https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/09/29/washington-senators-final-game-rfk-1971-bob-short/ - I realise the actual 50th Anniversary is tomorrow, but the online
Post posted this article today.
Truth be told, I wasn't residing in this area when Senators v2.0 blew town. My first live sporting event was Senators-Red Sox at the then-DC Stadium in 1963; we moved out of the area in 1966 as my father (a career Navy officer) had gotten orders and I was still living the peripatetic life of a service brat. By the time of the Senators' departure I was beginning my sophomore year at university (meanwhile my residence had shifted again to Hawaii, where the Senators once had a farm club). To be perfectly honest I thought little of the shift at the time.
That changed in 1977 when my current residence in this area began. This was two or three years after the attempt to move the Padres here fell through, and we were still getting teased by rumours of the Giants, Astros
et al moving here. I still clung to the hope that baseball might return someday (I even established one of those 'baseball savings accounts' that came out in the late 80's), but the years dragged on, other cities got expansion teams, and DC continued to serve a useful 'stadium blackmail' prop for owners trying to wheedle new ballparks from local governments...meanwhile we were constantly being told by everyone and his brother that 'the Orioles are your team', as Edward Bennett Williams' vision of a regional Orioles club had wide support among much of the establishment here. (For the record, I've never set foot in Baltimore, although I've passed through it in trains and buses many times.)
Then came 2004 and the rumour mill began hotting up about the Montreal/San Juan Expos possibly relocating here...and the long-awaited return finally did come off, and I became one of the Nationals' charter full season ticket holders. So the story ultimately had a happy ending...but 33 seasons is a long time (way too long) to wait between baseball teams.
