Taylor Trade Publishing, 2006
193 pages
$24.95

Remember in the movie “Jerry Maguire” when Renee Zellweger says, “You had me at hello!”? Well, in his book about The Washington Nationals, Fred Frommer had me with the opening sentence to his preface where he laments that on moving to Washington from New York, the two missing items here were a baseball team and a place to get a good slice of pizza. Much like Fred, I am a transplanted New Yorker, and for my first 31 years here I had to do without a major league team (although the Orioles are within driving distance, they were not and never will be a Washington team). And, Fred’s right, the pizza (and bagels) here are definitely not New York.

I was intrigued by the book since I’ve become a big Washington baseball fan with the arrival of the Nationals last summer. As a lifelong Yankee fan, I have no trouble rooting for the Nats since they are in the National League.

Fred’s book is neatly compartmentalized into ten chapters. The first chapter chronicles the earliest baseball in Washington, actually going back to the era of Abe Lincoln! I loved the story about President Andrew Johnson letting government clerks out of work early to see a baseball tournament. Frommer refers to Johnson as a “cool boss.” Personally, I wish he were still President! This chapter also contains excellent stories about Clark Griffith and the legendary Walter “Big Train” Johnson, who would endure as the Senators’ greatest hero. By the way, Fred explains that the team was really named “the Nationals,” but that people called them “Senators” nonetheless.

The second chapter of the book is incredibly upbeat as it deals with Washington’s only World Championship in 1924. Frommer does a splendid job of taking you through the season. You can feel the excitement being generated here in D.C. by the Senators’ unexpected success. The chapter contains a marvelous photo of Al Schacht, then a Nats’ pitcher but later known as “The Clown Prince of Baseball,” hamming it up at the World Series. Schacht became well-known to us Yankee fans for his annual comedy routines at Old Timers’ Day in the Bronx. Frommer proceeds to give us a great detailed account of the World Series. When I was young, I read a 1952 book called The New York Giants by Frank Graham, a history of that proud franchise. It was fascinating to me to read the books from two different perspectives – as a youth, I read of the games and was disappointed the Giants lost; now, I was exhilarated by Fred’s account of Washington’s victory. I also thought it quite fascinating that both books made reference to the quote of the losing pitcher in Game 7, Jack Bentley, to the effect that the “Good Lord couldn’t bear to see a fine fellow like Walter Johnson lose again,” a reference to the lucky hop that produced the Series-winning run.

The next chapter, called “Glory Years,” deals with the best years of the Senators in the 1920’s and 1930’s, when they often contended and even won the pennant in 1933, only to have the Giants exact revenge in the World Series. Fred’s account of the Series refers to a double play hit into by a back-up Senators’ catcher named Cliff Bolton that ended one of the games. The Graham book went into great detail about this twin-killing, explaining how Charlie Dressen, in his last major league season as a back-up infielder for the Giants, came out to the mound and told the players that Bolton “can’t run as fast as I can – get him to hit it on the ground.” Needless to say, Fred’s account is much terser and merely laments the double play, when a simple fly ball would have been enough to tie Game 4.

Fred’s following chapter, perhaps the best in the book, focuses on the Negro Leagues and Washington’s entry therein, the Homestead Grays. There is plenty of excellent history and a great look at sociological views of the era. There are wonderful anecdotes about Buck Leonard, the amazing Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige, among others. Once again there are excellent photos and top-notch interviews, including many quotes from Leonard, who lived to age 90.

Frommer then turns his attention to various Presidents of the United States and their relationship to the ballclub. History buffs will absolutely love this chapter, which contains fabulous stories and pictures of Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, et al. There is, of course, much made of the tradition of throwing out the first pitch of the season. I was disappointed, however, since I had attended the “Presidential Opener” at RFK Stadium in 1970, and there was no mention of this particular game in the book. The omission was understandable, however, since President Richard Nixon had been unable to attend, and he had delegated the responsibility to his son-in-law, David Eisenhower, grandson of Ike. The spectacle of that game was indelibly etched on my mind, particularly the appearance on the field in the bottom of the first inning of Morganna, “The Kissing Bandit,” who vaulted from the third base stands to plant a kiss on the cheek of Senators’ star Frank Howard. Come to think of it, the anecdote would have made a decent addition to the book.

Frommer then traces the futility of the franchise often referred to as “First in War, First in Peace, Last in the American League.” He neatly captures the near miss of 1945, when the Senators finished second to Detroit, and tells many stories from the 1950’s. I enjoyed these stories since I had become a fan by 1956, and actually saw many of the players described in the book. My favorite anecdotes involved Roy Sievers, who won an American League home run title for the Nats in 1957.

Frommer does an excellent job of describing Washington’s relationship with Baltimore, which came into play when the Browns moved to “Charm City” in 1954 from St. Louis, and would become even more relevant with the arrival of the Expos in 2005. The book also gives significant background and insight into Washington’s loss of its two major league franchises: Senators I, who became the Minnesota Twins; and Senators II, who became the Texas Rangers. Frommer also goes into informative detail concerning the arrival of Senators II in 1961, and of course the rebirth of the Expos as the Nationals.

For members of Red Sox Nation, there is a chapter devoted exclusively to Ted Williams’ stint as manager of Senators II. Another chapter is devoted exclusively to interviews with old-time fans who reminisce about attending games at Griffith and DC/RFK Stadiums. These dedicated fans have wonderful stories to relate and Frommer does a great job of eliciting them.

The final chapter is dedicated to the magical 2005 season of the Nationals. Frommer paints a super description of the first home game and also many of the early season unexpected wins that captivated DC. It was a particular treat for me that he described many games that I attended, since I was at the park 11 times. A reference to a thrilling June 30 Thursday matinee win over Pittsburgh was especially meaningful to me, since I had been using a ticket stub from this game as my bookmark!

There were some small mistakes in the book; for example, Tom McCraw is mentioned three times, and for some reason is called “Tom McGaw” each time. But this is just nit-picking. Forget any errors – the hits and the runs far outweigh them. My hats (both a Yankee cap and a Nationals cap) are off to Fred Frommer for coming up with a highly entertaining, educational book about baseball in Washington, DC.

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