
With the Yankees coming to town Friday night to start a series with the Nationals, the mind returns achingly to their last visit to play the Senators on Sept. 30, 1971 — truly a date that will live in local sporting infamy.
The designated hitter is an abomination foisted on us by a desperate American League in 1973. Nearly four decades later, its tentacles choke traditional baseball at nearly every level from Little League to the minors.

For the second straight autumn, the World Series offers a dandy chance to boo our fool heads off until or past midnight. Call it the bitching hour.
Fifty years ago, on Sept. 21, 1961, the old and new Washington Senators met in the last baseball game at Griffith Stadium, the old ballpark at Seventh Street and Florida Avenue Northwest where Howard University Hospital now stands.
FIVE SERIES FOR NATS FANS TO WATCH THIS SEASON: