50 Years ago today was a very sad day for Wash., DC, baseball

[ValKehl]

Here are the first few paragraphs from a good read in today's Wash. Post re the relocation of the San Diego Padres to DC, which never happened and which resulted in 30+ years of my life passing without having a local MLB team to root for. I've mellowed somewhat about this ever since the Expos relocated to DC in 2005 and gave us DC fans a WS Championship in 2019. Here's the link to this piece, and I don't think you will encounter a paywall; if you do, send me a PM with your email address, and I will copy and paste this piece and email it to you: https://wapo.st/3Oo3Guu

Fifty years ago, baseball was back in Washington, D.C. — until it wasn’t
By Frederic J. Frommer
January 31, 2024 at 5:30 a.m. EST

"A half-century ago, the San Diego Padres were so close to relocating to the nation’s capital that longtime Washington Post sports columnist Shirley Povich sent a two-word telegram to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, a D.C. native who had championed a new team for his hometown: “MAZEL TOV.”

The traditional Jewish congratulations came after National League owners approved the team’s move to Washington in December 1973, Kuhn recalled in his autobiography.

Earlier that year, Joseph B. Danzansky, president of the Giant supermarket chain, had signed a deal with the troubled owner of the Padres to purchase the team for $12 million and place it in the nation’s capital to replace the Washington Senators, who had relocated to Texas the previous season.

But a lawsuit by the city of San Diego, followed by McDonald’s chairman Ray Kroc swooping in to buy the team and keep it in Southern California, wound up sinking the D.C. effort. The conclusion came Jan. 31, 1974 — 50 years ago Wednesday — when NL owners unanimously approved the sale of the team to Kroc.

“So Ray Kroc got the Padres as spring training approached and Washington’s window of hope closed again,” Kuhn recalled in his memoir. “There would be only robins and Redskins at RFK Stadium.”

It represented a stunning switcheroo, coming less than two months after the mazel tov-inducing vote approved the team’s relocation to D.C. And it set up decades of heartbreak for Washington baseball fans, who lived with fleeting hope and constant uncertainty for more than 30 years before the arrival of the Washington Nationals in 2005 finally ended the city’s baseball drought."


There is this brief mention in this piece re Topps producing cards for the new Washington team. I have the Willie McCovey's Washington version of this card somewhere, but I'm unable to quickly locate it.

"The Post reported that Washington would open the 1974 season at RFK Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. game against the Philadelphia Phillies, a day before the rest of MLB’s teams started their season. That winter, Topps printed a 1974 set of baseball cards of 15 San Diego players with “Washington Nat’l Lea.” printed on them."

[The Detroit Collector]

Interesting to think how things would be different in the MLB today if they moved to DC. Did you have a favorite team during those 30 years without one?

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by The Detroit Collector

Interesting to think how things would be different in the MLB today if they moved to DC. Did you have a favorite team during those 30 years without one?

Eric, many local baseball fans began rooting for the Baltimore Orioles, but I couldn't bring myself to do this, as the Orioles were a major adversary of the Senators when I was growing up. I became a fan pf the Cincinnati Redlegs and "The Big Red Machine."

[GeoPoto]

I think Bob Hope was going to be one of the new owners. As he would have said after a round: Shanks for the memories!

[butchie_t]

I remember that oh too well. May Bob Short rot for eternity. I'm not bitter......

Never picked up another team. Baltimore?? Nah, just could not do it. I ended up being a Rockies fan when we moved to Colorado Springs and could follow the Sky Sox.

I never, EVER thought I would see Washington win a World Series, much less a Stanley Cup. THEN BOOM! It happened. I got to see all 4. Bullets, Redskins, Capitals, and Nationals.

I'm good.......

[JustinD]

My favorite story about the Kroc Padres purchase is when he told his wife Joan that he was considering buying the team.

She knew so little about baseball she just replied "Why would you buy a monastery?"

[Leon]

Sometimes things work out in the long run. (for you too, Val!)

Originally Posted by butchie_t

I remember that oh too well. May Bob Short rot for eternity. I'm not bitter......

Never picked up another team. Baltimore?? Nah, just could not do it. I ended up being a Rockies fan when we moved to Colorado Springs and could follow the Sky Sox.

I never, EVER thought I would see Washington win a World Series, much less a Stanley Cup. THEN BOOM! It happened. I got to see all 4. Bullets, Redskins, Capitals, and Nationals.

I'm good.......