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When one looks back at
the history of RFK Stadium, its legacy will be known as the home of
NFL's Washington Redskins and not as a baseball stadium. For nearly
five decades the Senators played at Griffith Stadium, that held
around 30,000 fans. In 1955, owner Clark Griffith died and his son,
Calvin, took control of team. During this time the District of
Columbia began discussing the possibility of building a multipurpose
stadium to house both the Senators and Redskins. However, by the
late 1950s rumors began that the Senators were looking to relocate.
That rumor became a reality after the 1960 season when the Senators
moved to Minneapolis. A new multi-purpose stadium was already under
construction along the Anacostia River in DC when the Senators
relocated. Although the original Senators moved, MLB awarded
Washington a new franchise, also known as the Senators for the 1961
season. The team played one year at Griffith Stadium before moving
into D.C. (District of Columbia) Stadium on April 9, 1962. D.C. Stadium became the first
of many cookie cutter stadiums that would open over the next decade.
Later named in honor of Robert F. Kennedy, baseball was played for
only nine years at RFK Stadium as the Senators moved to Arlington,
becoming the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season. The final Senators
game at the stadium was held on September 30, 1971, in front of few
fans. Although the stadium lacked a baseball tenant after the 1971 season,
it was the home of the Washington Redskins (NFL) until 1996 when
they moved to FedEx Field.
After a 33 year
hiatus, Major League Baseball returned to RFK Stadium in April
2005. Prior to 2005, several teams had been rumored to move to
Washington, DC including the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros. From 1995 until 2004 the Montreal
Expos struggled attracting fans to
Olympic Stadium and
had numerous financial and ownership problems. In 2001, MLB began studying the
idea of relocating the Expos, deciding to move the
team to DC and RFK Stadium in September 2004 for the 2005 MLB
season. As part of the
effort to bring the team to the city, RFK Stadium was renovated at a
cost $18.5 million.
Renovations included new dugouts, improvements to the clubhouses,
scoreboard, pressbox, and making the seats in the lower deck
retractable again as the DC United (MLS) continued to play at the
stadium.
The Expos, renamed the Washington
Nationals, played their first game at RFK Stadium on April 15, 2005
against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The baseball configuration for
Nationals games at RFK Stadium was nearly
the same as it was thirty years prior for the Senators. The large lower deck,
consisting of three sections of orange seats extended from the right
field foul pole to behind homeplate and to the left field foul pole.
No lower level seating existed behind the outfield wall. A small
section of white seats circled the field below the upper deck and the
upper deck enclosed the entire field. Beyond the outfield fence were the bullpens, the
Nationals behind the left field wall and the visiting team behind
the right field wall. Missing from the Senators days at RFK Stadium
was the large manual scoreboard that was located behind the right
field fence. In its place was a large Washington Nationals
clock.
For
three seasons the Nationals played at RFK Stadium. On September 23,
2007 the Nationals played their last game at RFK Stadium. The team
moved into the 41,000 seat Nationals Park in April 2008. RFK
Stadium remains the home of the DC United soccer team.
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