There have been some great weeks in Washington sports history.
Of course, any championship would make for a good week. The week of Jan. 30, 1983, was a great week — the Washington Redskins’ first Super Bowl championship. Five years later was another great week – Jan. 31, 1988, their second Super Bowl title. And the third one — the week of Jan. 26, 1992.
January used to be a great time in the Washington metro area.
The week of June 7, 2018, was memorable — the Washington Capitals’ Stanley Cup championship, followed by the Nationals’ World Series victory on Oct. 30, 2019. Good times, parades and parties.
Everyone certainly celebrated when Major League Baseball announced the week of Sept. 29, 2004 that the Montreal Expos were moving to the District, and then the first game with baseball back at RFK Stadium the week of April 14, 2005.
Fun times, no doubt.
But 50 years ago, the first week of December could have been one of the all-time weeks in sports in Washington, right up there among the best.
Could have been.
As it was, the first week of December 1973 around here was pretty good. But it could have been so much more. At the time, it certainly seemed that way.
The year before was a bipolar year for Washington sports. It was the year the George Allen-led Redskins won the NFC championship and went to the Super Bowl. They lost 14-7, to the undefeated Miami Dolphins. But there had not been a season like that in Washington since the Sammy Baugh days.
The rest of 1972? Nothing.
The Washington Senators left for Arlington, Texas, after the 1971 season. There was no NBA franchise or NHL team. Buffalo had three professional sports teams – the Bills, the Braves in the NBA and the NHL Sabres.
The nation’s capital had one.
That was about to change, though. Baltimore Bullets owner Abe Pollin announced in February 1973 he was moving the NBA franchise to Washington — specifically, Landover, Maryland. He was building a new arena that would open on Dec. 2, 1973, which would also be the home to a new NHL franchise in 1974.
Four days later, baseball owners voted to approve the sale of the struggling San Diego Padres franchise for $12 million to Washington businessman Joseph Danzansky, who read this statement the next day:
“We went to Boston and we came away empty,” Danzansky said, alluding to his last-ditch effort to buy the Texas-bound Senators at a meeting of American League club owners in September 1971. “We went to Chicago and we came away disappointed. We went to Cincinnati and we were disappointed once again. Today we stayed home and got a ball club. Home is where we belong and where the National League belongs and where the Padres franchise belongs.”
It sure seemed that way.
Danzansky, president of Giant Food Inc., had been on a quest to save baseball in Washington. This time, it seemed he had finally succeeded.
There were Topps baseball cards printed up for a new Washington baseball team and its players, including Willie McCovey and Nate Colbert. There were uniforms made — one is on display in the pressbox entrance off the elevators at Nationals Park. There was a name chosen — the “Stars.”
But there were complications. San Diego city officials threatened to sue the Padres, a 1969 expansion team owned by C. Arnhold Smith, who turned out to be a con artist and convicted felon. Smith struggled to find a new buyer until Mr. Royale With Cheese read in the paper about the Padres mess.
McDonald’s owner Ray Kroc had already missed out on his attempt to buy the Chicago Cubs. He wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. He had the $12 million, so he wound up with the franchise — which stayed in San Diego.
As many of us know, there were other failed efforts before that great week of Sept. 29, 2004, when baseball officially announced the return of the game to the District.
But 50 years ago — that first week in December 1973? It seemed like the world was about to change in Washington.
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
