Hey friends-
Imagine being this lucky woman, Elsie Tydings, 95 years ago, and beating out thousands of fans in line for the first ticket to the 1924 World Series pitting the Washington Senators against the NY Giants. (I know she's barely smiling, but trust me, she is pumped! People didn't really smile for photos back then.) That was the first World Series ever played in the nation's capital, which the Senators went on to win in seven games. It remains the only time DC has won a World Series title. The Nats are hoping to change that last sentence.
As the author of a book on DC baseball history, You Gotta Have Heart, I hope you'll check out some of my articles and interviews over the past week, where I offer some insights on what this time means for the city. And if you'd like, you can order the book on Kindle.
In this Washington Post column, I make the case that after generations where the Redskins dominated the sports scene, the Nats have made the city a baseball town again. And that's a good thing, by the way.
In this deep-dive for POLITICO Magazine, I recapture the excitement of the 1924 season and World Series, which the Senators won in a huge upset. Here's my favorite part, about a cocky Washington bat boy named Frankie who predicted it: "What’s all the fuss about? Goodnight, the time to shout was a month ago. Why, it was a cinch. We had that pennant all ironed out and properly creased with a special place built for it in my bat bag four weeks ago. The Giants? Say, you’re not kidding me, are you? If you’ve got any extra money and want to make a lot more, easy, see, soak it all on the Nats. They’re there, I tell you."