Not an amicable split

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Washington Senators can’t beat the “Damn” Yankees even when they outscore them. The last American League game played in the nation’s capitol ended in a forfeit on this date in 1971 when hundreds of fans stormed the field at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium with two outs in the 9th. Many had run onto the field in the 8th, but this time they wouldn’t leave, so the umpires called the game. The forfeit gave the Yankees a 9-0 win even though the Senators were one out from a 7-5 victory.

Fans were upset that owner Bob Short was moving the club to the Dallas-Forth Worth area for the 1972 season to become the Texas Rangers.

The “Senators” had been in D.C. for 71 years as an American League team, but under two different franchises. One franchise, owned for most of that time by the Griffith family, called Washington home from 1901 to 1960. Calvin Griffith moved the team to Minneapolis in 1961, where they remain, and changed the name to the Minnesota Twins. D.C. got a new “Senators” franchise in ’61, but it only lasted until 1971 when it left for Texas.

In the 62 years the Senators were in Washington, D.C. they only had 15 winning seasons, winning the World Series in 1924. To pour salt into the wounds of the original Senators’ fans, a change of scenery helped. The Minnesota Twins made it to the World Series in 1965, and won the fall classic in 1987 and 1991.

Contributing sources:
Washington Post
New York Times, October 1, 1971, Pg. 49
Associated Press, October 1, 1971, by James Polk

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