Nationals fans roll call

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

I see every other forum has one of these, post here if you are a Nats fan and I will gladly add your name to the list!
Say a bit about yourself, how you got to baseball and eventually to the Nationals, feel free to express your ideas here.

2008 EDIT: Time to renew this. :D

Here goes:

I'm a Nats fan, I became one the day the team moved from Montreal to Washington, the day my beloved Expos left from my hometown to a place completely unknown to me. (besides the White House, US Capital)
At first, it was difficult...difficult supporting a team that was no longer yours, a team that had moved thousands of miles away and a team that I could no longer watch or hear by an media means.

It was a difficult adjustment, but I got to it, I became used to watching the one or two games the Nationals play against Toronto on TSN or Rogers Sportsnet, while the rest, all I could do was read the articles, follow the fans on the boards, watch the highlights and be reduced to following pitch-by-pitch on MLB.com Gameday.

I am the rarest of fans, and I'm not complimenting myself here.
I am an Expos fan forever, don't forget that, a fan that's currently following a team with any means available to him and a fan alone in a city, where the rest of 'em no longer care or are just too stubborn or exhasperated to jump on the Nationals 'wagon.

:waving
Now, let's stop with my dramatic stories and get this thread going!
Provide your consent and if you like, your location.

2008 Update
--

Declared Nationals fans
wilkerson_rulz-06 (http://baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=8433)
skeletor (http://baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=5222)
Peorgie T (http://baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=5127)
natsnsoxfan (http://baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=18316)
Aa3rt (http://baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=2996)
PlayJay (http://www.baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=19665)
KingJ (http://www.baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=7847)
NationalsBIGGESTfan (http://baseball-fever.com/member.php?u=21418)

[skeletor]

I see every other forum have one of these, post here if you are a Nats fan and I will gladly add your name to the list!
Say a bit about yourself, how you got to baseball and eventually to the Nationals, feel free to express your ideas here.

Art, would it be a good idea to top this thread?

Here goes:

I'm a Nats fan, I became one the day the team moved from Montreal to Washington, the day my beloved Expos left from my hometown to a place completely unknown to me. (besides the White House, US Capital)
At first, it was difficult...difficult supporting a team that was no longer yours, a team that had moved thousands of miles away and a team that I could no longer watch or hear by an media means.

It was a difficult adjustment, but I got to it, I became used to watching the one or two games the Nationals play against Toronto on TSN or Rogers Sportsnet, while the rest, all I could do was read the articles, follow the fans on the boards, watch the highlights and be reduced to following pitch-by-pitch on MLB.com Gameday.

I am the rarest of fans, and I'm not complimenting myself here.
I am an Expos fan forever, don't forget that, a fan that's currently following a team with any means available to him and a fan alone in a city, where the rest of 'em no longer care or are just too stubborn or exhasperated to jump on the Nationals 'wagon.

:waving

Now, let's stop with my dramatic stories and get this thread going!
Provide your consent and if you like, your location.

Declared Nationals fans
wilkerson_rulz-06 (Montreal)


Good thread.....Let's see...I've been a washington fan, since the later 1950's, with the hapless Senators..all thru the team's eventual swoon in 1971..

I followed the Expos, as after I moved from the motor city, to Elvis land, which at the time, the memphis chicks, was a farm club of the Expos..saw
many a future expo player toiling here in Memphis...Still was a expos follower
after the team dumped Memphis...in fact, liked the Expos better than the
Blue Jays..thought they had more class...etc..

Was sad that MLB never really gave MLB a chance in Montreal...but was happy that they ended up in Washington, rather than Las Vegas, PR, or
Nashville...Was hoping that the moniker ' Senators ' would be re-used..and it
took a while for me to get USED to the NATIONALS...I forgot in the 50's, they were called and more or less used that name..

Anyhow, AM glad that the NATS are playing, anything to give the stuck up Orioles, something to whine about...and can't wait for the new park opens, replacing that pig-iina-poke, olde RFK stadium...

now if we could only get rid of Bowden......sheeesh..


anuhow, add me to the roll of nats fans...

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Nice story skeletor!

Added you to the list...take care!:waving

[Peorgie T]

I was a Senators fan as a kid, and started following the Orioles after Short moved the team to Texas. In the days before Angelos, the Orioles were usually a fun team to watch, but I always felt they were a surrogate until DC regained what was rightfully theirs. After 33 years of waiting, 9/29/04 was as happy a day for me as it was a sad one for all of the fans in Montreal.

[natsnsoxfan]

I started rooting for the Nat's after they moved to DC and then they just kind of grew on me I guess :)

[Aa3rt]

I was a Senators fan as a kid, and started following the Orioles after Short moved the team to Texas.

I was a Senators fan as a kid as well but could never bring myself to root for the Orioles after the Senators departure. (Might have something to do with my younger brother, who idolized Brooks Robinson, and used to gloat mercilessly whenever the Orioles beat the Senators.) I never could take it when the local media tried shoving the Orioles on us as "our" team.

I chose the Red Sox as the team I followed, having a rich tradition and playing in a historic park.

However, I pretty much soured on baseball during the players strike of 1994. It was only finding this great website, coupled with the return of baseball to Washington, that have found me rekindling a long dormant interest.

I still consider myself a Senators fan but am faithfully following the Nationals, even though I've always (at least until 2005) followed the American League much more closely. In fact, I play for a softball team named the "Senators" here in Charles County. Many of us wear our blue Nationals road caps to match our blue shirts, with "Senators" emblazoned in white across the front.

I'm glad to see that a local group has purchased the team and are building for the future. While the Nats may be near the bottom of the standings, one of the games last Friday (July 20th) where the Nats defeated the Astros in extra innings on a basehit by D'Angelo Jimenez (batting a miniscule .050 at the time) showed the spirit of the team. Jimenez was mobbed at first base by his team mates. You'd have thought that they'd won the pennant. This outburst of emotion showed that the players were truly excited about the win. With the right moves by the front office, I think we should see a winner here in Washington in the not too distant future.

Wilkerson_rulz-06: I'll go ahead and "sticky" this thread, at least through the end of the 2007 season.

[PlayJay]

You know, why don't you throw my name in the hat?

I always thought the departure of the first team was nothing short of a crime. Looking back, we lost out on what might've been the rivalry of the 1960s- a Killebrew/Allison/Oliva Washington Senators battling the Baltimore Orioles for the AL pennant on an annual basis. Would've made for great marketing in the middle Atlantic states. Instead, people had to watch the goings on in Minnesota with a saddened eye, while having to put up with a hapless expansion team...and then watching that club depart because of the ineptitude of a borderline retarded owner.

For years, I hoped against hope that DC would get a team again, because DC should have a team. I also knew that the franchise would prosper if there was reasonable hope for tomorrow. When it was finally announced that the Expos were coming down (hallelujiah), I was thrilled beyond words.

Well, here we have what basically is an expansion franchise, given the recent history. However, there's hope for tomorrow.

I'm overjoyed that the Nats are here, and that joy hasn't diminished one iota since the '05 opener. Good night, Eddie Stroud, wherever you are.

[KingJ]

I'm here and I'm in San Jose, CA

[NationalsBIGGESTfan]

I believe you can tell by my name that I am a Nationals fan.

I became a Nationals fan the day they moved to D.C.

[bryanac625]

I am a Nats fan as well as an Orioles fan (I hope that does not upset you, LOL). I am DC born and raised and I became a baseball fan when I went on a trip in 1981 to Boston and visited Fenway. I have been into the game ever since. After the trip, I started following the O's (might have been different if the trip had been in 1971, of course). I said back then that if DC ever gets a team, I would root for them as well. I have no problem rooting for both teams. I plan to be in attendance at the home opener at Nationals Park next year and I look forward to the day when one or both teams will be competitive (preceded by the day Angelos realizes he knows nada about baseball.

I read a fantastic book on Baseball in DC this year: The Washington Nationals: 1859 to Today by Frederic J. Frommer. If you appreciate the history of the game like I do, you will love this book.

I have posted this pic before. This pennant, etc. hanging on my wall incorporates all three installments of MLB in DC: The Washington Nationals pennant (1953 replica) is for the Walter Johnson/Clark Griffith/Joe Cronin etc team; the two sticker cards are for the Expansion Senators; and the patch is for the current team.

[PlayJay]

Wow, I remember those old sticker cards. In the early '70s, they were cloth...

[vasprtsfn]

I am a Nationals fan, and have been since the day the team moved here to DC. I live in Woodbridge, VA, about 20 miles from the new stadium site. Woodbridge is also the home of the Potomac Nationals, the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. My most memorable moment was being in attendance on 4/14/05 at RFK to watch the Nationals beat Arizona 5-3. The whole summer of 2005 was the greatest summer of my life, so much so that I have saved every piece of memorabilia I could to remember that summer for the rest of my life. My collection of just that sumer: The Topps inaugural 55-card set, the starting lineup card set from their season opener, all the programs, the commemorative program and medallion and pin from the home opener, the commemorative DVD, the book BASEBALL IS BACK: the 2005 Washington Nationals; the Chad Cordero and Livan Hernandez all star jersey cards, inaugural season baseball, inaugural RFK series baseball.

[riredsox]

FYI, a few weeks ago, the Nationals mailbag writer on their web site said he expects the Nats to contend for the division in '08. This was before the Johan Santana trade was made, but still...

[NJMetfan4life]

They'll definetly contend, Wild Card though, The divisiopn is too good. I think 2nd place in WC.

[moebarguy]

They'll definetly contend, Wild Card though, The divisiopn is too good. I think 2nd place in WC.

With a rotation of John Patterson, Shawn Hill, Jason Bergmann, Matt Chico, and you're choice of 10 candidates? I don't think so...

[WMH99]

I've been a National's fan since they announced they would start playing in DC. I've been a Washington baseball fan since the summer of 67 when I learned the difference between an Oriole and a Senator. Believe me that's hard to do when the Orioles were contenders every year and the Birds swept the Dodgers in 4 in the 66 series. If you were a Senators fan, you went to see big Frank hit a homerun or Eddie Brinkman cover the infield. Bosman and Knowles could throw some pretty good pitches too. I am glad we have a National league team this time because my replacement team for the Senators after they moved to Texas was the Red Sox. That has finally paid off. I guess the big dream now would be to see Nationals play the Red Sox in the World Series. The topper would be to see Jimmy Piersall the famous outfielder who played for Washington and Boston throw out the first ball. Jimmy played for the Senators when RFK opened as DC stadium. He also ran around the bases backwards when he hit his 100th homerun.

[KingJ]

Time to get this show on the road!!!

[greekchampion04]

Nationals fan here. Season ticket holder since 2005 and I LOVE the new stadium!

Thank you ZIMMERMAN for giving us a great ending to a fantastic game and day in history!

[nextnatspitcher12]

Big Nats fan, thank you Ryan Zimmerman, for theat heart watming walk off home run at Nationals Park. It's a great memory.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

How about we reupdate this thread guys...

it seems less active round this place than it was last year. :(

I'm still here, as well as a few others. ;)

[Peorgie T]

Present....

[Aa3rt]

Still here...

[kgrifeyjr30]

im new to the site and unfortunately i too am a diehard nats fan...add me to the list

[d33ps]

khangin around...:yawn:

[richey]

Nats fan here, i live in DC so ive been a fan ever since they moved here.
I love the new stadium too :cap:

[droozer]

im absolutley a nats fan

love the new park

and unis

[BaseballinDC]

Although the Tigers will always be my favorite team, I now live in DC and the Nationals coming to town helped (along with the birth of my little boy) reignite my interest in baseball, so count me in.

I also like the new stadium very much. It's a touch "modern" in its appointments for my taste, but it's very much a "fan's stadium" in its lay out - you can see the action from anywhere, there are really no "bad" seats, etc.

My favorite thing right now is the new road unis, but they need to dump the blue hats if they're going with red lettering. I'll definitely buy the away field jacket when they market it next spring.

[Staredge]

I'm in, since they got here. Fall in & out with baseball, although I usually keep an eye on the standings. I live near Hagerstown, home of the class A affiliate Hagerstown Suns.

[Peorgie T]

I'm in, since they got here. Fall in & out with baseball, although I usually keep an eye on the standings. I live near Hagerstown, home of the class A affiliate Hagerstown Suns.
Welcome, this board has withered of late, but it's nice to add more Nats fans as opposed to the trolls that have started to show up.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

I have drifted away, and I apologize for that. This team has frustrated me so much.

[AC/DC2005]

"These are the times that try men's souls." Thomas Paine, Dec. 23, 1776.

OK, everybody knows the Nats are extreme underachievers right now. Declining attendance at Nationals Park suggest that there are many "sunshine patriots" in the D.C. area, but with all those great hitters, and even a few pitchers who show promise, things are bound to improve a lot by season's end.

I tried but failed to get tickets for the first Nats' game at RFK in April 2005, but I can rightfully boast that I am one of the very few Nats fans to see their very first game, in Philadelphia earlier that month. I even took a picture of Brad Wilkerson, the first National to bat, just before he hit a single in the first inning. Since then, I've been keeping meticulous track of the Nationals games, and spend most evenings watching them on MASN or MLB GameDay. As a former resident of D.C. and N. Virginia, in the days when the Orioles were only choice we had, I am profoundly gratified that MLB finally did the right thing and allowed a team in Washington again.

Sorry for not responding to the Nats' fans roll call earlier, but I only signed up with BBF a couple months ago, and was blocked from making posts until yesterday because of their anti-spam measures.

Andrew Clem
www.andrewclem.com

[Peorgie T]

Welcome Andrew, I love your site.

[jeff550]

nats fan here was a nats fan ever seence they moved to dc. i am always a fan of the home team.

[Senator Saverine]

Might as well put my first post here. I grew up in NW Washington, near the C&O Canal and Chain Bridge. As my handle indicates, I was a fan of the expansion Senators in the 60s (those who suffered the same fate will recognize the name). Went away to college in the Midwest in '74, came back to DC and followed the Orioles. Moved to the Bay Area for a few years in the late 80s and early 90s, and for the first time I could follow both leagues. Moved back to this area just in time to take in one last game at Memorial Stadium, and kept following the Os until the early 2000s when they got so bad that I nearly stopped following baseball for a few years. I've followed the Nats pretty faithfully since they moved here. As for the O's, for me it's -- sigh -- as if they play in a different galaxy.

It's nice to be here, especially at the dawn of the Riggleman Era, which I'm sure will go down as the start of an extended period of greatness. As Ray Knight has said more than once this year, it really looks like the team's about to turn the corner. :ooo:

Okay, maybe I'm being a little facetious, but anyway... go Nats.

[Aa3rt]

Let me extend a "welcome aboard" to our most recent posters. Being Nats fans sure is a "character building" experience isn't it gentlemen? :crazy

Senator Saverine I'm guessing you and I are probably in the same age bracket as I grew up with the expansion Senators as well. For those of you not old enough to remember, here's a link to Bob Saverine's career record:

Bob "Rabbit" Saverine (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=saverbo01)

Saverine has 2 claims to baseball noteriety-the first being traded by the Baltimore Orioles in 1965 to the Houston Astros for Don Larsen (He of the 1956 World Series perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers) and for setting a then major league record by going 0 for 12 in a double header against the Orioles while playing for the Senators in June of 1966.

[Peorgie T]

Welcome Senator, I'm in approximately the same age bracket too; my first Senators' game was in '67. I followed a similar path of fandom as you, rooting for the Orioles to get my baseball fix. I even shared a Sunday plan with someone for years, and planned to continue to catch a few games a year at OPACY after the Nats came to DC, but Angelos' meddling soured me on that idea.

[Senator Saverine]

Thanks for the welcome! I'd forgotten about Bob's 0-for-12 doubleheader perfromance -- he was a player of distinction, was he not?

I'm going to the game today, and I fearlessly predict it'll be the first win of the Riggleman Era. The Nats are 4-1 with me at the Park this season.

[AC/DC2005]

It's good to hear from old Senators fans who are joining up here, as I finally did not long ago. Personal note: Having been born in the D.C. area, I was told years later by my parents that my favorite player as a toddler was Roy Sievers, which I pronounced "Obie Teebers."

Yes, being Nationals fan is a "character building" experience, but I think I've had quite enough already, thank you. At this rate, we're all going to be the moral equivalent of body-builder Charles Atlas! :laugh

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

My first post here in months, with college and all, seems like BBF became an afterthought.

I feel dirty... :(

But keep the faith all, I know it's tough times, but these are the times where the true fans stick to it! I believe in this team and management, I have no doubt where we'll be within the next 5 years. :)