100 Things Nationals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

By Jake Russell

Revised and updated, including the 2019 World Series!

100 Things Nationals Fans Should Know Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource guide for true fans of the Washington Nationals. Whether you're a die-hard booster from the days of the Senators or a newer supporter of Max Scherzer and Juan Soto, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. It contains every essential piece of Nationals knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist as you progress on your way to fan superstardom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Jun 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781641254694

Book preview

Kameron.

Contents

Introduction

1. The 2019 World Series: Finishing the Fight

2. The Announcement—September 29, 2004

3. A New Beginning

4. Bryce Harper’s MVP Season

5. Strasmas

6. Jayson Werth’s Game 4 Walk-Off Homer

7. Strasburg’s Shutdown

8. Nationals Park Opens with Dramatic Flair

9. From 19–31 to the Wild-Card in 2019

10. Walter Johnson’s Feats

11. Bryce Harper’s Departure

12. Jordan Zimmermann’s No-Hitter

13. Cheer on the Racing Presidents

14. Rivalry with the Orioles

15. America’s Team— The 1924 Senators

16. The Riot

17. Max Scherzer Throws Two No-Hitters in 2015

18. Division Titles

19. Presidential First Pitches

20. Juan Soto

21. The Longest Game in Playoff History

22. The Curious Case of Smiley Gonzalez

23. Ted Williams’ Reign as Manager

24. Frank Howard’s 10 Home Runs in Six Games

25. The Last Expo

26. Walter Johnson’s Three Shutouts in Four Days

27. Mr. Walk-Off

28. That’s a Clown Question, Bro

29. Mad Max

30. The Derivation of Natitude

31. The Kid Managers

32. Mike Rizzo

33. The Kiss

34. Take a Nationals Road Trip

35. The Washington…Padres?

36. Jim Riggleman Quits

37. The 2015 Letdown

38. Managers

39. Gio Gonzalez

40. How to Get Autographs

41. Livo

42. National Guardsman/Senators Shortstop

43. Alfonso Soriano Founds 40-40-40 Club

44. The Cardiac Nats’ Wild 10-Game Winning Streak

45. When Owen Wilson Played for the Nationals

46. Mickey Vernon

47. The Homestead Grays

48. Bryce Harper’s Exciting 2018 Home Run Derby Performance

49. Senators No-Hitters

50. The Chief

51. The Mysterious Demise of D.C.’s First Batting Champion

52. Anthony Rendon

53. Hitting for the Cycle

54. Bryce’s Benching

55. The Senators’ Spy

56. Scott Boras’ Ties to the Nationals

57. An Owner Sells Off His Relatives

58. Hammering Grand Slams in Consecutive Innings

59. Visit Cooperstown

60. The Big Donkey

61. The Origins of the Senators Name

62. Great Trades

63. The Amputee Pitcher

64. The Combustible Jose Guillen

65. D.C. Baseball Stadium History

66. Why Getting Swept by the Padres Was a Good Thing

67. The Six Aces

68. Visit RFK Stadium

69. A Fan’s Quest to Torment a Former Senators Owner

70. The Kidnapped Catcher

71. The Bryce Harper Timeline

72. The Only Player to Play in Both of the Senators’ Last Games

73. Watch the Nats’ Minor League Teams

74. The Deaf Center Fielder

75. Nats Superfans

76. Meet the Lerners

77. The Future

78. The Natinals

79. Is Killebrew MLB’s Logo?

80. Sit Behind Home Plate

81. Frank Robinson’s Showdown with Mike Scioscia

82. The Midseason Parade for The Wondrous Nats

83. Nationals All-Stars

84. Sam Rice’s Secrets

85. Interesting Draft Picks and Minor Leaguers

86. 2005’s 10-Game Winning Streak

87. The Fan Who Died from a Wild Throw

88. Michael Morse’s Phantom Grand Slam

89. Did the Senators Nearly Sign Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard?

90. The Nats and Caps Connection

91. Learn the Names on the Ring of Honor

92. Hang Out with Screech

93. Call Me Maybe

94. D.C. Baseball’s Clowns

95. The Origins of the Curly W

96. Go to Nationals Park on Opening Day and Fourth of July

97. Jayson Werth Goes to Jail

98. Watch a Concert at Nationals Park

99. Villains

100. The Presidential Statistician

Acknowledgements

Sources

Introduction

September 29, 2004 was a momentous day for me for many reasons. It was my 17th birthday and a month into my senior year of high school and it will forever be known as the day baseball officially returned to Washington, D.C., after a 33-year absence.

Writing this book spurred me to research the history of baseball in the nation’s capital. Yeah, I knew of Frank Howard, Walter Johnson, Clark Griffith, Mickey Vernon, and so on. But delving deeper meant learning the real impact these men had on the city during their time here. The whole process of writing this book was an amazing learning experience about an era of baseball that ended 16 years before I was even born. It also provided for a fun refresher course on the Nationals’ memorable first 15 seasons of existence.

Watching the likes of young stars such as Bryce Harper and Juan Soto make Howard’s accomplishments at the plate that much more impressive. Max Scherzer’s two no-hitters in 2015 and two Cy Young Awards as a National conjure up thoughts of Walter Johnson’s dominance and impact as the best pitcher in D.C.

Growing up, it was always understood that when it came to D.C. sports, it was the Redskins first, and everyone else would fight for second—no matter how the burgundy and gold fared. Times appear to be a-changin’ in D.C., now referred to as the District of Champions. After years as perennial contenders, the Nationals broke through in 2019 and won the city’s first World Series title since 1924. This came a year and a half after the Washington Capitals won their first Stanley Cup. Oh, so this is what that feels like?

When it came to baseball when I was growing up, there were the Baltimore Orioles and Bowie Baysox. I may not have realized it as a youngster, but it was strange in retrospect. How can Washington, D.C., the world’s most powerful city, not have a baseball team?

That all changed in 2004.

The anticipation for baseball’s return to D.C. was so high that the team received 10,000 season ticket deposits before Major League Baseball even formally approved the move of the Montreal Expos. As someone who grew up accustomed to D.C. sports teams losing, it was awkwardly comforting to know the Washington Senators’ motto for the 20th century was first in war, first in peace, last in the American League.

The Nats surprised everybody by spending 63 days of the 2005 season in first place, peaking at 19 games above .500, and settling to 52–36 at the All-Star break. The team closed out the season with a 29–45 record to finish the season 81–81. It would have been nice to start their new run in D.C. above .500, but no one expected 80 wins with that hodgepodge group, especially after the Expos went 67–95 the year before. The team wouldn’t reach 80 wins again until 2011 after enduring 91, 89, 102, 103, and 93-loss seasons in between.

After just 15 seasons of existence, they’ve won a World Series, four National League East titles in a six-year span and are still perennial championship contenders. That’s an embarrassment of riches for a city robbed of a generation of baseball. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Savor it. Be grateful. It wasn’t always like this.

1. The 2019 World Series: Finishing the Fight

The 2019 Washington Nationals fell on hard times, going 19–31 in their first 50 games. Anchored by the axiom of Stay in the Fight, they defied the odds to close out the regular season. It was only fitting they did the same thing throughout the playoffs.

In their first ever wild-card game, the Nats trailed the Milwaukee Brewers 3–1 with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving Washington just a 12.2 percent chance of advancing to the National League Division Series, according to ESPN’s win probability data. Another playoff disappointment felt inevitable. Then came a Michael A. Taylor hit-by-pitch, Trea Turner strikeout, Ryan Zimmerman single, and Anthony Rendon walk. With the bases loaded, 20-year-old Juan Soto strode to the plate to face Josh Hader, arguably the game’s best young closer. A third-pitch swing sent the ball to right field, where Milwaukee’s Trent Grisham misplayed the ball. Nationals Park erupted as three runs scored to give the Washington a 4–3 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

The fight continued into the NLDS against a Los Angeles Dodgers team that knocked them out of the same round in 2016. If the Nats truly wanted to show this year was different, this was the round to do it. Four previous NLDS appearances, four disappointing departures.

Once again the Dodgers and Nationals took the NLDS to five games. Once again the Nats trailed 3–1 in the eighth inning in an elimination game. Los Angeles appeared destined to advance to its third straight National League Championship Series. That was until solo blasts from Rendon and Soto off of regular-season legend and playoff goat Clayton Kershaw tied the game, which ultimately went into the 10th. That inning was when Howie Kendrick shined. The 36 year old sealed the fate of his former team when he clobbered a no-out grand slam over Dodger Stadium’s center-field wall. The Nats advanced to their first ever NLCS. In the process they made manager Dave Martinez’s decision to bring in camels to spring training in 2018 to show they can get over the hump slightly less ridiculous.

In the NLCS Washington exorcised another demon: the St. Louis Cardinals. That franchise presented the Nationals with their first real taste of heartbreak since baseball returned to D.C. in the form of Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS. This time around, the Nats made quick work of the Redbirds, vanquishing them in a four-game sweep to advance to D.C. baseball’s first World Series appearance since 1933. Kendrick was crucial yet again, collecting five hits, four doubles, four RBIs, and four runs (all team highs) against the Cardinals on the way to NLCS MVP. As he celebrated the team’s first National League pennant, Martinez summarized the entire season in 13 words: Often bumpy roads lead to beautiful places. And this is a beautiful place.

Now the Nats had to conquer the battle-tested Houston Astros, who won the 2017 World Series and appeared in the 2018 American League Championship Series. It was only fitting that Mr. National would be the first player in team history to score a run in a World Series. Zimmerman led off Washington’s scoring in Game 1 when he launched a solo shot off the seemingly insurmountable Gerrit Cole in Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

Game 7 marked the fifth time the Nats trailed in an elimination game. It also meant it was their time to rise to the occasion. Rendon, a Houston-area native, spoiled Zack Greinke’s great performance (a one-hitter entering the seventh inning) with a solo homer. The Astros intentionally walked Soto, something they hadn’t done all season. With Kendrick at the plate, Houston brought in Will Harris to replace Greinke. The 14th-year veteran subsequently etched his name into Washington baseball history. Kendrick took the second pitch he saw and clanged it off the right-field foul pole. The Nats took the 3–2 lead and never gave it back. Up 6–2 with two outs and a full count in the bottom of the ninth, Daniel Hudson struck out Michael Brantley to deliver D.C. its first World Series championship since 1924. Hudson threw his glove toward the Nats dugout in pure elation and was mobbed by his teammates. Nationals radio broadcaster Charlie Slowes delivered the winning call: Swing and a miss! Swing and a miss! Swing and a miss! And a World Series Game 7-winning Curly W is in the books! The celebration is on! The Washington Nationals are the world champions!

This World Series was full of oddities. With the road teams 7–0 in the World Series, the Nats and Astros made sports history. Never in MLB or even NBA and NHL history had the road team won at least six games in a seven-game series. The Nationals joined the 1914 Boston Braves as the only teams to win a World Series after falling 12 games below .500 in the regular season.

Washington’s bullpen posted a ghastly 5.66 regular season ERA, which ranked dead last in the majors. That prompted Martinez to rely heavily on his starters to carry the relief load in the postseason. The Nats’ bullpen ERA improved to 4.44 in the postseason—good for fifth out of the 10 playoff teams. Patrick Corbin, who signed a six-year, $140 million contract in the offseason and started 33 games, carried the brunt of the burden in long relief. In between three postseason starts, Corbin tossed six-and-one-third innings out of the bullpen, including three scoreless ones in World Series Game 7. He’ll also be remembered for his start in Game 4 of the NLCS, when he became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball postseason history to strike out 10 batters in the first four innings of a game. He finished with 12 Ks over five innings.

Stephen Strasburg erased any doubt about his mental or physical toughness. The 10-year veteran earned World Series MVP honors with his 14 strikeouts over 14-1/3 innings in Games 2 and 6. He was immaculate in clutch moments throughout the playoffs, showing a willingness to do what was needed to be a champion, even pitching three innings of scoreless relief in the wild-card win. In all, Strasburg struck out 47 batters to just four walks and allowed only nine runs in 36-1/3 innings over six games.

Even Max Scherzer contributed out of the bullpen, striking out three batters in a scoreless eighth inning in Game 2 of the NLDS. Scherzer appeared in six games, striking out 37 batters and walking 15 over 30 innings. Strasburg and Scherzer further proved that starting pitching was the backbone of the team. The duo started 10 of Washington’s 12 postseason wins.

Soto continued to put himself on the map nationally with his World Series performance, batting .333 with three home runs, seven RBIs, nine hits, five walks, and two doubles. Rendon’s blasts in Game 5 of the NLDS and Games 6 and 7 of the World Series made him the first player in MLB history with home runs in three straight elimination games in a single postseason.

The 2019 Washington Nationals showed the grit and moxie their division-winning predecessors failed to. Five times they trailed in elimination games. Five times they won. They routinely proved people wrong over the course of a 162-game regular season. That’s how this group plays, general manager Mike Rizzo said after World Series Game 7. Even when things were bad, even when it seemed like there was no way out back in the spring, they were total pros. They never wavered. They had something special.

2. The Announcement—September 29, 2004

One day shy of the 33rd anniversary of the final Washington Senators game, the baseball-starved fans of the nation’s capital received the news for which they had been waiting more than a generation. An agonizing span of 12,053 days of emptiness was now over. Standing in front of a podium at the City Museum’s Great Hall and donning a red Senators cap, D.C. mayor Anthony A. Williams proudly proclaimed: After 30 years of waiting…and waiting…and waiting and lots of hard work and more than a few prayers, there will be baseball in Washington in 2005!

Charlie Brotman, the Senators’ public address announcer from 1956–1971, was a part of the ceremony to welcome baseball back to the District. Shout it from the rooftops—let’s play ball! yelled Brotman, who led the jubilant crowd in a chorus of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig made it official earlier in the day during a call to an eager group consisting of Williams, council members, and city sports officials at city hall. Congratulations, Selig told them. It’s been a long time coming.

Selig’s statement read: Washington, D.C., as our nation’s capital, is one of the world’s most important cities, and Major League Baseball is gratified at the skill and perseverance shown by Mayor Williams throughout this process.

The mood at City Museum and throughout the District of Columbia was light and filled with a certain joy that hadn’t been experienced in decades. The banner above the dais read: A HOME RUN FOR DC. John Fogerty’s Centerfield blasted over the loudspeakers as the media, former Senators players, and excited fans in attendance took in the environment. Youth baseball players who had known of no professional baseball team in the city at any point in their lifetime stood behind officials during the press conference.

Washington, D.C., would finally have a Major League Baseball team to call its own, inheriting the National League East’s Montreal Expos. Washington, D.C., beat out Las Vegas; Portland, Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia; Monterrey, Mexico; and a site in Loudoun County, Virginia, that proposed a new stadium and building a city around it.

Even Vice President Dick Cheney chimed in, saying during a campaign stop in Minnesota that he was looking forward to seeing D.C. become a ball town again. This will be a great boon to the community, Cheney added. It will force a lot of us to reorient our loyalties. We’ve all picked up, acquired, become fans of other teams.

The Expos had been owned by Major League Baseball since 2002 and were not a top priority to the league. They even split home games between Canada and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2003 and 2004. None of that mattered now. They were D.C.’s team. The sun is setting in Montreal, but it’s rising in Washington, Expos president Tony Tavares said during a news conference at Olympic Stadium.

D.C. baseball fans fully understood what fans in Montreal were experiencing, having lost the Senators twice in an 11-year span. Local fans also understood that their new team would be a reclamation project.

The Expos had dropped to 65–94 the night of the announcement after a 9–1 loss to the Florida Marlins in their last game at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. They finished the season 67–95. The Expos hadn’t won more than 83 games since the 1996 season. Long gone from that franchise were the likes of stars such as Vladimir Guerrero, Cliff Floyd, Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Moises Alou, and Marquis Grissom. A strike-shortened 1994 season ended what was primed to be a dominant postseason run for the Expos, who sat atop baseball at 74–40. The current crop moving to Washington boasted the likes of Livan Hernandez, Brad Wilkerson, Chad Cordero, Jose Vidro, Nick Johnson, Jamey Carroll, and Brian Schneider—all managed by Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.

The team, whose new name and identity were yet to be determined, was set to play at RFK Stadium for three seasons and then move to a new home nestled along the Anacostia River in Southeast D.C. in 2008. A new era had begun. There was baseball in Washington, D.C.

3. A New Beginning

It was the moment millions of Washingtonians had all been waiting for. After 12,250 days—almost 34 years—of anticipation since the Washington Senators last stepped foot on RFK Stadium grounds, the Washington Nationals filled the void experienced by those longing for the national pastime in their city.

On April 14, 2005, a crowd of 45,596 was on hand to witness the Nationals take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in their first home game. President George W. Bush, protected by Secret Service members disguised as Nationals coaches, set the tone for a raucous night. After a few minutes of small talk, the commander in chief told Nationals catcher Brian Schneider just before taking the field, Here we go. Just catch it. It was the ball lent to President Bush by former Senators pitcher Joe Grzenda and was the final ball used in Washington Senators history. It was the one Grzenda held on while standing on the mound as fans at RFK rushed the field with one out to go on September 30, 1971.

Sporting a red Nationals jacket, the president headed onto the grass, took his place on the mound, and tossed the ceremonial first pitch to Schneider at 6:52 pm. Former Senators such as Frank Howard, Mickey Vernon, Roy Sievers, Eddie Brinkman, and Chuck Hinton stood at their old positions to hand out the gloves to the current crop of Nationals as they took their places on the field for the first pitch. At 7:06 pm on that chilly Thursday night, with cameras and flashbulbs readying around the park, Nationals ace Livan Hernandez threw the first pitch, a fastball past Diamondbacks second baseman Craig Counsell, for a strike. Schneider tossed the ball to the dugout for the beginning of its journey to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Hernandez pitched a gem—at least until the ninth inning. The workhorse tossed a one-hitter and had a 5–0 lead going into the final inning until surrendering a one-out, three-run home run to Chad Tracy.

It had been more than three decades since baseball was a daily occurrence at RFK, but fans were well aware of what third baseman Vinny Castilla was on the verge of accomplishing in his fourth at-bat. He had already doubled in the second inning, tripled in the fourth inning, and hit the first Nationals home run at RFK in the sixth inning.

Castilla batted second in the eighth inning against Arizona reliever Lance Cormier. The 15-year veteran was just a single away from the cycle. Cormier plunked Castilla on the first pitch. The capacity crowd realized that—with a 5–0 lead and four plate appearances already behind him—getting hit by a pitch ended any chance of a cycle. Boos rained down on Cormier from the RFK faithful.

But when Castilla tripled in the fourth inning to score second baseman Jose Vidro and right fielder Jose Guillen to give the Nats a 2–0 lead, RFK Stadium erupted. It rocked and shook like it had whenever the Redskins scored a touchdown or sacked opposing quarterbacks.

That kind of home-field advantage was new for Major League Baseball, and those in attendance who had never felt a stadium move before. Holy shit, Nationals president Tony Tavares said.

The Montreal Expos, the franchise that gave way to the Washington Nationals, totaled just 748,550 fans in 2004, averaging just 9,356 per game, the lowest in the majors by almost 7,000 per game. Left fielder Brad Wilkerson, who spent his first four seasons with the Expos, said after the game that he was impressed with the D.C. crowd. It was amazing to see, he said. Honestly, it was more than I expected. They lived and died with every pitch. You know it’s going to be a great place to play.

Outfielder Terrmel Sledge, who hit the first home run and RBI in Nats history in the season opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 4, echoed Wilkerson’s sentiments following the game. "I just looked at the fans and thought, We finally have a home-field advantage," Sledge said.

Chad Cordero, the 23-year-old closer nicknamed the Chief, ended the game, recording the final two outs—the last one being a fly out from Tony Clark to right fielder Ryan Church.

Kool & the Gang’s Celebration played throughout the stadium, ushering in not just another win in the record books but a new feeling in the city. The win put the icing on the day, especially with the team playing its first game in Washington, where it had no baseball for 34 years, Nationals manager Frank Robinson said after the game. To go out here and win with this atmosphere—the president out here, other dignitaries in the stands, and real baseball fans out there cheering—it was a special situation where you wanted to win the game. It’s nice when you go out there and do it. It keeps the enthusiasm as high, and the expectations even higher.

4. Bryce Harper’s MVP Season

Before the 2015 season began, ESPN The Magazine anonymously polled 117 major leaguers. Of that group 41 percent voted Bryce Harper as the most overrated player in baseball. It was the second straight season that distinction was bestowed upon the young phenom who has carried the burden of lofty expectations since high school. Though said in jest, Harper’s spring training declaration of Where’s my ring? in response to the Washington Nationals adding Max Scherzer to the starting rotation didn’t help matters.

However, the 22-year-old silenced his doubters early on. In the fourth inning of Opening Day, Harper walked to the plate with Frank Sinatra’s The Best is Yet to Come blaring loud and clear through the Nationals Park loudspeakers. It was foreshadowing at its finest. On the second pitch, Harper hit his first home run of the season.

The Nats labored through April, but May was a different story. Washington went 18–9 in the month of May, and Harper was a catalyst. He earned National League Player of the Month after batting .360 with 13 homers (a Nats single-month record) and 28 RBIs while scoring 24 runs and drawing 22 walks. He also reached base at least twice in 12 straight games. He became the third player in the last 100 years to hit 15 home runs in his first 40 games at age 22 or younger. The last to do it before him was Harmon Killebrew with the 1959 Washington Senators.

In June, Harper faced the Yankees in New York for the first time in his career. Early in his pro career, he was vocal about his lifelong affinity of the Bronx Bombers. Yankees die-hards were well aware and made it clear they’d welcome him in pinstripes. Referencing Harper’s Nationals contract ending after the 2018 season, fans in the Yankee Stadium bleachers chanted Fu-ture Yankee! and 20-19! During that series in New York, Harper managed to face a pitcher younger than he for the first time in his professional career. In Harper’s 2,303rd plate appearance and his 554th game between the minors and majors, he faced Yankees prospect Jacob Lindgren, who is 147 days younger, and flew out to left field on the second pitch of the at-bat. 

The brash but sensational Bryce Harper celebrates after scoring in 2015, a year in which he hit .330 with 42 home runs, 99 RBIs, and a .460 on-base percentage.

Despite his youth Harper was voted to his third All-Star Game in four seasons. By the All-Star