A History: Baseball in the Nation's Capital

The Washington Nationals will kick off their second season Monday, April 3, with a game in New York against the Mets. Before the first pitch is thrown, let's look back at the history of baseball in Washington, D.C.

Author Frederic J. Frommer was online Friday, March 31, at noon ET to examine D.C. baseball, past and present. He will field questions and comments about his new book "The Washington Nationals: 1859 to Today."

"The Washington Nationals: 1859 to Today," covers baseball in Washington, D.C., from the earliest baseball clubs of government civil servants before the Civil War to the return of a major league team in 2005. It includes a forward by D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams.

Frommer is the co-author of "Red Sox vs. Yankees: The Great Rivalry," with his father, Harvey Frommer. He is the author of "The Washington Baseball Fan's Little Book of Wisdom."

The transcript follows.

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Frederic Frommer: Hi everyone. Thanks for joining me today to discuss baseball in D.C. Last year was a great first season for the Nationals, but there's a great tradition here as well, and I look forward to answering your questions!

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Washington, D.C.: Mr. Frommer, attendance at RFK was terrific last season, but this season, with an inferior club on the field and the newness having worn off, we can assume attendance will dip. This drives the question: is Washington really a big league town?

Phil

Frederic Frommer: Attendance might drop slightly, but I think the team should still draw well. I believe Washington is a good big league town. True, the Senators did not draw very well in the 20th Century, but bad teams and often bad ownership had a lot to do with that.

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Nationals nation: can the nationals repeat last year's performance on the field?? have they been able to do anything in the off season to get stronger?

Frederic Frommer: I'm guessing that the Nats will be about as good as last year. The pitching is worse, but they've upgraded their hitting considerably. They needed some offensive firepower, and they've got it... Speaking of that, for those fans frustrated by the team's lack of power last year, did you know that in 1945, the Senators hit only one homer at home - and it was an inside-the-parker? So things could have been worse.

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 Washington, D.C.: I understand the Mayor chose the name Nationals, in part, to pay tribute to a team in one of the Negro Leagues. Can you tell us about Negro League teams which played in Washington?

Frederic Frommer: Actually, Mayor Williams wanted the team to be called the Grays, which was the Negro League team that played here. Bud Selig wanted the Senators. So "Nationals" was a compromise choice. The Grays were a great team, featuring Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard. They often outdrew the Senators. I've got a chapter on them in the book called, "Red, White & Gray."

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Arlington, Va.: I understand that the Griffiths agreed to let the St. Louis Browns settle in Baltimore. What was the reason they did this? No doubt Baltimore seemed further from DC than it does today.

Frederic Frommer: That's a great question. Griffith did get some financial compensation, but he never really threatened to keep the team out the way that Angelos did with the Expos. I just think it was a different era back then. And once the Browns moved here and became the Orioles, they outdrew the Senators pretty routinely... an interesting side note: in 1971, when the American League voted 10-2 to let second Senators team left town, the Orioles were one of two teams to vote no! But Bowie Kuhn, who was the commissioner at the time, tells me in the book that the Orioles did that just for show - they didn't want to offend Washington fans. The Os knew the vote would go through anyway.

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Washington, D.C. : Of course, President Bush is a big baseball fan. Did past presidents share his enthusiasm for the game?

Frederic Frommer: Yes, very much so. Dating back to Taft in 1910, presidents all the way to Richard Nixon threw out opening day tosses. But instead of throwing from the mound, like Bush did last year, the president threw from the stands onto the field, where players from both teams battled for it. The winner got the ball autographed by the president. I've got a great anecdote in the book where a White Sox player lectured President Kennedy for his illegible handwriting, and Kennedy laughingly agreed to sign a ball more neatly.

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Washington, D.C.: Thanks for your chapter on the Negro League Homestead Grays in your new book. Very interesting reading. Could D.C. have been first in breaking the color barrier?

Frederic Frommer: Yes, I believe it could have been. In the 1940s, the Senators owner met with the two Grays superstars, Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson, to discuss the possibility of them playing for his team. But he never followed through. Part of the resistance was financial: the Grays paid rent to use Griffith Stadium. Part of it was probably societal. Washington was very much a southern city then, and who knows how integration would have played here back then? But I do believe Griffith missed a big opportunity to both take a moral stand and improve his team in the process.

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Washington, D.C. : In the end, was Ted Williams good for D.C.?

Frederic Frommer: Ted Williams was great for D.C. As manager of the team, he motivated his players to focus more, and his excitement rubbed off on them. In his first year, 1969, he led the second Senators franchise to its only winning season. The team tanked after that, and after the 71 season, it moved to Texas. But I don't think that had much to do with Ted Williams. The owner, Bob Short, made some terrible trades those last two years.

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Burke, Va.: Hello Mr. Frommer,

I grew up with the Washington Senators and mourned their departure in 71. I have not read your book so the answer to my Q might reside in its pages somewhere, but here goes anyway. I am still angry at Bob Short (may he RIP) for taking my team to Texas and he was vilified for doing so. Folks like me believe his vilification was justified. Was it really?

Frederic Frommer: Bob Short was quite a character. He came in with lots of bold ideas - such as hiring Ted Williams as manager, and making sure the hot dogs at RFK were hot (sound familiar)? But in the end, he carried too much debt and focused too much on acquiring players that he thought would bring in fans, as opposed to players that would win games. I would say he takes a fair share of the blame, but the city really didn't support the team that well back then.

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Washington, D.C.: Fred -- Great book. I'm wondering what struck your historian's eyes about the Nats' first season back in DC. Did the city's attitude toward, or the press coverage of, or fans' reaction to, this team remind you of how Washington and baseball used to coexist?

Frederic Frommer: There was a lot more excitement for the Nationals last year than for most of the old Senators team. I guess I'd say that this city does get excited about a winning team, and the Nationals were able to motivate the fans here with a great first half... As far as comparisons, this goes WAY back, but in 1924, when the Senators won their only World Series, the city was in such a tizzy over the team that President Calvin Coolidge half-joked that government productivity was suffering as a result. ... And during World Series road games, local fans followed the action by watching mechanical scoreboards or viewing a Marine band recreate the game by pantomime at the ballpark.

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Arlington, Va.: What was the team called in 1859? Also, isn't it true that if we could compile all the statistics from the 19th century (and records weren't as important back then so I understand some records have vanished) that we would see some of our cherished "records" would be replaced by the stars of the 19th century?

Frederic Frommer: There were actually two teams back in 1859: the Potomacs and Nationals. The Nationals outlasted the Potomacs, and went on to become a very successful team in the 1860s.

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Bethesda, Md.: Any thoughts on Ryan Zimmerman? Any advice on how he should avoid the advance pressure that everyone is putting on him? He's already been anointed the Rookie of the Year and the season hasn't even started. Does he seem the type that can take this pressure?

Frederic Frommer: From what I've read about Zimmerman, he seems incredibly poised for his youth and inexperience in professional baseball (he was just drafted last year). So I think it won't get to him. Not to add to the hype, but I think he could be a cornerstone of the franchise for years to come.

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Washington: Studies have concluded that despite what promoters say, cities never get back the money they spend to build stadiums. What do you think? And is it possible Washington will be different since it is potentially stealing entertainment dollars from Virginia and Maryland?

Frederic Frommer: Things could very well be different because most fans will come from outside D.C. That means the stadium won't simply be shifting money from one part of the city to the other, but taking tax dollars from other locales... By the way, the last time Washington had a new stadium, in 1962, the team drew 729,000 fans - and that was a huge increase from the year before. So it shows how the sport has increased its popularity nationally and in D.C. Last year, the Nats drew 2.7 million fans in that same, now aging, ballpark.

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Alabama: Could you clear up something about the Grays? I know they were the Homestead Grays (based out of Pittsburgh) but they did play a number of games in Washington. So where was their true homebase?

Frederic Frommer: Yes, they were known as the Homestead Grays, and were originally based in Homestead, Pa. But they started playing some games in Washington, and eventually played the majority of their games here.

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Washington, D.C.: From the way things are looking, our new Washington Nationals may go down in baseball history as the only Major League Baseball team to never have had an owner!

Frederic Frommer: It does look that way sometimes, doesn't it! Don't worry, we'll have an owner soon enough... An ownerless team is nothing new here. When the American League started up in 1901, the league president, Ban Johnson, controlled 51 percent of every team, including Washington. Two years later, Johnson bought out the minority owner and tightened the league control over the local team. Sound familiar? It wasn't until 1904 that team finally had independent ownership.

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Gainesville, Va.: Now for the important question: will you be doing any book signings and when?

Frederic Frommer: That's a great question, thanks. I've got three book signings coming up in April -- Saturday, April 8, 10 a.m., at the Barnes & Noble in Ellicott City, MD; Monday, April 10, 6:30 p.m. at the Borders at 18th & L in D.C.; and Saturday, April 15, 1 p.m., at Politics & Pros at 5015 Conn. Ave. NW... Hope to see you all there!

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Frederic Frommer: Well thank you all for participating today. I really enjoyed it. Baseball's got a fascinating history in D.C., and it's great that the tradition has resumed. Go Nats!

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