Nationals Edges Grays, Senators for Moniker

The Washington baseball team was officially christened the Nationals Monday, debuting their new name and logo in a ceremony held in the main hall of Union Station.

The named was decided on by Major League Baseball, who still owns the team, in consultation with Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. The Nationals beat out the Senators and the Grays, for status as the team’s moniker.

The announcement drew more than a hundred people who gathered around a stage draped in red, white and blue. Guests in attendance included former members of the Senators, as well as former public address announcer Charlie Brotman.

The 73-year-old Brotman played an unexpected role in the proceedings when a protestor, Adam Eidinger, 31, leapt onto the stage and aired his disapproval of the stadium deal to the crowd. Brotman reached the man first and along with several others, including D.C. city council member Harold Brazil, wrestled him away from the podium.

After security subdued the protestor, Brotman returned to the podium and joked between heavy breaths: “I assure you that this has to do with a baseball franchise and not a heavyweight fight coming to town.”

Nationals President Tony Tavares later kidded that Brotman “will become our head of homeland security.” Eidinger, was one of a handful of dissenters who showed up to object the building of a new stadium with public funds. Williams has faced opposition to his luring the franchise from Montreal with public money, but Monday expressed his firm belief that this course of action is the correct one.

“Baseball is about our way of life,” Williams said. “It's about community. It’s about opportunity. And now, with the Nationals, it's about our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.”

The vast majority of those in attendance appeared in support of the team’s relocation to the District, a fact alluded to by Tavares’ mention that the team had already received deposits for 13,000 season tickets, effectively bettering the franchise’s 2004 attendance in Montreal before the season has even started.

The name Nationals appears to be a compromise between Commissioner Bud Selig and Mayor Williams. After a series of surveys, Selig leaned towards Senators, while Williams skewed towards the Grays. The former D.C. franchise was known as the Nationals from 1905 until being changed to the Senators in 1957 by owner Clark Griffith, though the origins of the Nationals can be traced back to before the Civil War.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com