Washington Senators

As the baseball season moves into the playoffs without a Washington, D.C. team in the mix, I thought it would be appropriate to post some photographs from another disappointing season for D.C. In 1971 the Washington Senators played their final game at RFK Stadium, and, as you can see from the images, the fans were very displeased with the owner’s decision to move the club to Texas where the team would be renamed the Rangers. In fact police were placed on the field to make sure the fans did not get out of control, although one did manage to run around on the field. These photographs are from the Jack Rottier photograph collection. Rottier was a photographer with the National Park Service for many years, but he also photographed other scenes and events in the Washington, D.C. area.