William F. Yurasko

RIP Ted Lerner

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wfyurasko

On October 15, 1925 around 4:30 in the afternoon, the Washington Senators lost game 7 of the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The defeat ended their title defense from 1924.

That same day, in nation’s capital Theodore N. “Ted” Lerner was born. If Washington was the World Series champion in his life, it was only for the first few hours.

Over the next 94 years, a championship never returned. The American League Nats won another pennant in 1933, but would bow out in five games, more than a week before Lerner’s ninth birthday. Lerner would work at Griffith Stadium as an usher and attend the 1937 All-Star Game there. He would never attend a World Series though, as the franchise was routinely “first in war, first in peace, last in the American League.”

The first AL franchise abandoned Washington after the 1960 season because owner Calvin Griffith was racist. A second team was promptly awarded to the District of Columbia, but the expansion Senators fared even worse than the original. In 1971, owner Bob Short moved the team to “some jerk town with the single boast it is equidistant from Dallas and Fort Worth.”

A real estate juggernaut

While baseball in the District was floundering, Lerner was quietly developing real estate. It’s been oft-cited that Lerner borrowed $250 from his wife to start what grew into Lerner Enterprises. The company developed Tysons Corner and other malls as well as other suburban real estate. His three children and their spouses entered the tight-knit private company as well.

By 1977, Lerner had the capital and interest in returning baseball to his hometown.

MLB declined to place a team inside the Beltway then and for several more decades. When the then-Redskins were up for sale Lerner was unsuccessful in purchasing them from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke.

Baseball returns and struggles

Major League Baseball finally recognized that D.C. baseball was in its best interest in 2004. The franchise continued to be owned by MLB into 2006 as ownership groups were vetted. The Lerners were chosen and paid $450 million (along with millions of debt) for the team, known as the Nationals. It’s important to note that while Lerner wanted to bring baseball back to D.C., it was actually MLB that did. The Nats PR have misrepresented this since Lerner’s death.

The first several years of the Lerner ownership were frustrating. The team declined on the field, in spite of the new publicly-financed Nationals Park. Lerner reported to be involved in every decision and scrutinized how much equipment needed to be purchased or the shipping choices.

The rise of the Nats

In spite of this and maybe in part because of this, the Nats losing over 100 games a couple of years in a row yielded to number one overall draft picks, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. The following year, they got Anthony Rendon. In 2012, the team came together and won 98 games and their first division title. Postseason heartbreak followed, seemingly every other season for most of the decade. And then, even after Harper left, it happened. The Nats only got the wild card, but they won it. Then they beat the Dodgers in LA to advance to the NLCS. Then, on Lerner’s birthday, they won their first National League pennant. Fifteen days later, they won the World Series.

It wasn’t always pretty and certainly hasn’t been since for a variety of reasons, but Ted Lerner, Warsh-ing-ton finally got to experience something he barely or never had – World Series Champion Washington Nationals. He was a champion.

And he always will be.

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