Full Circle: NY Times Recalls When DC Was the Victim of MLB Greed

There is an interesting feature in the Sports Section of June 16th's New York Times about the last game regular season game the New York Yankees played in Washington, DC.

It was the last day of the 1971 season and the Yanks were in town to play the Washington Senators in teh final game ever for the Senators before the team was uprooted to Texas.

The Times article described what occurred that night.

" Robert F. Kennedy Stadium was the site of a peculiar wake for 14,460 diehards: a combination of mourning for their departing team and a mass loathing for the team owner, Bob Short. Banners declared "Short Stinks" (and worse). Dolls were turned into Short effigies".

"What happened on Sept. 30, 1971, was not a riot, but it demonstrated the anger fans felt for Short, whose desire to relocate the franchise had been telegraphed for a few seasons by having the Senators play exhibition games in Arlington".

This piece ran in The Times to mark the Yanks' first regular season appearance in Washington. Ironically, they are facing the Nationals who themselves were tastelessly stripped away from their roots as the Montreal Expos.

Even as they pause to remember, how quickly they forget. Indeed, history is written by the victors.

"Yankees' Last Trip to R.F.K. Ended With Fan Rampage";
By RICHARD SANDOMIR; Published: June 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/sports/baseball/16forfeit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin