All the Ghosts of Baseball Past Deserve Their Moment This October in Washington, DC

It was a compelling celebration of the moment for the Washington Nationals after after their 3-0 win over the Braves in Atlanta clinched a second NL East title in three years. But reflection is the default mental state for those of my generation and it was not long before I was thinking back on all of the times that we Nationals fans had projected forward to a tomorrow when winning baseball would be possible, when all of the 100 loss seasons would bear fruit in first overall draft picks,. Then there was watching and waiting to see if Mike Rizzo would really be able to sign Stephen Strasburg and then Bryce Harper.

There was a web site called Nationals Farm Authority where the most ardent of fans debated who the first round picks should be and which of the current minor leaguers would make the grade in the majors. It is fun to think back on those times when it was all about the potential tomorrows that are suddenly and irreversibly here to enjoy in the moment as certainly as if we the fans were there in the clubhouse beneath Turner Field.

Fans did not pour beer over one another like the players did, but I could not help but think that some may have wished to do so. So many have been waiting so long for winning baseball in the Nation’s Capital.

Charlie Brotman was the stadium announcer at Griffith Stadium in 1956 when President Eisenhower threw out the first pitch in what is one of those iconic Washington baseball moments, captured in those many photographs of those memorable first tosses in DC. Charlie continued to do the Senators’ announcing, but added another gig, calling out the Inaugural Parades down along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Presidential Reviewing Stand. He will be our guest on the Outta the Parkway podcast this Thursday and the obvious question is how does it feel to have waited so long, but finally live to see it.

It has been more than 90 years since we had a pennant winner and we are not there quite yet, but no one living is likely to have seen the last pennant winner in DC. The Washington Post trotted out a few old timers back in 2012 who had been young boys in 1933 and could recount one of the great pleasures of their youth as they watched the last great Clark Griffith team do battle for a World Championship. I hope they will be in attendance again, but if not, I hope that somehow they will get to see World Series competition in Washington again. DC fans have become greedy and like the players they want more. We all got our first taste back in 2012 and now we want the main course.

Charlie Brotman is just one among those who saw baseball come and go in the nation’s capital and who are reveling in its current success. Two members of the current broadcast team in DC: Johnny Holliday and Phil Wood, have been around the game almost as long as Charlie Brotman. Then there is Phil Hochberg who did stadium announcing for the Senators as well. What must they be thinking to see it all come full circle? How might their careers been different had baseball stayed in DC? Would they have become local legends to equal Bob Shepherd, the famous public announcer for the Yankees, dead now, but whose career spanned from 1951 until 2007. Brotman’s or Hochberg’s career might easily have shadowed that of Shepherd’s had baseball remained in Washington.

The ghosts of what might have been still circle Nationals Park and they will be there this October when the teams begin the Fall Classic. Eddie Brinkman and Lee Maye who played at RFK in the last years of the old Senators and died in recent years should be remembered, but it is heartening to think of all those who are still out there watching from not so far away like Frank Howard, Fred Valentine, Dick Bosman, and Jim Hannan. It must bring a twinkle to their eyes–even to those of Frank Robinson who helped birth this baby–knowing that baseball is prospering where they once played, where for so long the conventional wisdom was that baseball did not belong in DC.

There are many who are hoping for a Parkway Series between the Orioles and the Nationals, thinking that would be the ultimate in local celebrations. Baltimore and Washington clinched the two Eastern titles on the same night, which is no small feat. The Gladys Spellman Parkway: I-295, runs from Camden Yards in Baltimore to Howard Avenue which exits onto South Capital just a half mile from Nationals Park and the teams would likely travel back and forth on that road as they went from one stadium to the other should such a Series occur.

Frankly I would prefer the Angels, the Athletics or the Tigers. The Orioles have had their time in the sun. It is our turn and I don’t want to share a moment of it with the fans from that beautiful place where Cal Ripken set his unbreakable record of endurance. The sentiment may be rude, but if so I will gladly bear it. There are so many in the area who maintain loyalties to the Red Sox, the Cardinals or the Orioles and it is their turn to sit and watch, knowing that those whose allegiance is to their home town team are finally the ones with a chance to shine.

All of the fans who draped the “Bob Short Sucks” banner down from center field at RFK Stadium in 1971 the day the last Senators team left town, they deserve their day in the sun and they don’t deserve fans in orange Orioles Jerseys spoiling it for them. No, the ghosts of all those forgotten years deserve better. We want to soak in the warmth of the Autumn sun beating down on those afternoon games, knowing that the spirits are circling around us: the Walter Johnsons, Clark Griffiths, Roger Peckinpaughs and Bucky Harris’s who were there for the first ones. We want them to be there and not to be trammeled upon by anything save all those yesterdays and this one great moment of redemption and joy. It has been a long time coming and those who have endured should be allowed to savor the event for all it is worth.

Anyone wishing to listen live to Charlie Brotman on this week’s Outta the Parkway Show can call in live at 347-945-7172 or download the show after it airs at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/seamheads/2014/09/18/braves-banteroutta-the-parkway  Just remember that we share air time with the Braves Banter Show–just another injustice to endure–so click and drag the progress bar in the middle of the screen to 30:00 to hear our show and Charlie.

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