Baseball in Washington, D.C.

128 pages. Illustrations. This is one of the Images of America series. After spending nearly a quarter-century in the legal world, Frank Ceresi a longtime sports history buff made the life-altering decision to "meld his avocation into a vocation" by accepting a position as the Curator and Executive Director of Collections for the MCI National Sports Gallery, the country's first all-sports museum. Over the next two decades Frank Ceresi became a respected expert in sports, authoring many articles on baseball history. appraisals, and legal services. He also co-authored and contributed to several books, including Baseball in Washington, D.C. Ceresi's last venture was serving as curator of The National Pastime Museum, launched in 2013 as a 501(c)3 online museum that showcases historical baseball artifacts, photographs, and memorabilia, along with articles by leading baseball historians. His enthusiasm for baseball history was matched only by his extensive knowledge of his favorite subject, and he served as a mentor and friend to many in the research and memorabilia communities. A SABR member since 1992, Ceresi wrote extensively on the history of sports. Washington, DC has been home to over a dozen baseball organizations since 1872 and is currently represented by the Washington Nationals. The first professional baseball teams and leagues formed in the late 19th century and several were based in Washington, DC. Many early teams used the names "Nationals" and "Senators" but were otherwise unrelated organizations. The National Association Washington Olympics (1871-1872) The National Association Washington Nationals (1872) The National Association Washington Blue Legs (1873) The National Association Washington Nationals (1875) The Union Association Washington Nationals (1884) The American Association Washington Nationals (1884) The National League Washington Nationals (1886-1889) The National League Washington Senators (1891-1899)Washington was continuously home to a major league baseball team from 1901 until 1971. Two separate franchises alternated between the nicknames "Senators" and "Nationals" and sometimes used the names interchangeably. The American League Washington Nationals/Senators (1901-1960): The team was officially named the "Nationals" until 1956 but was commonly referred to as the "Senators" beginning in 1905. In 1961, this team moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul and became the Minnesota Twins. The American League Washington Senators (1961-1971): This expansion team began play in Washington immediately following the departure of the former franchise. In 1972, this team moved to Dallas-Fort Worth and became the Texas Rangers.Since the expansion franchise began play the year immediately after the original franchise's final year in Washington, and because they both used the same nickname, the teams are commonly confused or combined and photographs are often dated based on player uniforms. The original club used dark blue as its primary color, with a thick, sans-serif, red or white block "W" on it caps. The expansion club mainly used caps with a stylized cursive "W," first in blue with a red letter (1963-1967), then in red with a white letter (1968-1971), similar to current Washington Nationals. In 1961-1962, the expansion Senators wore dark blue caps with a sans-serif block "W" outlined in white, nearly identical to the caps of the original Senators save for a red button at the top of the cap. Varying shades of the Senators' red, white and blue colors are still used by their successor teams in Minnesota and Texas.Two other teams also competed in Washington during this time period. The United States Baseball League Washington Senators (1912): This club was unrelated to the American League team and the new league folded after one month of operation. The Negro National League Homestead Grays (1930-1948): Though officially based on Homestead, Pennsylvania, this club played many of its games in Washington and were informally known as. …