WASHINGTON SENATORS

It's easy to see why Washington baseball fans are a confused lot.

Their original team, called the Washington Senators, played in the National League until 1899. Then they became an American League team in 1901, called by the new ownership the Nationals so as not to have them confused with the old Senators. But fans kept calling them the Senators, while the team kept calling itself the Nationals, and everybody else nicknamed the team the "NATS" although nobody was sure whether that was short for NATionals or SeNATors and it wasn't until 50 years later that the team began officially calling itself what the fans had been calling it all along.

Then to top it off, the team moved to Minnesota to become the Twins, but a new franchise stayed in Washington called the Senators, until that franchise moved to Texas to become the Rangers and was replaced by another new Washington team called the Nationals.

Got all that? Here it is again, only a little slower, and with more detail.

The National League operated a franchise in Washington until 1899. That team, called the Senators, folded and the new American League took Washington as an original franchise city when it began play in 1901. This team, called the Nationals, debuted with a 5-1 win over Philadelphia's Athletics on April 26, 1901.

The team had nothing but second division finishes in its first decade, the worst coming in 1904 when it compiled a 38-114 record. The biggest event during this time was the debut in 1907 of a true prodigy — a right hander with otherworldly talent named Walter Johnson. He would retire twenty-one years later as arguably the greatest pitcher in the game's history.

In 1912-13, Johnson had perhaps the best back-to-back seasons any pitcher has ever had and in so doing, he single handedly pulled the Nats into the first division for the first time. In 1912, he went 32-12, a 1.39 ERA and 303 strikeouts. In 1913, he was a staggering 36-7, a 1.09 ERA and 243 strikeouts in 346 innings.

In 1920, Clark Griffith bought the team, beginning a seventy-two year association between his family and the franchise. He enjoyed his greatest success when the team won the 1924 championship — the only World Series triumph for a Washington team. Bucky Harris played second base and managed the team while Hall-of-Famer Goose Goslin drove in one-hundred thirty-nine runs and hit .344 while Johnson turned in a stellar 24-7 season to lead the pitchers.

Washington faced the New York Giants in the World Series, and it went seven games. Having already pitched two games, Johnson took the mound in relief in Game Seven with the score tied, the bases loaded and no one out. He got out of the jam and shut down the Giants until Washington got the winning run in the twelfth inning, set up by Johnson's single.

Washington repeated its league triumph in 1925, but lost the Series to the Pirates — this time blowing a 3-1 lead in games. A very tired Johnson was battered for nine runs in the decisive game. It was Johnson's last taste of post-season baseball.

In 1927, Walter Johnson retired after winning four-hundred sixteen games, second most in history, for a team that rarely finished in the first division or with a winning record. His career ERA was 2.17. He struck out a then-record three-thousand five-hundred eight batters in an era when few players, even sluggers, struck out frequently. His strikeout record lasted sixty years. His total of one-hundred ten career shutouts is still a record.

After a string of mediocre seasons, Hall-of-Famer Joe Cronin led the Nats to the 1933 pennant as manager, and shortstop. He had lots of help from Hall-of-Famer Heinie Manush (.336 & ninety-five runs batted in). The Nats lost to the Series to Giants again — this time in five games.

After 1933, the Nats went into a long decline. They were rarely in contention, leading to the birth of the mantra that "Washington was first in war, first in peace and last in the American League." In fairness to the franchise, the Nats weren't all that horrible - they finished last six times between1934-1960.

The absence of a contending team, shrinking fan support, an aging stadium and the lure of greener pastures in the upper Midwest convinced Griffith to move the franchise to Minnesota. Washington lawmakers would not let him go until the American League agreed to award one of its 1961 expansion franchises to the nation's capital. The original Nats played their last game in Washington on October 2, 1960, losing 2-1 to Baltimore. A new expansion franchise which everybody agreed would be called the Washington Senators began play in 1961.

MINNESOTA TWINS

Meanwhile, the team now named for the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, won its first game 6-0 at Yankee Stadium. But with slugging stars Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison soon joined by shortstop Zoilo Versalles and outfielder Tony Oliva, the Twins became a viable franchise again. Collecting pitching talent like Camilo Pascual, Jim Kaat, Jim Perry and "Mudcat" Grant over the next few years turned them from viable into champions.

The 1964 Twins finished fifth but there were signs of what was to come — Killebrew had forty-nine dingers (his fourth straight forty-plus home run season) and rookie Oliva hit a league-leading .323.

The Twins won the 1965 pennant as Oliva led the league again at .321 (the only player to win batting titles his first two seasons) and Versailles had an MVP year. Ironically, the Twins clinched the flag with a 2-1 win over the new Washington Senators. The Twins bowed to the Dodgers in a pitching-rich seven game Series.

With Billy Martin at the helm, the Twins won the first American League West Pennant in 1969 (Killebrew: forty-nine home runs & one-hundred forty-nine runs batted in), but Martin left after losing the playoff to Baltimore. Bill Rigney led the Twins to a 1970 encore but he lost to the Orioles too.

The Twins lost Killebrew after 1974 and Oliva after 1976, but they still had Rod Carew, who made the American League Batting Crown his personal property with seven titles, his most noteworthy season being 1978 when he racked up a .388 average.

The Twins left cozy Metropolitan Stadium for the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome after the 1981 season. Two years later the Griffith family ended their seven decade control of the franchise, selling to local businessman Carl Pohlad.

It would take a relatively unknown Tom Kelly, cultivating a new generation of sluggers: Kent Hrbek (thirty four home runs & ninety runs batted in), Kirby Puckett (.332, twenty-eight home runs & ninety-nine runs batted in) and Gary Gaetti (thirty-one home runs & one-hundred nine runs batted in) to bring the Twin Cities back to the World Series and a seven game triumph over the Cardinals in 1987.

Four years later, they repeated behind a veteran pitching staff led by Scott Erickson's 20-8 record and Jack Morris' eighteen wins. Morris turned in a Series performance for the ages in Game Seven, shutting out the Braves on seven hits for ten innings until his team scored in the bottom of the tenth for a 1-0 win.

The Twins fell on some hard times with eight straight losing seasons until 2000. They returned to the top of their division in 2001, and have stayed there under manager Ron Gardenhire and a current generation of stars including peerless center fielder Torii Hunter, third baseman Corey Koskie (twenty-six home runs & one-hundred three runs batted in during 2001) and the reigning Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana (20-6 in 2004).

While Twins' fans enjoy the resurgence of a relatively stable franchise in 2005, the fans in Washington lost the expansion Senators to Texas in 1971, only to get another new team in 2005 when the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, again to be called the Nationals. Hopefully, that clears that up.