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The walks were the story of this game. The Washington Nationals accumulated nine walks, the Philadelphia Phillies four. In the fifth inning, Juan Soto broke a walk record that had stood since 1929. On a warm Monday night in DC, 19,788 fans were on hand to watch the first game of an unusual five-game series […]

The visiting Washington Nationals (17-29, 10½ games back of division-leading Atlanta) were stumbling through the defense of their World Series title as the abbreviated 2020 schedule entered its final quarter. Perhaps it was the dreaded World Series hangover, perhaps it was the lack of live fans in the stands, perhaps it was the players who […]

clang n 1: a loud ringing metallic sound (the ~ of Howie Kendrick’s home run hitting the right field foul pole) — Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary1 Could we have imagined October 2019? In baseball speak, the month began for the Washington Nationals on the very first day in the eighth inning with a challenged hit […]

The 27,863 fans filing into Nationals Park for this 4 P.M. Saturday game knew that Max Scherzer (8-5, 2.43 ERA) would be pitching for the Nationals (45-42, third in the NL East, seven games back of Atlanta). Who knows what they might see: Mad Max might throw a no-hitter, strike out 20, hit a home […]

Ten years after he was drafted, nine years after making his major-league debut (in an event referred to as “Strasmas”), Stephen Strasburg (5-3, 3.19 ERA) took the mound at Nationals Park seeking his 100th career win. The White Sox (29-30, second in the AL Central but 11½ games behind the first-place Twins) were the opponents […]

Game Five. Two words guaranteed to bring angst to the heart of any Washington Nationals fan. Three times since 2012 the Nationals had made it to a National League Division Series Game Five – and all three times they had lost, in heartbreaking fashion.1 A fourth NLDS trip, in 2014, had resulted in three one-run […]

The Washington Nationals (41-38) had been leading the NL East division at the end of May, but an 8-15 record in June so far had moved them back to the third position, four games behind Atlanta, two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies (43-36). Nick Pivetta (4-6, 4.06 ERA) took the mound for the Phillies. He […]

It was supposed to be a getaway game for both teams, scheduled for 4:05. Mother Nature had other ideas: The game started at 6:37 due to rain. Those of the announced crowd of 24,338 who stayed were treated to a tense, well-pitched game and some baseball history. The visiting Cardinals (20-10) were leading the NL […]

It was a beautiful Father’s Day afternoon in DC: sunny and 84 degrees. To celebrate the day, several players’ kids threw out ceremonial first pitches.1 Both teams and the umpires wore their special Father’s Day light-blue trimmed uniforms with light blue caps. Some players wore blue plaid compression sleeves. The day, and the special uniforms, […]

12, 15, 25, 33, 37. Don’t worry. This isn’t a brainteaser where you have to guess the next number in the sequence. These figures are statistics from a wild and wacky major-league game played on August 9, 1923, between the reigning world champion New York Giants and the hometown St. Louis Cardinals. It included 12 […]

The Washington Nationals’ record was 19-31. They were in a five-game losing streak. Several of their expected starters were injured,1 there were calls for manager Dave Martinez to be replaced,2 the bullpen was historically bad,3 and Martinez had been ejected from the previous night’s game. But despite their forgettable start, the Nationals’ season ended with […]

By August 1945, Jimmie Foxx was in his 20th season in the major leagues and approaching his 38th birthday. He was no longer the fearsome “Beast” who clubbed 484 home runs between 1929 and 1940 and challenged Babe Ruth’s single-season record by hitting 58 in 1932. He had actually already retired once, spending all of […]

“You have a great year, and you can run into a buzz saw. Maybe this year, we are the buzz saw.” – Stephen Strasburg1   It can’t be otherwise. You are writing a story about Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg and your mind, filled with baseball memories, wanders back to June 8, 2010. The atmosphere […]

Roy Campanella with a mighty swing during spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 1950s. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Most of the time the number 13 is considered unlucky. For the Brooklyn Dodgers on this fateful day in August, the number 13 was very, very lucky. Dem Bums were able to get to three […]

The Washington Nationals’ Aníbal Sánchez would be facing his former team for the first time. He had pitched for them from 2012 through 2017, including three trips to the postseason. Since then, though, the Tigers hadn’t had a winning season. They were currently 26-51, fourth in the AL Central Division, 24½ games behind the Twins. […]

Yes, you read that headline correctly: The 2019 Washington Nationals bullpen actually set a good record rather than a bad one. True, their collective ERA for 2019 was a wince-inducing 5.66,1 but for one game in September, the Nationals bullpen was really good. The Nationals (86-69) were nine games back of Atlanta with seven games left, […]

“He has six homers, but this was actually his first. It just happened after the other five.”1 I promise that sentence will make sense by the end of the story. The New York Yankees, and their fans, were in Washington for a rare visit.2 The teams were nervously watching the weather: It was a two-game […]

If you came to the ballpark hoping to see something you hadn’t seen before, then this was the right game. Position player pitching? Check. Pitcher hitting a home run? Check. Pitcher with two hits in an inning? Check. Fan interference? Dancing in the dugout? Overturned call on replay review? Triples? Stolen bases? Double plays? Bases-loaded […]

Maybe “Homeless” Opener would be a better description for this game. The Toronto Blue Jays (3-2) were unable to play in Canada in 2020 due to the COVID-19 border protocols. They had migrated south to Buffalo, New York, but their temporary home there, Sahlen Field, was not yet ready in time for their scheduled home […]

Having won the World Series in both 1915 and 1916, the Boston Red Sox, chasing the idle first-place White Sox, needed to beat Washington to salvage a series split against the mediocre Senators. The game took place in front of only 928 fans in “wartime Washington … an apathetic baseball town”1 despite a compelling matchup […]

At the end of June 1920 the National League pennant contenders were tightly bunched behind the defending champion Cincinnati Reds. The Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals were in a virtual tie for second, three games out. The greatest surprise among these contenders was the Cardinals — the year before, they had finished […]

In 1988 the Society for American Baseball Research held its convention in Minneapolis for the first time. Thanks to SABR member Norman Macht, a special guest at the event was Joe “Unser Choe” Hauser,1 a Milwaukee native who played five seasons for the Minneapolis Millers in the 1930s. In 1933 Hauser set an Organized Baseball […]

The 1924 Red Sox were entering “doubleheader season” with seven of them scheduled in the couple of weeks following June 20 (because of postponements, they actually played 10 in 21 days). Manager Lee Fohl said his team was playing better ball but still not winning. He was pleased that George Murray was starting to pitch […]

In groups of twos and threes at first and then, little by little, in larger groups, the fans rose and cheered for their hometown team. It spread throughout Fenway Park until virtually every one of the 35,000 fans had joined in the spontaneous standing ovation. The top of the ninth inning on October 12, 1967, […]