Staying put … sort of

Washington Senators owner Calvin Griffith announces 65 years ago today that he will not – no way, no how – move his team out of the nation’s capital.

You know, really, Washington has had a team since the American League starts in 1901. So, no way, Griffith says, the team is moving.

Well, that promise lasts for, oh, one season as 1960 turns out to be the Senators’ last in Washington before Griffith moves them to Minnesota in time for the 1961 season.

Calvin Griffith

The move to Minnesota comes after a 1960 season in which the Senators finish fifth in the eight-team American League, some 24 games behind the pennant-winning New York Yankees.

More important to Griffith and his family-run team, the Senators for the sixth straight season finish last in the American League in attendance at 743,404.

The move to Minnesota provides immediate cash dividends for Griffith, whose newly renamed Twins spend the next seven seasons and nine of the next 10 finishing in the top three in attendance for the American League.

No worries in D.C., though, as the American League quickly gives Washington an expansion team for the 1961 season.

Alas, Washington keeps its new team – soon to be as woebegone on the field as its predecessors – for 11 seasons before it also moves out of town.

This time, the destination is suburban Dallas to become the Texas Rangers.

Eventually, Washington gets yet another team in 2005, when Major League Baseball relocates the Expos from Montreal to play in D.C., where the Nationals have been ever since.