Baseball in Washington, D.C. (DC) (Images of America) [Paperback]

Frank Ceresi (Author), Mark Rucker (Author), Carol McMains (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2002

Dubbed America's Game by Walt Whitman, baseball has been enjoyed in our nation's capital by everyone from young boys playing street stickball to Presidents throwing out the inaugural first pitch of the season. Just 13 years after Alexander Cartwright codified baseball's rules, the Washington Nationals Baseball Club formed and in 1867 toured the country spreading the baseball gospel. By 1901 the team became one of the first eight major league teams in the newly formed American League. Players such as Walter Johnson, probably the greatest pitcher of all time, and other Senators under the stewardship of owner Clark Griffith successfully led the club in 1924 to what many consider to be the most exciting World Series in baseball history. Later, the Homestead Grays played at Griffith Stadium and fielded a team featuring legendary Negro League greats such as Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard. The powerhouse Grays, during a ten-year span, won nine Negro League World Championships, a record that may never be equaled in any team sport again. When the Grays disbanded, the original Senators left for Minnesota in 1960, and the expansion Senators of the 1960s relocated, the city was left without a professional baseball team. While many feared that baseball in D.C. was over, a spirit remained on the diamond and is still felt today as children and adults team up in one way or another to play the national pastime in the nation's capital. Hopes for a new professional team linger, and those remembering baseball's heyday will enjoy this extensive and unusual collection ofhistoric photos that celebrate a time when the crowds roared and Washingtonians believed that the summer game would never end.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Authors Frank Ceresi, former curator of the National Sports Gallery, and Mark Rucker, baseball writer and vintage photograph expert, are sports historians and longtime fans of the game. Researcher Carol McMains is still hoping to bring her 3-year-old son, Brady, to his first professional ballgame . . . in the nation's capital!

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing; trade pbk edition (April 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738514209
• ISBN-13: 978-0738514208
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,400,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars CAPITAL BASEBALL, July 28, 2002

By 

M. R. ZOGLIO - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Baseball in Washington, D.C. (DC) (Images of America) (Paperback)

This book is an excellent visual record of Washington baseball in it's own right but is outstanding as a companion piece to Tom Deveaux's The Washington Senators, 1901-1971 (a top notch history containing no pictures). It's great to put a face to a name from a bygone era. This book is chock full of historical photos (all b&w) that extend beyond just the Senators. After all this glowing praise, why do I rate it only 4 stars? I received it a week before Ted Williams' passing. In going back through it a week later, I was struck at the gloss job that the expansion Senators (1961-1971) received. At 14 pages (out of 128), the Senators of my youth are barely represented here. One photo each of Ted Williams and Frank Howard? Reprehensible!!! Hondo isn't even given an action photo (of him crushing another homer) but a tame head shot. Sort of reminds me of James R. Hartley's Washington's Expansion Senators (1961-1971). All in all, a must have that could have been so much better.