{"id":14770,"date":"2011-09-21T07:05:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T11:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/?p=14770"},"modified":"2011-09-21T07:05:29","modified_gmt":"2011-09-21T11:05:29","slug":"50-years-ago-today-griffith-stadium-hosted-its-last-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2011\/09\/50-years-ago-today-griffith-stadium-hosted-its-last-game\/","title":{"rendered":"50 years ago today, Griffith Stadium hosted its last game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DICK HELLER:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2011\/sep\/20\/heller-the-spirit-of-griffith-lingers-50-years-lat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The <em>spirit<\/em> of Griffith lingers 50 years late<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2011\/sep\/20\/heller-the-spirit-of-griffith-lingers-50-years-lat\/\"><strong>r<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; <em>The Wash. Times<\/em><br>On this day in 1961, the Washington Senators era at Griffith Stadium came to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contrary to the madness of the 1971 finale when rowdy fans caused a forfeit in advance of the Senators leaving to &#8220;some jerk town with a single boast of being equidistant between Dallas and Ft. Worth&#8221;, sentimentality was low:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere were no eulogies, no ceremonies, no tears,\u201d Bob Addie reported in The Washington Post. Columnist Shirley Povich put it this way: \u201cA stadium was laid to rest. Not many showed up for the services, and the deceased was not much of a draw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet it was a mournful day for those of us who practically grew up there. Sure Griffith was a dump, but it was our dump.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only 1,498 were in attendance to see the expansion Senators face the Minnesota Twins, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/2010\/10\/50-years-ago-racist-calvin-griffith-moved-the-original-senators-away.html\"><strong>who had been D.C.&#8217;s team until Calvin Griffith moved them out because he was a racist<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Senators would move in to RFK Stadium the next April. The Redskins moved in 9 days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, it was noted that PR man, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/tag\/charlie-brotman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Charlie Brotman<\/strong><\/a> suggested that Griffith Stadium be opened up for fans looking for souvenirs prior to the 1965 demolition, but the Senators ownership thought it was foolish. Brotman was able to save the presidential seats and still has them in his home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DICK HELLER: The spirit of Griffith lingers 50 years later &#8211; The Wash. TimesOn this day in 1961, the Washington Senators era at Griffith Stadium came to a close. Contrary to the madness of the 1971 finale when rowdy fans caused a forfeit in advance of the Senators leaving to &#8220;some jerk town with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,52,106],"tags":[367,401,505,567,738,1694,1909],"class_list":["post-14770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-natsmlb-2011","category-washington-nationals","tag-calvin-griffith","tag-charlie-brotman","tag-d-c-sports-history","tag-dick-heller","tag-griffith-stadium","tag-stadiums-and-arenas","tag-washington-senators"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>50 years ago today, Griffith Stadium hosted its last game - William F. Yurasko<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1960, the original Washington Senators played their last game. Calvin Griffith moved the franchise because he was racist.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2011\/09\/50-years-ago-today-griffith-stadium-hosted-its-last-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"50 years ago today, Griffith Stadium hosted its last game - William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1960, the original Washington Senators played their last game. Calvin Griffith moved the franchise because he was racist.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2011\/09\/50-years-ago-today-griffith-stadium-hosted-its-last-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"William F. 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