born in Glasgow, Scotland, hit a home run often called “the shot heard 'round the world.” It sent the New York Giants to the 1951 World Series. As a Scot by birth, I would like to say that Bobby Thomson (no “p” by the way), known as the “Flying Scot,” inspired me to … Continue reading The unlikely story of a baseball fan from Scotland
The effect of playing time lost to crises
May 9, 2020 (revised Jan. 29, 2021): The Covid-19 pandemic caused the 2020 season to be reduced to 60 games, the first time since the labor contract turmoil of 1994 and 1995 that fewer than 162 games have been played. Prior to that, the 1981 season was cut short by a player strike, and teams … Continue reading The effect of playing time lost to crises
Ryan Zimmerman’s 11 walk-off home runs
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
‘First in War…’: the myth that never died
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 College Park and … Continue reading ‘First in War…’: the myth that never died
How the Nats won the NLDS, NLCS and World Series
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
Social media groups and other Nats sites
January 10, 2020 (updated January 2025): 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 Washington Senators: https://www.facebook.com/groups/463338547208950/ Because the pages is now private, you need an invitation from a current member to join. D.C. Baseball History Yesterday … Continue reading Social media groups and other Nats sites
D.C. and the Homestead Grays
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
The ups and downs of a championship season
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
World Series winners at last!
My copy of card no. 1 from the 2020 Topps set 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 … Continue reading World Series winners at last!
Jackie Price at Griffith Stadium in 1950
August 21, 2019: Jackie who? If that was your reaction, you obviously never heard of the man described in 1950 in the Sporting News as “America’s Greatest Entertainer.” Price, an amazingly acrobatic baseball player, performed his tricks with bat, ball and glove for a capacity crowd before the Senators’ game on July 22, 1950. He … Continue reading Jackie Price at Griffith Stadium in 1950
When D.C. nearly got the Padres
February 19, 2019: As soon as it became clear in September 1971 that the Senators would move to Texas, a committee appointed by D.C. Mayor Walter Washington was dispatched to San Diego to talk to the majority owner of the expansion Padres, C. Arnholt Smith. The Padres were about to finish last in the National … Continue reading When D.C. nearly got the Padres
March 30, 2008: Zimmerman opens Nationals Park with walk-off homer
September 22, 2018: With Washington’s new ballpark due to open, Nationals’ management lobbied Major League Baseball to let the team to start the National League season on ESPN’s Sunday night game, March 30, 2008.[1] Despite the Nats’ dim prospects, MLB granted the request, putting Washington in the national spotlight for an opener for the first … Continue reading March 30, 2008: Zimmerman opens Nationals Park with walk-off homer
June 9, 2007: Speigner beats two-time Cy Young winner Santana
June 20, 2018: The 2007 Washington Nationals were plodding along a dozen games under .500 when the team arrived in Minnesota late on June 7 for a weekend series. The Twins were playing .500 ball, clearly a disappointment a year after they had won the division behind Most Valuable Player Justin Morneau, batting champ Joe … Continue reading June 9, 2007: Speigner beats two-time Cy Young winner Santana
The ‘Little Big League’ film’s ties to the Senators and sabermetrics
June 7, 2018 (updated 2021, 2023): The film "Little Big League" from 1994, directed by Andrew Scheinman, with a screenplay by Gregory Pincus and Adam Scheinman (the director's brother), has several clear, if coincidental, connections to the Senators. The premise of the movie is that a 12-year-old, played by Luke Edwards, inherits the Minnesota Twins … Continue reading The ‘Little Big League’ film’s ties to the Senators and sabermetrics
Fact and fiction about Mantle’s ‘565-foot’ homer
November 17, 2017: Mickey Mantle’s mammoth home run off Senators' lefty Chuck Stobbs at Griffith Stadium on April 17, 1953, is one of the most famous tape-measure blasts of all time. In fact, most sources credit this homer with creating the “tape-measure’’ phrase, although obviously no tape measure was used to calculate the distance. (Mantle … Continue reading Fact and fiction about Mantle’s ‘565-foot’ homer
Nick Johnson, Sabermetric star
November 7, 2017 (updated): First baseman Nick Johnson, who came to Washington with the Expos in 2005, was an on-base machine in his four seasons with the Nats, his on-base percentage was .418, the Nationals' record until Juan Soto's departure for San Diego at .427. (Bryce Harper's, in comparison, stood at .388 when he left … Continue reading Nick Johnson, Sabermetric star
Mickey Mantle and D.C.
Nov. 6, 2017: On April 17, 1953, Mickey Mantle hit a home run off Washington lefty Chuck Stobbs that cleared the left-field stands at Griffith Stadium. The blast gave rise to the term "tape-measure homer," largely because Mantle and Yankees publicist Red Patterson later posed for a photo with a prop designed to look like … Continue reading Mickey Mantle and D.C.
Buck Freeman, the first true power hitter
October 31, 2017: When Babe Ruth set a major league record with 29 home runs in 1919, his total topped what was recognized by many as the previous mark: the 25 home runs hit by baseball’s first real power hitter: Buck Freeman of the Washington Senators. Freeman hit his 25 round-trippers playing for the 11th-place … Continue reading Buck Freeman, the first true power hitter
Books About Washington Baseball
October 25, 2017 (last updated December 2025): These are books I'd recommend about the history of baseball in Washington: The Washington Senators by Morris A. Bealle (1947, Columbia Publishing Company), long out of print, subtitled “An 87-year History of the World’s Oldest Baseball Club and Most Incurable Fandom.’’ The Washington Senators by Shirley Povich (1954, … Continue reading Books About Washington Baseball
Washington baseball history 