Susan's Digital History Blog

I explored Archive Finder, but the building of Nationals Park is too recent (2008) to have any archive references.  I found ProQuest Historical Newspapers database much more helpful and was able to find many pictures on Flickr, though not all of them were able to be re-posted to my blog due to copyrights.

The first article I looked at in the historical paper archive was Nationals Have New Owner, And Baseball Turns Big Profit from the 6 May 2006 issue of the New York Times.  Several things interested me about the article:

1. It was the New Times and not a Washington DC newspaper. Apparently, the Washington Post is not a part of the archive?
2. It recapped how baseball returned to Washington, including the DC City Council squabbling over which bid Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Baseball, should accept. I had forgotten about the “Renting some blacks” comment and other accusations of racism leveled against the Lerner group–the eventual and current owner of the Nationals. It covered the financial end of the deal, both for the club and for the stadium.  I didn’t know what a huge sum of money Lerner paid to bring baseball back to DC or the amount of money the DC City Council committed to building a new park.
3. It discussed broadcasting issues that were keeping local viewers from seeing the Nationals play–an issue still percolating today.

The next article I looked at was In New Home, Nationals Can Finally Work on a Foundation from the 27 June 2005 issue of the New York Times. It was an overview of how much better the team was doing in its first year in Washington, DC, playing at RFK stadium (the former home of the Senators before they moved and became the Texas Rangers and to the Redskins before they moved to Fedex Field.)

The last article I found in my initial search was Nationals Look for Fresh Start at New Stadium from the Mar 29, 2008 issue of the New York Times, just days before opening day at Nationals Stadium. This is the first article I’ve found that specifically addressed the changes in Southeast Washington DC. Not surprisingly, the locals were unhappy about the dramatic increase in their property taxes. What was surprising to read, though, were the complaints that SE hadn’t changed as a result of the Stadium and the new businesses moving in. They complained that “The Projects are still here, the drugs are still here, the shooting is still here.”

Here are some of the great pics I found on Flickr.

This is a great reminder that baseball isn’t the only thing that happens at Nationals Park!