Historic Opportunity Missed — But the Game Goes on! — After that first year in town, when they took us on a wild and crazy ride, playing way above themselves and finding themselves in first place for 2 months, the Washington Nationals did finally settle down to be the team everyone had expected them to be — mediocre at best. …

Reversing a 43 Year Curse — I was born about 3 weeks after my paternal grandfather passed away. I knew him only through stories told by my Dad and others. He sounded like quite a character. One of the stories I heard was how he had caught a foul ball at Forbes Field, way up in…

The Year We Went Nuts for the Nats — It’s time to talk about what happened when the Washington Nationals came to town. There had been so many false hopes about teams coming to D.C. over the years, most of us felt like this was going to be just another near miss. The Baltimore Orioles owner, Peter Angelos, was…

Learning to Win — that First Championship — The Champions of the 2010 Summer League — Diamond Flames — I’m third from left in the back Two significant things happened in 2005 that changed my world for the better (according to the baseball player in my soul). That was the year the Washington Nationals first came to DC…

Making a Comeback — So, I didn’t play any ball from my late 20’s until my 50’s. I coached a few youth teams while my son was playing, but unlike his old man, he didn’t try to fashion himself into being an athlete that he wasn’t. He was more drawn to theater, so after…

Life Happens While You’re Making Other Plans — It’s funny how life seems to work these things out. I spent all that time and energy in my growing years desperately trying to fashion myself into an athlete and a ballplayer, then just as I began to really come into my own on the field, life had other plans…

Becoming a Player With Game — I wrote the first 2 ½ innings (5 chapters) of this series last year. Then life happened, and I haven’t been writing a whole lot since the top of the third. I really did cover a lot of ground in those first five chapters — but there is so much…