New York Yankees Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Nats Win! Washington Baseball for New Generations. It’s 1924 Again

1 November 2019 Comments 5 Comments

The greatest thing about the 2019 Nats is that baseball is again spanning the generations in Washington.

Think about it. New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago benefit from six generations of uninterrupted baseball. Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit—the list goes on. Atlanta, Los Angeles and Houston have had half a century or more to build a following: fathers and sons, parents and kids. Alas, Washington was without baseball thirty-four years. In 1971, the expansion Senators left for Texas; in 2005, the Montreal Expos became the Nationals. A beautiful ballpark revived a decrepit area of the city, which now resembles Wrigleyville in Chicago.…

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God is a Nats Fan: A Kid from New York Remembers

24 October 2019 Comments 10 Comments

“God is a Nats Fan” first appeared in The American Spectator on 21 October 2019. Scroll down to the comments for emails with fellow fanatics as the 2019 World Series unfolds.

Yankee Stadium, 1958

When Washington was in town, the drill was always the same: 15¢ for a bus to the Staten Island Ferry. A nickel ferry ride and 15¢ more for the BMT to Woodlawn and Jerome Avenues. As the subway erupted into sunlight from the bowels of the Bronx, this kid wearing his navy blue hat with its white “W” would confront the Citadel of Baseball, proud and austere with its eagle logos, bristling with pennants.…

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Baseball 2018: But Some of Us Still Remember When….

20 April 2018 Comments 4 Comments

“Remember When” was first published in The American Spectator, 18 April 2018.

On the first day of April, a spoof flashed around social media. In honor of Easter, all thirty Major League Baseball teams would be wearing jerseys in Easter egg pastel colors. April Fool! The day dawned, and the teams all wore their normal uniforms. The culprit, Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net, said it was all in fun.

Chris’s joke gained credence thanks to MLB’s habit of commemorating everything from pet dogs to “our troops.” (“Pups in the Park,” who’s gonna clean up that mess?…

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Baseball: The Amazin’ Nats

28 July 2012 Comments 0 Comments

In 2012’s greatest baseball success story, the Washington Nationals went 60-40 on July 28th, having won more games as they won all year in 2008 and 2009. In the National League they’re first in pitching, tied for second in fielding, and seventh in hitting, although in the last month their batters have been on fire.

Tied with the Yankees for the best record in baseball, the precedents fall weekly. 2012 is supplanting 2005 as the best year since baseball returned to Washington. The Nats are now about five games better than they were at this time in 2005, when they dove from first to last place in the second half.…

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Baseball: The Summer of 1960

31 May 2009 Comments 1 Comment

As a sequel to 1960, let’s take 2019. See “Nats Win!”

Until 2019 I was a frustrated fan of the Washington Nationals, as I was the old Washington Senators. As a New York schoolboy in the Fifties, I’d go up to Yankee Stadium to root for the Senators when they were in town. Always wore my navy blue cap with the white block “W.” Big, scary Bronx voices would shout: “Hey, kid—the Washington section’s in the bleachers.”

The Senators were perennial heartbreakers, although in mid-1952 they were only five games out of first place and considered to be pennant contenders.…

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