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RFK Stadium

When one looks back at the history of ballparks in the future, RFK Stadium will have one distinction that separates it from any other ballpark as there were 33 seasons that baseball was not played at the stadium. For more than five decades the Washington Senators played at Griffith Stadium but moved to Minneapolis and became the Minnesota Twins after the 1960 season. By 1960, a new multipurpose ballpark was being constructed along the Anacostia River. Once Clark Griffith moved the Senators to Minneapolis after the 1960 season, Measure Baseball League MLB awarded DC with a new franchise, again known as the Washington Senators. The team played one year at Griffith Stadium before moving into their new ballpark.

The stadium was named D.C. District of Columbia Stadium for its opening on April 9, 1962. D.C. Stadium became the first cookie cutter stadium. It was renamed RFK Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1968. Baseball was played only nine years at RFK Stadium, coming to a close on September 30, 1971. The Washington Senators moved to Arlington after the 1971 season and became the Texas Rangers. Although the stadium lacked a baseball tenant after the 1971 season, it was the home of the Washington Redskins NFL, National Football League 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, there had been years of talk that a team may relocate to the city. From 1995 until 2004 the Montreal Expos struggled in attracting fans to Olympic Stadium and had numerous financial/ownership problems. In 2001, MLB began studying the idea of relocating the Expos, finally making a decision to move the team to DC in September 2004. The Expos moved to the city and RFK Stadium in time for the 2005 MLB season. In November 2004, the Expos were renamed the Washington Nationals.

In its place is a large Washington Nationals clock. Current plans call for the team to play at RFK Stadium for approximately three seasons, before moving into a new 41,000 seat ballpark to be built along the Anacostia River about a dozen blocks south of the Capitol. The Washington Nationals have played their first game at RFK Stadium on April 15, 2005 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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