{"id":3358,"date":"2008-06-20T16:46:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-20T16:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers.html"},"modified":"2008-06-20T16:46:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-20T16:46:00","slug":"why-we-fight-texas-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we fight: Texas Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg?ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">&#8220;SHORT STILL STINKS&#8221; (This was the best I could get of an excellent homage to the darkest day in D.C. baseball history)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the second series in a row, the Nationals face a franchise that abandoned the Nation&#8217;s Capital. This time, it is the <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Texas Rangers<\/span>, formerly Senators 2.0. Owner <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Bob Short<\/span> moved them to what <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/sports\/longterm\/general\/povich\/launch\/senators2.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Shirley Povich<\/span><\/a> (<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">The Post<\/span>) called &#8220;some jerk town with the single boast it is equidistant from Dallas and Fort Worth.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before the 1969 season, Short outbid <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Bob Hope<\/span> for the Senators with money he really did not have. Short charged the highest ticket prices in the game by a wide margin and made a disastrous trade for washed-up Denny McLain in 1971. Broke, he bolted for Texas, only to be rewarded with lower attendance than the Senators. During a Rangers-Orioles game in 1972, Senators fans, lead by <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Bill Holdforth<\/span>, paraded a dummy around him in the stands with photographs of Short and his effigy appearing in sports sections across the country. Even more damaging was Holdforth placing an ad in a Minnesota newspaper during Short&#8217;s senatorial run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>In 1978, when Short ran for a Minnesota Senate seat, Holdforth and some friends formed the Committee to Keep Bob Short Out of Washington. They held a beer bash at Holdforth&#8217;s apartment to raise $3,000. &#8220;We charged $10 a head, and we had auctions,&#8221; he said with a chuckle.<\/p><p>The money paid for an ad in the Minneapolis Tribune attacking Short. &#8220;Bob Short held our trust for three years, and we were SHORT CHANGED,&#8221; read the ad, which ran the Sunday before voters headed to the polls.<\/p><p>Short won the primary but lost the election to David F. Durenberger. The night after his victory, Durenberger came into the Hawk &#8216;n&#8217; Dove on Capitol Hill, the bar where Holdforth worked, to thank the committee, Holdforth said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t the brains behind the operation, that&#8217;s for sure, because it was fairly successful,&#8221; he said.<\/p><p>From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A48777-2004Nov14.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Still Smarting Over Senators, &#8216;Baseball Bill&#8217; Looks Ahead<\/span><\/a> &#8211; <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">The Post<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He killed D.C. baseball for 34 years through his incompetence and avarice. <a href=\"http:\/\/nats320.blogspot.com\/2008\/06\/our-team.html?showComment=1213746000000#c4461469675336714448\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Screech&#8217;s Best Friend says that Short made a deathbed confession<\/span><\/a> that moving the Senators was the worst decision he ever made (duh). That decision is why he is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed wing of Hell<sup>*<\/sup>, listening to <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Calvin Griffith<\/span> go on and on about how much he hates black people and <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Bob Irsay<\/span> repeat his introductory speech to Indiana where he said, &#8220;it isn&#8217;t your team, it isn&#8217;t the city&#8217;s team, it&#8217;s my team.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bob Short: loser in baseball, loser in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><sup>*<\/sup>He&#8217;s awaiting a new member, from Baltimore, to arrive when the time is right.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why it is a moral imperative for Washingtonians and Nationals fans to cheer against the Texas Rangers.<\/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":[30,49],"tags":[274,300,505,1222,1642,1758,1909],"class_list":["post-3358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-natsmlb-2008","tag-bill-holdforth","tag-bob-short","tag-d-c-sports-history","tag-nats","tag-short-stinks","tag-texas-rangers","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>Why we fight: Texas Rangers - William F. Yurasko<\/title>\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\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why we fight: Texas Rangers - William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why it is a moral imperative for Washingtonians and Nationals fans to cheer against the Texas Rangers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-06-20T16:46:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wfyurasko\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wfyurasko\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"wfyurasko\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\"},\"headline\":\"Why we fight: Texas Rangers\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-20T16:46:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":456,\"commentCount\":6,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/1158\\\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bill Holdforth\",\"Bob Short\",\"D.C. Sports History\",\"Nats\",\"SHORT STINKS\",\"Texas Rangers\",\"Washington Senators\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Nats\\\/MLB 2008\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why we fight: Texas Rangers - William F. Yurasko\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/1158\\\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-20T16:46:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/1158\\\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/1158\\\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/06\\\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why we fight: Texas Rangers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/\",\"name\":\"William F. Yurasko\",\"description\":\"Yet another Washingtonian pushing the ubiquitous Nats\\\/DC sports, Penn State, commuting, bicycling, kayaking, broomball, skiing, gin &amp; tonic agenda.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\",\"name\":\"wfyurasko\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wfyurasko\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jus.tia.mybluehost.me\\\/website_3c1e0e40\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/author\\\/wfyurasko\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why we fight: Texas Rangers - William F. Yurasko","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why we fight: Texas Rangers - William F. Yurasko","og_description":"Why it is a moral imperative for Washingtonians and Nationals fans to cheer against the Texas Rangers.","og_url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/","og_site_name":"William F. Yurasko","article_published_time":"2008-06-20T16:46:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"wfyurasko","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wfyurasko","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/"},"author":{"name":"wfyurasko","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773"},"headline":"Why we fight: Texas Rangers","datePublished":"2008-06-20T16:46:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/"},"wordCount":456,"commentCount":6,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg","keywords":["Bill Holdforth","Bob Short","D.C. Sports History","Nats","SHORT STINKS","Texas Rangers","Washington Senators"],"articleSection":["History","Nats\/MLB 2008"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/","url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/","name":"Why we fight: Texas Rangers - William F. Yurasko","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg","datePublished":"2008-06-20T16:46:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1158\/1430843504_0d306a7180_b.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/06\/why-we-fight-texas-rangers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why we fight: Texas Rangers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/","name":"William F. Yurasko","description":"Yet another Washingtonian pushing the ubiquitous Nats\/DC sports, Penn State, commuting, bicycling, kayaking, broomball, skiing, gin &amp; tonic agenda.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773","name":"wfyurasko","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wfyurasko"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/jus.tia.mybluehost.me\/website_3c1e0e40"],"url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/author\/wfyurasko\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}