Washington Nationals history

Washington is a city with  rich baseball history and the Senators, a founding member of the American League, played in the nation’s capitol from 1901 to 1960. This era of  Senators were founded and owned by Clark Griffith and played in Griffith Stadium. With stars such as Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson and Joe Cronin, the Senators won the 1924 World Series and pennants in 1925 and 1933, but the team fell on hard times and moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season. The second Washington Senators had one winning season in their eleven years even though they had the fan favorite slugger Frank Howard. The Senators moved to Texas for the 1972 season and Washington spent the next 33 years without a baseball team.

 In 1968, the National League awarded two expansion franchises for the 1969 season. The cities of Montreal and San Diego became the newest members of the senior circuit. Montreal businessman Charles Bronfman of the Seagram’s distilling company was the front man for the new team.

 After a decade of of losses in the 1970′s, the Expos became a winner in the early 80′s winning their only division championship in 1981.With players like Hall of Famer Gary Carter and hard hitting Andre Dawson, the Expos had one of the best teams in baseball, but the Expos lost to the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. After unsuccessful years in the late 1980′s, the team rebounded in the early 1990′s. In 1994, the Expos, led by a talented group of players including Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom and Pedro Martinez, had the best record in Major League Baseball when the Major League Baseball strike forced the cancellation of the remainder of the season.

 After the disappointment of the 1994 season, the Expos began to lose players, money and fans. Ownership squabbles, the disappearing fan base and other issues led to the team being bought by Major League Baseball in 2002.

 After several years of frustration in Montreal, Major League Baseball began looking for a relocation site for the Expos. Some of the choices included: Oklahoma City, Portland, North Carolina and Puerto Rico.

 On September 29, 2004, MLB officially announced that the Expos would move to Washington, DC in 2005.

 Although there was some sentiment to revive the name Senators, political consideration factored in the choice of Nationals, a revival of the first American League franchise’s nickname used from 1905 to 1956.

 The Teams relocation was based on a financing plan for the Nationals stadium. This plan quickly became the subject of debate on the D.C. council. In March of 2006, MLB signed a lease for a new ballpark, agreeing on the city’s $611 million cap.

 On April 4, 2005, Brad Wilkerson had the honor of being the first batter for the Washington Nationals and he responded with the first hit in the new teams’ history.

 When Ted Lerner took over the club in mid-2006, “The Plan” was a long rang plan, starting with rebuilding from the ground up: investing in the farm system and draft picks, and to have a suitable team to go along with their new stadium in 2008.In 2007, the Nationals finished the season with a 73-89 record. Ryan Zimmerman led the team in home runs (24) and RBI (91). Dmitri Young led the team with a batting average of .320.