This Day in Baseball History: April 5th, 1971

Cookie-cutter.

On April 5, 1971:

45,000 fans watch the last opener at RFK Stadium.


Built in 1961, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium was home to both the Washington Senators and the Washington Redskins. Designed in a cookie-cutter shape, the stadium had several seating faults that made it difficult for fans to see. In the first opener, President John F. Kennedy attended the game. However, a new stadium didn't help make the "new" team any better.

Owner Clark Griffith died in 1955, and after his son Calvin took ownership, speculation immediately indicated he planned to move the team. Minnesota was the most common rumor after the team's courtship with San Francisco ended. But why move the team? Supposedly, Calvin explained to a friend that it was because Minnesota only had "15,000 blacks" and Minnesota had "hard working, white people". It's also possible that money played into the decision to move the team. Regardless, the team moved to Minnesota in 1961.

But Major League Baseball saved baseball in the nation's capital. The year previous, the MLB decided to expand, and a team was given to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Instead of playing in Clark Griffith Stadium (the team played its original season there in 1961, the team moved to RFK Stadium in 1962. But the team wouldn't last long in D.C. Elwood Quesada bought the team and quickly became one of the all-time worst owners. First, he only leased the stadium for 10 years, which would come back to bite the team. Second, he refused to pay much for the team, once saying he didn't understand why he should pay major-league salaries to players who didn't deserve it, and because of this, the team would be no better than the 1950's version. He sold the team in 1963, but most of the damage was done.

After three seasons of decent investment, the new owners died, and a trucking executive bought the team and gave Ted Williams the position of manager. The team responded in 1967 with an 86-76 record, but Bob Short, the trucking executive, had borrowed most of the money to buy the team. When the team's reputation for massive financial losses continued, Short had to make a lot of questionable decisions to make money. Fans completely stopped coming out. In response, Short threatened that if no one bought the team for $12 million (almost $3 million more than he bought the team for), he would move the team (able to do so because of the short lease signed by Quesada). In September of 1971, Short received permission to move the team to Arlington, Texas to become the Texas Rangers. Baseball no longer existed in Washington, D.C.

Of course, this was not the last opener played in RFK Stadium as the Montreal Expos moved to D.C. in 2005, but my guess is that the fans in D.C. wished that wouldn't have happened.