WASHINGTON (AP) Mark Lerners first letter to then-commissioner Bud Selig after his family bought the Nationals asked to host the All-Star Game.
Its something Ive wanted from the moment we got the team, Lerner said.
Thirteen years after Major League Baseball returned to Washington and almost that long since Mark and father Ted Lerner were chosen as owners of their new hometown team, they finally get to throw their party. The fourth All-Star Game in the nations capital and first since 1969 is a celebration of a new generation of Washington residents rediscovering the connection to baseball that for so long wasnt a part of the towns sporting identity.
When we first came here, baseball had been gone for so long basically an entire generation, longtime Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman said. You almost had to re-learn how to be baseball fans. In the 13 years or so now, its been fun for me to be here from the beginning because the organization, the team has kind of grown along with the fan base. I think its been fun for both of us kind of starting out. The organization and the team lost a lot. The fans were better than we were as a team at the beginning, but we kind of grew up together.
When the relocated Montreal Expos moved in 2005, Washington had gone 33 seasons without baseball, save for the Baltimore Orioles 40 miles away. Three incarnations of the Senators 1891-1899, 1901-1960 before becoming the Minnesota Twins and 1961-71 before becoming the Texas Rangers came and went, leaving a gap in Washington that almost seems inexplicable in retrospect.
Its just the business of baseball, Nationals All-Star pitcher Max Scherzer said.
Even though Mark Lerner doesnt profess to be among the 14,460 at the final game in 1971 at RFK Stadium, he went to plenty of other games as a kid and as an adult dreamt of bringing baseball back.
I sat in the upper deck and tried to get foul balls because nobody was sitting up there, Lerner said. I really believed that there would be another team within 10 years, and it just never happened. We tried a number of times.
The Expos woes in Montreal made it happen in 2005, and the Lerners bought the renamed Nationals from MLB in 2006. After three seasons at antiquated RFK that was home to the NFLs Redskins, the final step was the opening of Nationals Park in 2008. It gave the team a modern home and revitalized an area in southeast Washington that was on the way up but needed a boost.
Nationals Park has had a catalytic effect on the capital waterfront, said John Falcicchio, chief of staff for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. It creates a vibrancy to a neighborhood that is thriving.
The mayors office hopes the All-Star Game showcases just how much Washington has changed.
D.C.s a great town to have it in, All-Star and National Bryce Harper said. Were right down the street from the monuments, right down the street from the White House. Just an amazing place to have a game.
