31 Mar 2014

Lost Capitol Hill: Capitol Park II

tnLast week we looked at the first Capitol Park, which existed for two years in the 1880s just north of the Capitol. Today, we will look at its follower, just a couple blocks further north.

In 1886 it looked as if there would be no team named the Nationals in Washington. This time, though, the members of the Nationals Club decided that they should try for the best, and join the National League. Now almost 10-years-old, it had showed significantly better staying power than the Union Association or the American Association, and the level of ball played there was much higher.

Other members of the league were amenable, there remained only the question of where to play. The old Capitol Park was out, a new park was needed. This required a reasonably large open space that was also easily accessible by streetcar. Fortunately, just such a space existed just a few blocks north of the old ground, between North Capitol, First, F, and G Streets NE. According to the Washington Post, it would “only be necessary to grade the ground to put it in good condition for play, for it has long been filled in with dumpings in and some places it is very uneven.”

Fortunately, the land was owned by William Galt, a flour dealer, and Thomas W. Smith, a lumber dealer, both of whom seemed eager to support baseball by renting the land for just the cost of the taxes on it.

At first, things seemed to be going well, and the Post reports of a game in late May, 1886, in which the home team beat the “almost invincible” Chicago White Stockings 7-0, including a first inning in which they scored five runs. The stands were well-filled, with 4,000 fans treated to two hours of splendid ball.

The rest of the season did not go as well, with the Nationals ending up 60 games behind the league-leading White Stockings (though only 1.5 games behind the Kansas City Cowboys)

In spite of this, the members of the National Baseball Club were of good cheer in the offseason, claiming that they were “using every effort to make a good showing for their nine during the season of 1887.”

And indeed, the Nationals ended that year only 32 games out of first place, which was that year held by the Detroit Wolverines. This meant that they were not in the cellar, a position held by the Indianapolis Hoosiers, who were 11 games behind the Nationals.

Sadly, this was the only time that the Nationals showed any upward trajectory. The following year they were once again in the cellar of the league, trailing the Hoosiers by a game-and-a-half for that honor, and the 1889 season was no better, with them now 41 games behind the league-leading New York Giants.

A game being played in Capitol Park, with the Capitol dome in the background. (Architect of the Capitol)

A game being played in Capitol Park, with the Capitol dome in the background. (Architect of the Capitol)

The 1889 season was also punctuated by a particularly brazen game. Towards the end of the season, the two cellar-dwellers, the Hoosiers and Nationals, faced off at Capitol Park. The Hoosiers seemed to have the upper hand until the 8th inning, when the Nationals put four runs on the scoreboard. Instead of trying to regain the lead at this point, the Hoosiers began delaying the game as much as possible, arguing calls, refusing to chase balls, or to put out the opposing runners. When the top of the 8th was finally over, the umpire called the game – which reverted the score to that at the beginning of the inning. Unsurprisingly, the crowd was not too pleased with this turn of events. They threw a minor riot, in which the umpire only barely escaped injury, while the Indianapolis team only managed to reduce their injuries by the prompt action of the local constabulary.

Whether this particular game was responsible for the demise of the Nationals at the end of the season, or simply the fact that they had won less than a third of their games cannot be said for certain. It can be definitively said that neither the Nationals nor the Hoosiers returned for the 1890 season. Nor did the new Capitol Park survive the end of the season. The owners, presumably appalled at the level of baseball played, rescinded their lease, and the land was soon after turned into what is today the National Postal Museum.


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