Let The Games Begin

[monkey66]

Can't go wrong with any of the names as far as I'm concerned...

[Anne The Fan]

Originally posted by Om

I know who they were, Ancal ... I was more wondering what the nickname meant.

Originally posted by Ancalagon the Black

Oh, I thought you were doin' the old "ask a question you know the answer to in order to edify everyone else." I'll get back to you...

Here’s a link that sort of answers Om's question. Maybe Ancal or someone else has better internet research skills than I do and can provide a more definitive answer. Personally, I love the name Grays, even if no one is quite sure what it means.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004Oct3.html

Grays Days Ahead for Washington?

But we wondered: Where did the Grays get their name? Probably from their uniform color, history prof Rob Ruck at the University of Pittsburgh told us, but he called it "an unusual name for a black team at the time." Christopher Rehling, a Washingtonian who runs the Web site RemembertheGrays.org, said his "best guess" was that the name came from the color of the team's socks (as in White Sox and Red Sox).

The Grays started out as a group of Pittsburgh area steelworkers who played recreationally in the early 1900s as the Blue Ribbons, says Brad Snyder, the Washington author of "Beyond the Shadow of the Senators: The Untold Story of the Homestead Grays and the Integration of Baseball." His book, published last year, is considered the definitive account of the Grays, but he told us he never discovered the name's origin.

[Ancalagon the Black]

Nice research, Anne! Sadly, Chris (whom you quote) is my contact for all things Grays, so if he can't do better than a guess, there's no way I'd be able to.

[Stu]

Originally posted by Ancalagon the Black
Nice research, Anne! Sadly, Chris (whom you quote) is my contact for all things Grays, so if he can't do better than a guess, there's no way I'd be able to.

You're a writer. Make something good up.

Incidentally, I'm for calling the team "Grays". It's historical (which always appeals to me) and "Senators" while also having historical roots has played out twice to not so good endings.

[champ4888]

I like the Senators.

[ZkinsFan]

word

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

I'm all for preserving the Negro League's history, but "The Washington Grays" sounds soft - kind of like a Minor League team.

[PapaDRoc]

Yo I'm so siked. I dunno who to root for though. O's or Nats??
F*** it, i will root for both. My goal for both teams....

.500

[Island Boy]

Should have came to Norfolk!!!

[herrmag]

Well, almost a year later, all I can say is DAMN, it's good to have a team in WASHINGTON!!!

[DeanCollins]

[QUOTE=Om]Ladies and Gentlemen,

33 years after Bob Short spirited the Washington Senators away, and left a generation of Washingtonians without a Major League baseball team to call their own, circumstances have at long last conspired to return the game to the nation's capital.





Thanks OM, for the thread
I attended the last Senators' Game against the Yankees in 1973, it was a surreal event for a 13 yo and it took awhile for the feelings of deprivity to set in. Of course the team became the Texas Rangers (even worse), so I ignored baseball completely till the spring of 1983, the begining of the O's championship season. I Continued to root for the O's, made several trip to
Balt. with my son till moving to Florida in '92. Shortly after that Tampa got the Ray's which has been a disappointment. I still attend games, and try to support the "Home Team" (no I am a Buc's fan). And attended Balt.
games at Tampa till Ripken retired.

Then DC get's a new ball team and I don't get much press down here, and I'm sure this topic was covered, but tell me why the Name "Senators" was passsed on in favor of the Nationals?

[Eddie Cunningham]

I'm sure this topic was covered, but tell me why the Name "Senators" was passsed on in favor of the Nationals?

Simple---Mayor Tony Williams objected.

Williams argued that since D.C. has no voting representation in Congress, it is not right that "Senators" be used as a name for the team. To the best of my knowledge, only he and WTOP political analyst Mark Plotkin are the only ones to publicly object to "Senators" for these reasons. Williams argued hard for "Washington Grays." "Nationals" was a compromise.

However, now that we've had the team for over a year, I've actually grown to like "Nationals." "Nats" still works as a nickname for the team, and in fact, "Nats" was originally short for "Nationals" rather than "Senators." (Conicidentally, the team renamed itself the "Washington Nationals" in 1905, exactly 100 years before the Expos relocated to D.C., a fact which the Nats have tried to exploit with their merchandising.) Furthermore, "Nationals" was the official name of the team until Clark Griffith died. As long as the lease gets signed, we get a new stadium and owner, and the future of this franchise is FINALLY nailed down, does it really matter that the team isn't the "Senators"?

Eddie Cunningahm

[SteelerSkins]

screw the o's and their worthless owner

Damn Straight!!!

But i still like the orioles they are getting better and better. They give Boston all kinds of trouble, and new york also, but not as much. On the other hand, Montreal has a good team, but it got gutted last year, and the year before. Vlad is gone, Orlando cabrera, and javier vasquez :/. They have a couple good players, like batista, livan hernandez, and wilkerson, but not much more to go on. we need Danny boy to get a hold of the expos and make them the Yanks of the NL. Get Pavano, Pedro, Beltre, Beltran, and Richie Sexson, and BAM! you got yourself a NL Wild card team.

GO Orioles!!!
GO Senators!!!

[Jesus, Mary & Joe Gibbs]

Go Nats!!!!!!!!

[Walking Deadman]

The Nats are competing, right now that's all I ask.

GO NATS!!!!!