[Hankphenom]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the much sadder days in 1960 and 1971 when our teams left town. For me, the departure of my Senators to Minnesota after the 1960 season was nothing less than traumatic. My first three seasons as an active fan, 1957-1959, they finished in the cellar, but then things began to happen after back-to-back rookies of the year, multiple home run champs, The great Cuban pitching duo of Pascual and Ramos, submarine relievers Hyde and Terwilliger, etc., and lo and behold they finished fifth in 1960 and attendance shot up by 25%. We also had perhaps the greatest broadcasting team ever of Chuck Thompson and Bob Wolff to listen to. Then they were gone to Minneapolis, where they would finish SECOND in the ten-team American League in 1962,take the pennant in 1965, and have the best record in the league for the decade of the 1960s. They were replaced by an expansion team of has-beens and never-would-bes that finished last for another three seasons in a row from 1961-1963. They also took away my ballpark, Griffith Stadium, and replaced it with a soulless monstrosity none of us kids could get to. I gave up, and probably didn't go to ten games in the following decade before they moved again and left D.C without any team at all for 34 years. I did come back to baseball with those terrific Baltimore teams of the late 70s/early 80s, but never with the same affection of a home town team.