Small Triumphs Writ Large

What may have been most remarkable about Calvin Griffith was his candor. When the former owner of the Minneapolis Twins said of his new Minnesota home–where he had relocated the old American League Washington Nationals franchise that dated to 1901–that there he had found thousands of hard working white folks, he was giving vent to […]

All the Games Count

Every game matters, whether it is played in the first week or in the last. It is easy to dismiss the significance of the first weeks of the season, but trends emerge even as early as Spring Training that will haunt the sixth months to follow. The Washington Nationals trip north to Fenway Park was […]

Spring Statistics and How Far Can the Washington Bullpen Travel

Theo Epstein recently said he has never broken camp with a rookie in the starting lineup and to prove his point sent Kris Bryant packing. Spring is is not a good time to be a young major league hopeful. The time with the major league club more often than not ends in a quick trip […]

The Hour That the Ship Comes In

“And they will know that it’s for real, the hour that their ship comes in…”  Washington Nationals fans may be pinching themselves to find out whether they are dreaming–as in the old Bob Dylan song–but after wandering in the dessert for many years, a championship caliber organization is arriving on the rising tide of the […]

Playing Out the String

The micro-economy of Major League Baseball is ever-changing. The first model was the neighborhood bully on the playground, in which the richest teams threw their weight around, purchased the best free agents and dominated the sport in the process. Bud Selig’s tenure as Commissioner has seen the arrival of more tools for competitive balance than […]

Is the Strategy of the Scherzer Move Too Obvious?

The official signing of Max Scherzer went down yesterday in Washington and reading the tea leaves of Mike Rizzo’s intentions remains one of the top off-season topics. Does he trade Zimmermann, Fister, or Strasberg? It is only a matter of time before MLB Trade Rumors posts a reader survey asking which one will leave the […]

The Hot Stove in Washington Is Red Hot

Fans in DC woke today to an embarrassment of riches when it was announced that Max Scherzer has agreed to terms and will be the mainstay of the Nationals rotation going forward for the next 7 years. The Washington Nationals inserted themselves again into the 2015 hot stove discussions just when everything seemed the quietest. […]

Fidel Pitches Into Extra Innings in Dramatic Win

Fidel Castro is throwing one last pitch and it is proving to be his best. Regardless what political prism one sees the island of Cuba through, there is no denying that it has been the home of some great baseball over the years, so the new diplomatic initiative by the Obama administration promises new access […]

Will DC Ever Learn What It Takes to Win?

The Kansas City bullpen has been flawless and their performance could spell the difference for the Royals in the 2014 World Series. Everyone who loves the underdog is pulling for them, but for Washington fans there is an object lesson in watching Kansas City that is almost certainly being lost. The Washington Nationals are on […]

The Post Mortem in DC

The Washington Nationals looked like amateurs playing the San Francisco Giants. It is sad, but it is true. The front office of the Nationals will spend the next few months trying to understand what happened and just why the team that had done so well in the regular season sputtered and faltered in the playoffs. […]

Adam LaRoche, Going Out With a Bang

The 2014 MLB Post-Season will profile many of the game’s most brightly shining stars, most of whom have come to regard the October stage as their own. Albert Pujols, now of the Angels, and Miguel Cabrera are cornerstone players who seem always to be playing in October. They are destined for the Hall of Fame […]

Is the Nationals Pitching Really the Best in the NL and Can It Carry Them to the World Series?

With the playoffs just one week off, it is time to trot out those post season axioms that truthfully only work in retrospect. A month from now in all sagacity we will be able to say how clear it was that the experience of the Tigers and Cardinals would play up. Or maybe it will […]

All the Ghosts of Baseball Past Deserve Their Moment This October in Washington, DC

It was a compelling celebration of the moment for the Washington Nationals after after their 3-0 win over the Braves in Atlanta clinched a second NL East title in three years. But reflection is the default mental state for those of my generation and it was not long before I was thinking back on all […]

Closer By Committee in DC?

“Closer by committee” is used only to describe a dysfunctional reality. It has no upside, no silver lining and when spoken in early September, it can mean nothing good. So when Matt Williams announced that the Washington Nationals were relieving Raphael Soriano of his ninth inning duties, and seeking a new answer so late in […]

Something Smells Rotten in the TV Rights Dispute in DC

Maximizing profits and income is what businessmen do. But somehow, when they are caught doing it as baseball owners it takes on an uglier dimension because they operate in a protected environment. MLB, Inc. is an enterprise that operates outside the scrutiny to which normal business owners are subject. The largely un-examined, private country club […]

In the Moment in Washington

Ten wins in a row in the tenth season in a row? Are the numbers and stars aligning? Has anyone called the fortune teller yet, or maybe we should just “pinch ourselves and squeal and know that it’s for real, the hour that our ship comes in?”* Baseball returned to Washington, DC in 2005 and […]

Where Washington Is Always in First Place

CBS reporter Sheryl Attkisson opined that in today’s world our best journalists could not bring the corrupt and crazed Richard Nixon to heel for the vast sins of Watergate. Perhaps, but for my money there is one department at The Washington Post that never lost its Woodward and Bernstein edge, where the ghost of Shirley […]

Does the Long Winding Road to October End in California?

Over at Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, they analyze anything that moves, but they keep a nice presence in the world of sports and their piece on the recent Jon Lester trade looks at the notion that this season is shaping up as a significant outlier. The Lester trade is unusual because it is rare for a small market […]

Could a Washington Baseball Hall of Fame Museum Unite the City’s Baseball Legacies?

There is still a hole in the middle of the Washington, DC baseball tradition that is thirty-four years wide and many of the great moments in the city’s bountiful Major League Baseball history remain lost inside it. Much of that memorable history occurred at old Griffith Stadium and when it was torn down after the […]

When Will Baltimore Be Forced to Quit Stealing TV Revenues in the Mid-Atlantic?

It is easiest to steal money when no one is watching. And so Peter Angelos has had easy pickings for almost a decade as he took TV revenues away from the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) that broadcasts games for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals on local cable outlets. Television revenues are the name of the game […]

The Kid Returneth?

Referencing Bryce Harper as “The Kid” is more than a play on his youth, but one that also brings to mind the great hitter Ted Williams who likewise was a star from the first moment he stepped onto an emerald diamond at age 20. Williams, known as the “Kid” for many years in Boston, generated […]

A Legacy for the Man Who Ended Joe DiMaggio’s 56-Game Hitting Streak

It is July 17, 1941. The Cleveland Indians are playing the New York Yankees and the Tribe’s manager, Roger Peckinpaugh, brings Jim Bagby into the game in relief of Al Smith in a precarious situation in the eighth inning.  Smith has pitched well, though he trails 2-1 to the Yankees. Then in the top of […]

Ryan Zimmerman Is Playing for the Urgency of Now

After Stephen Strasburg signed with the Nationals late in the summer of 2009, he was introduced to the Washington fan base in a ceremony at Nationals Park. There on stage to greet him was Ryan Zimmerman, the face of the team. As Zimmerman posed for pictures welcoming the young pitching phenom aboard, he was one […]

Touring Target Field With Clark Griffith, II

The picture below shows the statue of Calvin Griffith that sits just outside the main gate of Target Field in Minneapolis and next to him is his son, Clark Griffith, II who was named in honor of family scion, Clark Griffith who took over the old Washington Nationals.  “I was a consultant on the statue,” […]

Surprising Parity in the NL East

Its lack of predictability makes baseball fascinating and the changing cast of heroes who step forward each game make it an everyman’s delight. The Atlanta Braves were supposed to be in big trouble due to the injuries of Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy. GM Frank Wren picked up Adam Harang and Ervin Santana and several […]

Will a Better Bryce Harper Emerge in the Second Half?

Bryce Harper has significant value to the Washington Nationals franchise whether he is on the field or not. The merchandising of a star means that he makes money for the team even on the dl. But there are legitimate questions about Bryce Harper’s value as a marquee player that only will be answered later this […]

Mike Trout and Bryce Harper: Pat Boone and Elvis

Mike Trout is all smiles everywhere he goes at Nationals Park, whether it is during the game as he settles at first base after a single, or in the dugout with his team mate Albert Pujols, who has just hit his 500th home run–congrats big fellow. Bryce Harper by contrast has found little to smile […]

Tampa to Montreal? Trotting Out the Same Old Tired Narrative

It’s almost comical, the idea of moving the Tampa Bay Rays to Montreal, but a lot of people have been talking about it with a straight face. MLB has fewer new plot lines than Hollywood and the one where the Commissioner’s Office comes in all Snidely Whiplash and threatens to move the team unless a […]

Alexander Cartwright, The Life Behind the Baseball Legend, by Monica Nucciarone

The Spring 2014 edition of the Baseball Research Journal came in the mail just as I was finishing Monica Nucciarone’s fine book, Alexander Cartwright, The Life Behind the Baseball Legacy. The Journal includes an article by Richard Hershberger about Alexander Cartwright, which examines the proposition whether Cartwright “invented baseball.” Having just read Nucciarone’s book, it seemed to […]

Playing for the Name on the Front of the Jersey

On Thursday night, at Nationals Park, the ace of the Washington Nationals staff answered anyone who had been naive enough to question where his fastball had gone. It was back and it was beautiful to behold. He looked every bit the part the ace of a very talented mound corps in DC in his most […]

There’s No Fooling the Radar Gun

A traffic judge in Prince George’s County once said that “you cannot fool radar because radar spelled backwards is still radar.” So when Stephen Strasburg wants to quibble about his fastball velocity and say the problem is with the gun, tell it to the judge Stephen. Strasburg’s fastball velocity has been in steady decline since […]

Opening Day 2014

Opening Day. The celebration of American culture resounds more than the play on the field as the giant flag is unfurled during the National Anthem. There were no jets flying overhead this season as in years past because budget concerns have taken precedence over the pomp and ceremony befitting a great nation parading forth its […]

Can Matt Williams Manage the Expectations

Who Me? That was the collective reaction of the Washington Nationals in 2013 as they came out of Florida with their ace Stephen Strasburg on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the magazine predicting a World Series win for the team. Last season proved that something was missing in the Nationals clubhouse and Davey Johnson […]

Medlen’s Misfortune is Everyone’s Misfortune

As the 2012 season drew to a conclusion, Stephen Strasburg’s absence from the rotation of the Washington Nationals was one of the more hotly debated issues. Often those heaping abuse on the Nationals decision to bench their prized right-hander contrasted their decision with that of the Atlanta Braves where Kris Medlen was still taking the […]

Roger Peckinpaugh, Joe Cronin…Ian Desmond?

During the two decades when the Washington Nationals fielded quality Major League teams (1912-1933), the infield was invariably anchored by excellent shortstop. Clark Griffith, as manager and owner of the team during those years, valued the gritty ballplayer who could do it all and his on-the-field leaders included such great players as George McBride, Roger […]

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