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April 14, 2005Baseball back in D.C.Petroskey, Harrah thrilled for nation's capitalByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Dale Petroskey lived in Washington, D.C., for 18 years without ever seeing a Major League Baseball game there. So the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum - a Michigan native with ties to the Traverse City area - is happy to see the game make a triumphant return to his former hometown. "I'm thrilled," Petroskey said Wednesday. "There should be baseball in D.C. It's our nation's capital and this is America's game. "I applaud the commissioner (Bud Selig) for bringing baseball back," he said. "I know he faced some opposition, but he bit the bullet and got it done." The Washington Nationals, formally the Montreal Expos, are scheduled to take the field against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at RFK Stadium for their home opener - the first in D.C. in 34 years. The Washington Senators played their final game on Sept. 30, 1971, also at RFK. Plagued by poor attendance, owner Bob Short moved the Senators to Texas after the season and they became the Rangers. A Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, managed the last major league team in Washington, and another Hall of Famer, Frank Robinson, is manager of this season's squad. Seven different presidents have led this country since Williams led the Senators. Richard Nixon was in office the last time a major league game was played in D.C. Petroskey, who arrived on the scene 10 years later, eventually became assistant White House press secretary for the fourth of those seven presidents, Ronald Reagan. Petroskey formed a Tigers fan club, the Mayo Smith Society, in 1983 - along with brother Dennis and friend Bill Mackay - as an excuse for fans in Washington to get together and talk baseball. Petroskey said that most fans in D.C. were no longer bitter about the Senators' departure. "By the time I got to Washington people seemed to have gotten used to the idea that the Baltimore Orioles were their team," Petroskey said. "The Orioles put their arm around Washington and did a good job of bringing those fans to Baltimore. "They even built their stadium (Oriole Park at Camden Yards) south of town so people from Washington didn't have to drive through Baltimore to get there." Emotions were a little more raw in 1971. Toby Harrah, a minor league hitting instructor for the Detroit Tigers, started at shortstop as a rookie with the '71 Senators. He eventually had a 17-year career in the big leagues and was the last of the Senators to play in a major league game. Harrah went 1-for-4 in the finale at RFK, which ended in bizarre fashion. Washington led the New York Yankees 7-5 with two out in the top of the ninth inning, but jilted fans - told of their team's move only 10 days before the end of the season - rushed onto the diamond and swiped the bases, along with numbers and letters from the outfield scoreboard and anything else they could get their hands on, including pieces of turf. Umpires awarded the Yankees a forfeit victory. "It was crazy," Harrah said. "Fans were taking everything; they even grabbed my cap. I was glad to get out of there." Most of Harrah's memories of Washington are fond ones, however. "I'm happy for the fans in Washington. It's a great city and it was a special place to play," Harrah said. "Of course, it was my first (full) big league season, so I have a lot of great memories. "To play for Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters in history, was incredible. (Teammate) Tim Cullen taught me how to tie a tie - Williams made everyone wear a tie. (Hall of Famer) Nellie Fox was a coach, so we'd go out early every day and work on bunting and ground balls. "That was an older ballclub, and they were just starting to bring in some younger players," said Harrah, now 56. "If you look at those early Texas Ranger teams, you'll see the talent that was coming through - Tom Grieve, Jeff Burroughs, Mike Hargrove, Jim Sundberg. "It just never reached Washington." Frank Howard was the Senators' most popular player, and he eventually joined the Tigers midway through the 1972 season. Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline was a teammate. "Everybody loved Frank," Kaline said. "He was a big, easy-going guy, and he sure could hit." Kaline, a Baltimore native, said he is pleased to see Major League Baseball finally return to D.C., although he missed the city more during his playing days. "I always enjoyed going there," said the 70-year-old Kaline. "For one, it gave my friends and family a chance to come and see me a little more. "It was a clean city," he said. "I remember it closed up pretty tight at night, although that's probably changed since then." Actually, that isn't all that's changed. Despite speculation by the Washington sports media that major league officials wouldn't wait long to bring baseball back to the nation's capital, the delay dragged on for decades. For more than 30 years, other teams used the threat of a move to D.C. as a bargaining chip to get new ballparks built in their own cities. That's probably why fans in Washington, D.C. - still pinching themselves, perhaps - have embraced the Nationals, along with fans from across the U.S. "I was at spring training a few weeks ago to see the Tigers play the Nationals, and I told Frank Robinson I thought the country was really going to get behind this team," Petroskey said. "It's exciting to have baseball back in Washington. "It's the way it should be."
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