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The Washington Nationals (nicknamed '''The Nats''') are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Washington, D.C. The original Washington Nationals (more commonly known as the Senators) moved to Minneapolis in 1961 becoming the Minnesota Twins . Prior to the 2005 season, the current Nationals team played in Montreal as the Montreal Expos . The team's relocation was the first in Major League Baseball since 1972 , when the Washington Senators moved to Texas , becoming the Texas Rangers . The franchise has been owned by Major League Baseball since 2002 , and - although Major League Baseball promised to select a new owner by the end of 2005 - as the year drew to a close, no announcement was forthcoming. The Nationals are a member of the National League 's Eastern Division (both previous Nationals/Senators teams played in the American League ), and they currently play at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium , which was previously the ballpark for the second Senators team. The team is expected to move into a New Ballpark , located in Southeast D.C. near the Anacostia River and with views of the Capitol building, in the spring of 2008 . MONTREAL EXPOS (1969-2004) ''Main article: Montreal Expos '' The Montreal Expos joined the National League in 1969, along with the San Diego Padres . After a decade of losing, the team became a winner in the early 1980s , winning their only division championship in the strike-shortened split season of 1981 . That team lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in the National League Championship Series . After several mediocre years in the late 1980s, the team rebounded in the early 1990s . In 1994 the Expos, led by a talented group of players including Larry Walker , Moisés Alou , Marquis Grissom and Pedro Martínez , had the best record in major league baseball when the strike forced the cancelation of the remainder of the season. After the disappointment of 1994, the Expos began to lose players, money and fans. Ownership squabbles, the decimated fan base, a difficulty in selling broadcasting rights, and numerous other issues led to the team being bought by MLB in 2002. RELOCATION TO WASHINGTON After several years in a holding pattern, MLB began actively looking for a relocation site for the Expos. Some of the choices included Oklahoma City ; Washington D.C. ; San Juan ; Monterrey, Mexico ; Portland, Oregon ; Northern Virginia ; Norfolk, Virginia ; and Charlotte, North Carolina . In the decision-making process, Commissioner Bud Selig added Las Vegas, Nevada to the list of potential Expos homes. Charlotte, Portland and Las Vegas have since become the front-runners for potential future homes of the Florida Marlins , should that team relocate in 2008 at the earliest (even though it's now more likely that it would relocate to San Antonio, Texas ) in that event. On September 29 , 2004 , MLB officially announced that the Expos would move to Washington D.C. in 2005 . The move was approved by the owners of the other teams in a 29–1 vote on December 3 ( Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos cast the sole dissenting vote). In addition, on November 15 , 2004 , a lawsuit by the former team owners against MLB and former majority owner Jeffrey Loria was struck down by arbitrators, ending legal moves to keep the Expos in Montreal. The move was announced despite opposition from Baltimore Orioles owner ). On March 31 , 2005 , a deal was struck between Peter Angelos and Major League Baseball in order to protect the Orioles against any financial harm the Nationals might present to the Orioles' market (Washington is approximately 35 Mile s south of Oriole Park At Camden Yards , where the Orioles have played their home games since 1992 ). Under the terms of the deal, television and radio broadcast rights to Nationals games are handled by the Orioles franchise, who formed a new network (the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network ) to produce and distribute the games for both franchises on both local affiliates and cable/satellite systems. On Thursday, April 20, 2006, with the Nationals winning 10-4 against their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies , Nats manager Frank Robinson got his 1,000th win, becoming the 53rd manager to reach that milestone {Link without Title} . The Ballpark Controversy The team's relocation to Washington was contingent on a financing plan for the Nationals' Stadium — a plan that was the subject of much debate on the D.C. City Council. The ballpark proposal is controversial; many city residents oppose government subsidies for a multi-billion-dollar private business and would prefer the land and money to focus on schools rather than a ballpark. Three Council members who supported Mayor Anthony Williams's plan were ousted in September 2004's Democratic Party primary. An opinion poll conducted by the '' Washington Post '' found that approximately two thirds of District residents oppose the mayor's stadium plan. Some controversy arises over the fact that the city is helping finance a $581 million dollar stadium without state or county support, despite the fact that a large portion of the team's fan base is drawn from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs. {Link without Title} During December 2004, the move to Washington itself was called into question when the D.C. City Council sought to change details of the stadium's financing. When the council voted on December 14 to require 50 percent private financing for any new stadium, MLB ceased promotional activities for the Nationals and announced that they would consider looking for a new market. Eventually, the council passed an amended plan on December 21 , 2004 , that proved slightly more financially favorable to the city, while remaining acceptable to MLB. Mayor Williams signed the stadium financing package on December 30 . During the 2005 season, a private financing plan for construction of the stadium was negotiated between the city and a syndicate of bankers led by Deutsche Bank . The negotiations of the details ran into another problem in November 2005. The bankers requested a letter of credit or other financial guarantee of $24 million US, $6 million for each of four years, ensuring payment of lease revenues against various risks including poor attendance and terrorism. The city requested that Major League Baseball provide this guarantee, which has not happened as of December 2005. Major League Baseball had agreed at the time that the franchise was moved to Washington, D.C., to sell the team to an owner or ownership syndicate. Several dates for sale of the team have been set and missed. As of April 2006, the team is still owned by Major League Baseball. Eight syndicates have made offers for the team, of which three are considered front-runners. Major League Baseball, in November 2005, stated that it would not select an owner until the stadium financing plan was finalized, but finalization of the plan has been stalled due to the letter of credit issue. This delay has been harshly criticized by city residents and leaders as reported in the Washington Post . On December 22 , 2005, the Post reported that Major League Baseball had specifically instructed bidders not to offer to pay cost overruns on the stadium if they were selected as the owners. Bidders were also told not to communicate with the press about these issues. In February 2006, the DC City Council imposed a $611 million cap on the stadium. Finally, on March 5 , Major League Baseball signed a lease for a new ballpark, to the city's $611 million cap. MLB also agreed to contribute $20 million toward the cost of the stadium, although it did not agree to cover stadium overruns. Further, MLB added the condition that excess ballpark tax revenue earmarked for debt service for the bonds to be available for cost overruns. Two days later, on March 7 the DC City Council, by a vote of 9 to 4, approved a construction contract for a state-of-the-art stadium with a contemporary glass-and-stone facade, seats for 41,000 fans and a view of the U.S. Capitol, and affirmed its demand that public spending on the project be limited to $611 million. The votes were the final actions needed to satisfy the terms of the deal struck in September 2004. Viability of Washington Baseball Market Due to the history of Washington franchises (See Washington Senators ), there are doubts about whether Washington will actually be a better market for a pro baseball team than Montreal long term. Major League Baseball does not express such doubts, and proponents of the move argue that the failure of previous franchises has more to do with poor business decisions and financial management on the part of their owners than with any lack of popular support in the region itself. Some analysts {Link without Title} have pointed out that Washington may be less suited than some other cities to support baseball because it is primarily an African-American city (59%), and that African-Americans generally support baseball less than whites. Past Washington Senators teams have blamed poor attendance partially on lack of attendance by African-Americans. Washington has larger and whiter suburbs than it did in the 60s, so some analysts believe this will be a less important factor than in the past. Still, both versions of the Senators only finished in the first half of the American League in attendance in 9 out of 71 seasons; the worst percentage of any team in Major League Baseball history that played for more than two seasons, including the Expos. The only season the Senators finished with more than one million in attendance was 1946, when baseball attendance was radically up nationwide due to the return of servicemen from World War II. Though partially a product of the team's surprising 2005 first half showing, the Nationals' midseason attendance totals exceeded the Expos' 2004 total attendance. The final attendance for the 2005 season was 2,731,993; the 2005 total in Washington, D.C. exceeded the previous three seasons in Montreal combined (2002-2004) and was 11th in MLB. Nevertheless, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf - MLB's point-man on the Nationals - later expressed disappointment in the first season's attendance, noting that it compared unfavorably with the first seasons of recent expansion teams The counterargument to Mr. Reinsdorf is that the Nationals did not have a good local radio contract (broadcasting on a station with a weak signal which could not be heard in most of the region), did not have a good local TV contract (most cable users did not have access to the games), and spent little or no money on advertising. However, in the early days of the 2006 season - their second in the major leagues - the Nationals' attendance showed signs of even further decline [http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/gleaner_sports/article/0,1626,ECP_4477_4648228,00.html . In the 2006 annual estimates made by Forbes Magazine , the Nationals were the 5th most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball at $440 million {Link without Title} . On Thursday, April 20, 2006, with the Nationals winning 10-4 against their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies , Nats manager Frank Robinson got his 1,000th win, becoming the 53rd manager to reach that milestone {Link without Title} . Notable Firsts from the 2005 Season
QUICK FACTS :Legal Name: Despite being publically known as the Washington Nationals, until it is sold by MLB, the legal name of the team is still Baseball Expos LP :Founded: 1969 (Relocated from Montreal in 2005) :Stadium: RFK Stadium , Washington (capacity 45,000 when used for baseball) 2005 -Present :Uniform Colors: The Nationals adopted the red, white and blue used by previous Washington baseball teams while adding gold trim. Red Hat s and white Jersey s are worn for home games, while dark blue hats and grey jerseys are worn for road games. The new alternate uniforms include red and gold jerseys and hats. :Logo Design: A shield featuring "Washington" in a ribbon device over "Nationals" in a hard-block font, both superimposed over a baseball flanked by 9 stars, representing the 9 defensive players of a baseball team. The scripted "W" on the Nationals' hats is similar to that of the former Washington Senators (1961 expansion, now the Texas Rangers ). :Mascot: A six-foot, two-inch (1.88 meters) tall eagle chick named " Screech ", wearing a Washington Nationals cap and matching jersey. :Playoff appearances (1): 1981 :Local Televison: MASN, WDCA 20, WTTG 5 PEOPLE OF NOTE Players of note For a list of notable Montreal Expos, see . Broadcasters For a list of notable Montreal Expos broadcasters, see .
Roster Baseball Hall Of Fame rs
Retired numbers With the exception of 42, retired for all MLB teams to honor Jackie Robinson, the Nationals have no retired numbers. The Montreal Expos retired the number 8 for Gary Carter , the number 10 for both Rusty Staub and Andre Dawson , and the number 30 for Tim Raines . The Nationals do not list these numbers as still being retired, and no player wore either Numbers 8 or 10 during the 2005 season. Reliever Mike Stanton did wear the number 30 during his brief stint in Washington, indicating that all numbers formerly retired by the Expos are now available for the Nationals. Washington Wall of Stars RFK Stadium has a Washington Wall of Stars above its right-field fence. The wall replaced the ring of fame that ran along the railing between the upper and lower decks at RFK. The ring of fame was removed to make way for LED boards when the Nationals came to RFK. Figures from all of sport, including sportswriters, are eligible, but, as yet, no Nationals figures have been honored. The following Washington Senators are so honored:
Sievers (the second time around), Hinton and Howard played for the "New Senators" who became the Rangers; Vernon, Yost, Hodges, Lemon and Williams managed the new Senators. All others either played for or managed the "Old Senators" who became the Twins. Neither the Twins nor the Rangers ever retired any numbers while they were the Washington Senators, nor have they so honored any former Senators since their moves, with the exception of Harmon Killebrew, whose number 3 was retired by the Twins on his election to the Hall Of Fame . FRANCHISE RECORDS Expos/Nationals Single Season Records
MINOR LEAGUE AFFILIATIONS
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