End of an Era in DC

The Washington Nationals defeated the Phillies this week to end the era of RFK Stadium.

RFK opened in 1961 as a NFL football stadium. The American League Washington Senators moved into the first multi-purpose circular stadium with swivelling grandstands. On April 9, 1962 the Senators beat the Tigers 4-1 in front of 44,000+ rain soaked fans to open the era of stadium building that ended with the construction of SkyDome in 1989.

RFK opened as D.C Stadium, it wasa small stadium and located on the Capital Mall. It featured wooden seats and were coloured in red/maroon/gold of the Washington Redskins. The stadium had a unique design which was not repeated with any other multi-purpose stadium. The upperdeck grandstand featured more rows along the foullines and fewer seats in the outfield. This concession made the roof look like a “waffle that stuck to the waffle iron” according the ballpark authority Phil Lowry. I concur with this assessment as I never saw a game here but drove by on morning of the first game here in 2005. It fit in nicely into the unassuming DC skyline.

The Senators failed to draw 1 million in 1962 as they did in their 10 year stay at RFK. Their best season was 1969 where they finished 86-76 and finished 4th in the AL West. There was no pennant race as the Sens were 20 games out by August. The Sens drew 918,000 that year, their most since 1946.

With terrible attendance and only one winning season, in 1971 for the second time in 10 years the Senators played their last game before moving. The final game was marred by a fan riot in the 9th inning which cause umpires to forfiet the game to the Yankees.

The stadium, renamed “Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium” for 1969 became one of the most famous football stadiums in the US. The Redskins won three Super Bowls while calling RFK home. Consistently selling out and holding less than 60,000 the Redskins moved to FedEx Field for the 1997 season. RFK continued as the primary soccor stadium in the USA.

The baseball picture in DC remained foggy. A few exhibition games were played over the years. The Padres almost relocated here in the mid 1970s. The close location of the Baltimore Orioles who were very successful in the 1970s and 1980s block or deterred any move to DC. It was with a great uproar and some surprise that, in 1977 Toronto was awarded an AL franchise while Washington patrons had no team.

In 2005 baseball returned to RFK fulltime. The first game of the the National League Washington Nationals was on April 14 2005 when the Nats beat the Phils. The Frank Robinson led-club was leading the divison as late at July 24. When, like the Expos they faded down the stretch, finishing a respectable .500 but in last place in the NL East. The Nats drew 2.7 million in 2005, perhaps proving that Washington is ready to support MLB for arguably the first time ever. Attendance has slipped every year and the team looks like it may be a while before they are truly competitive. This year they failed to draw 2 million and will finish in the bottom quarter in ML attendance.

Next year the Nats will move into a yet unnamed stadium. This will close a chapter in Washington baseball that spanned 45 years but saw only 13 seasons of ball played. No playoff games were played here and only one winning team called RFK home. Maybe this will stabilise the franchise. Washington is a small market team in a poor city and with their new ownership with deep pockets they may be able to absorb operating losses for a few years. I do not feel this team will be successful in DC no matter which park they play in. The owner is very old and I find it hard to beleive that his family will continue to be Hobby Owners of a struggling, unpopular, costlyballclub.