Ted Leavengood on Baseball

During the two decades when the Washington Nationals fielded quality Major League teams (1912-1933), the infield was invariably anchored by excellent shortstop. Clark Griffith, as manager and owner of the team during those years, valued the gritty ballplayer that could do it all and his on-the-field leaders included such great players as George McBride, Roger […]

The snow has shut down pretty much everything today, but there are box scores pouring forth on electron beams originating in Florida and Arizona and the weatherman says the outlook is for continuing box scores for at least seven months.  The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles played their first exhibition games over the weekend in […]

Waiting for baseball weather in Washington, DC is maddening. There is asylum for the snow weary fan to be found at AFI Silver that is running a special series of baseball films through early April. I took in “Damn Yankees” the other day to celebrate the coming season and add whatever karmic energies my attendance […]

“When he talks, people listen.” Reggie Jackson said that about Sal Bando. Reggie attributed Bando with running a very tight clubhouse for the very contentious but always successful Oakland Athletics in the first half of the 1970’s. Matt Williams–the newly minted manager of the Washington Nationals–has that same reputation. He was a championship caliber third […]

The Washington Nationals 2013 season opened with Bryce Harper hitting two home runs and Stephen Strasburg pitching seven innings of shutout baseball. It looked as though the team had picked up where they had left off the previous October. More importantly it seemed as though the great potential of Harper and Strasburg would become the […]

Events like those that transpired at the Navy Yard yesterday seem to plague our country with disturbing frequency. It is unfortunate that they happen at all, or that they happen in any neighborhood, or any work place. But they came home yesterday to the Navy Yard—part of the neighborhood around Nationals Park. The most exciting […]

You will not find his picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated nor even Rolling Stone, but Ian Desmond is a rock star. He is a rock, one of the most solid players on the Washington Nationals roster and he is emerging as a star who deserves to be recognized as such. Ian Desmond’s WAR […]

The Nationals have started to dig out of the hole. The mark of the good ball player and the good team is competing consistently, going out and playing to win day-in and day-out. Washington has been consistently competitive in recent weeks. Even when they have been down early in games, they have punched and clawed […]

The Atlanta Braves are all clean cut. There are no beards. The hair is almost to a man clipped short and neat. On Sundays the team celebrates its Bible Belt roots by declaring it “Faith Day.” What exactly that looks like I cannot say, but I was startled to hear a Braves’ announcer lead off […]

As an organization the Washington Nationals have eschewed big international signings. The few forays they have made have been disappointing at best. They announced today that they pursuing legal options to recoup the $1.4 million that they paid to Dominican phenom Smiley Gonzalez in 2006. Smiles turned to frowns when the 16-year old Gonzalez became […]