Photo by Kyle Gustafson.
Despite having fallen on hard times of late, there probably aren’t many people in the Washington region who lack at least one memory — good or bad — about Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. The Stadium recently turned 50, kind of a miraculous milestone for a stadium whose cookie-cutter, multi-use siblings in places like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Cincinnati bit the dust a long time ago. The city is celebrating the building’s birthday and legacy this fall, but we thought that we’d share a few of our favorite figures about the old stadium.
$20 million: The cost, approximately, to construct the stadium in 1960 dollars. It cost another $18 million in 2004 and 2005 to renovate the facility for the return baseball; in 2011 dollars, that’s about $50 million. (Nationals Park, the most recent major sporting facility to be built in the District, officially cost $611 million to build.)
$40,000: The number of dollars it reportedly cost to convert the stadium from football to baseball (and, in later years, to soccer) configurations.
32,164: The amount of spectators in the stands when The Beatles played their last-ever show in Washington on August 15, 1966.
Thousands: That’s how many people were married by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon during a ceremony at RFK on November 30, 1997.
800: It took this many construction workers to put the stadium together.
342: The number of musical acts who, by our count, played at RFK as part of the HFStival in the 11 years the festival was hosted there.
122-121: The Nationals actually had a winning record in their time at the stadium.
82: The number of people who are inshrined in the Washington Hall of Stars on 15 separate panels around the stadium.
75: In 1982, 75 year-old Hall of Famer Luke Appling hit a home run in a partially reconfigured stadium — the hit flew over a wall that was only just 260 feet from home plate. But still! 75! Home run!
60: At one point in the ’60s, a full 60 percent of seats in the stadium for baseball were in the upper tier of the stadium, which is odd, to say the least.
42: The number of years that we’ve called the stadium by its familiar moniker. The building was named after Robert F. Kennedy in January 1969, after the then-Senator was assassinated in Los Angeles. Kennedy was working in the Justice Department at the time that the federal government pushed the team to integrate. It was previously known simply as “D.C. Stadium”.
36: The number of seasons the Washington Redskins played in the stadium. The team’s first and last win in RFK was against Dallas. Fitting.
21: RFK Stadium is tied with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the venue which has hosted the most United States men’s national soccer team matches, the most recent of which, a 2-0 victory against Jamaica this summer. The venue has also hosted the Olympic soccer tournament, the Women’s World Cup and any number of insanely loud matches featuring the El Salvador national team.
10: The number of sports teams who have called the stadium home — D.C. United (1996-present), Washington Redskins (1961-1996), Washington Federals (1983-1984), Washington Senators (1962-1971), Washington Diplomats (1974-1981, 1991), Washington Darts (1971), Washington Freedom (2001-2003, 2009-2010), Washington Whips (1968), Washington Nationals (2005-2007), and, surprisingly, The George Washington University football team, which played at RFK for five seasons until it disbanded in 1966.
0: Perhaps my favorite fact? Because the stadium is on a sight line with the United States Capitol, there were no hanging light towers allowed, forcing engineers to design arc lights that affixed to its curved roof. They look better, anyway.
