It’s hardly the nicest stadium, but RFK Stadium holds a venerable place in Washington sports history. Open since 1962, when it was called District of Columbia Stadium, the venue has hosted two MLB franchises, the Washington Redskins during their glory years, the most successful MLS club ever, international soccer tournaments, concerts, and on and on. It even hosted Team America! Sunday’s final Nats home game, a 5-3 win over the Phillies, isn’t the last time RFK will be used, but it ends a major chapter in the park’s history.
One of the first multipurpose pro stadiums in the U.S., the stadium, renamed for the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1969, is a somewhat dingy, crowded place. The baseball configuration has a vast outfield with seats far above the playing surface atop a green wall. The concessions are fairly basic, there is some peeling paint, and the innards of the stadium are a little cramped. But we liked it anyway. It was a cozy, homey place to watch baseball’s return to Washington.
Despite the plethora of visiting teams’ fans at every game, diehards have always come to RFK. During the last game of the 1971 season, after which team owner Bob Short would move the Senators to Texas, rowdy fans unfurled a huge banner reading “Short Stinks.” As the game drew to a close, fans stormed the field and the team had to forfeit. And this Sunday, fans unfurled three banners reading “Short Still Stinks” in a tribute to those old Washington baseball partisans.
Photo by Specialed98
