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Obama declines Nationals' first-pitch bidApril 10, 2009 President Barack Obama has declined an invitation to throw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals' home opener, the White House said Friday. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told The Washington Post the president -- a longtime fan of the Chicago White Sox -- would not throw out the ceremonial first pitch when the Nationals play the Philadelphia Phillies Monday at Nationals Park in Washington. The report did not specify a reason for the decision. Obama returned to the White House this week from an eight-day trip to Europe and the Middle...

President Barack Obama won't be at Nationals Park on Monday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Washington Nationals' home opener. According to a White House aide, Obama will decline the team's invitation to throw the pitch in the game against the Philadelphia Phillies, brushing back a presidential tradition that dates back to 1910. The Nationals, who have a standing invitation to every president to throw out the pitch at the team's home opener every season, were told by the White House last month that Obama would attend provided his schedule didn't change because of world events. The...

Washington Nationals President Stan Kasten vowed that the franchise would "get to the bottom" of the developments that apparently have left the team with a prospect it doesn't really know. A Web site reported Wednesday morning that Esmailyn Gonzalez, the highly touted Dominican shortstop prospect who was given a $1.4 million signing bonus by the Nationals when they signed him in 2006, is actually four years older than he told the team and has an entirely different name. According to that SI.com report, Gonzalez (who the Nationals list as being 19 years old) is actually Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo, and...

To their everlasting horror, the global-warming alarmists have discovered that ExxonMobil advertises with the Washington Nationals. This act of free enterprise cannot go unpunished, so the global-warming alarmists have initiated a campaign to educate the Lerner family and baseball-supporting public in the hope the Nationals will end their relationship with ExxonMobil. It is unclear whether the global-warming alarmists walked to the ballpark from their homes, took mass transportation or drove there in an automobile. That, of course, is often the rub with the global-warming zealots. They talk a good game if it concerns you, your neighbor and the person down...

WASHINGTON - President Bush had enough to worry about — like not flubbing the first pitch in front of a crowd that might not exactly be his biggest fans anyway. So before the game, when a couple of Atlanta Braves gave him a team jersey and suggested he wear it to throw out the first pitch at Nationals Park, Bush laughed. Uh, no thanks, guys. Might as well put on a sign that says "Boo me." "I'm not going to give them any excuses," Bush said of the 40,000-plus people gathered for the opening of Washington's gleaming baseball stadium. Over...

The Sportsman's Daily: Dictator to Throw Out First Pitch at New Nationals Ballpark Jan. 29, 2008 By The Sportsman's Daily Special to CBSSports.com PYONGYANG, North Korea (Sportsman's Daily Wire Service) -- A recently completed top-secret installation at the presidential palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, is apparently not what U.S. officials feared, but merely a sports training facility. With improving relations between the United States and North Korea, a very interesting development was announced this week as the communist dictator Kim Jong Il, who will visit Washington in April, has agreed to throw out the first pitch at the new Washington...

The Washington Nationals today announced that they have created a new division, Nationals Ballpark Enterprises, to develop and market non-baseball events at the new stadium and that they have hired Bari Lurie as the Director of Ballpark Enterprises.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 The Washington Nationals, a strong supporter of the U.S. military since the Major League Baseball franchise moved to the nation’s capital from Montreal before the 2005 season, met here today with Defense Department officials to discuss future cooperation as the team prepares to build a new stadium next to the Washington Navy Yard. Officials from the Washington Nationals baseball team pose with Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, center, before a lunch meeting Oct. 3 in the Pentagon to discuss cooperation between the Nationals and DoD. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

7/6/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- On a sweltering hot day in the nation's capitol, five members of the armed forces were given the chance to take part in a Major League Baseball tradition. Representatives from the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard each threw out a ceremonial "first pitch" before the Washington Nationals game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 2. The event was part of the July Fourth weekend's "Military Appreciation Day" activities at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium here. Before game-related events kicked off, more than a dozen young men and women were...

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2006 – Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals honored members of the U.S. armed forces yesterday during pre-game festivities that highlighted the organization's annual military appreciation day. Eighteen new military recruits took the oath of enlistment; five veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Hurricane Katrina were honored; and fans were asked to show their support by sending a text message of support to the troops through the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program. "Baseball has a long history with the American military, dating back to World War II," said Josh Golden, the Nationals' manager for entertainment. In fact, more...

WASHINGTON -- From the half-dozen orange cranes, to the piles of rubble, to the shovels made from baseball bats, all the right props were present Thursday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Washington Nationals' new ballpark. So, too, were members of the group chosen 24 hours earlier to buy the Nationals from Major League Baseball. And they already have thought of possible changes to the $611 million project the city hopes will revitalize a neighborhood -- and everyone hopes will be ready for Opening Day 2008. "It will take a great deal of work and effort to get done, but...

The hope here is that Vice President Dick Cheney understood precisely what he was in for as he strode to the mound for the ceremonial first pitch before the Washington Nationals home opener on Tuesday -- the catcalls, the thunderous booing, the possibility of empty shotgun shells landing at his feet, the whole 60 feet, 6 inches.This hope is not born of ideology. True, we've been known to practice a spot of politics in this unlikely corner of the morning cage-liner. But only a spot, given that it's generally not worth the partisan blowback usually directed at the likes of...

The team without a home or owner might also not have a name. According to a report in The New York Times on Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a request for federal trademark registration on the name Washington Nationals to Bygone Sports last week. The Cincinnati-based company, which specializes in historic trademarks and sports apparel, applied for the trademark in September 2002.... If the case proceeds and the judge rules for Bygone Sports, baseball would then have to decide whether to rename the team, because it would not be able to sell apparel and other paraphernalia...

The D.C. Council rejected a baseball stadium lease agreement last night after failing to agree on a spending cap, sending the future of the Washington Nationals into doubt and prompting Major League Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy to declare that baseball will pursue arbitration today. After a day of negotiating, the council voted 8 to 5 to turn down the lease deal that had been negotiated between baseball officials and Mayor Anthony A. Williams's administration. Without a lease, the city will be unable to issue bonds to build a stadium along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, and baseball will...

The story has been on the back burner of the news agencies for several months now, but it's finally coming to a head. Let me give you the rundown: The owners of the Washington Nationals want a new baseball stadium in Washington DC. They chose a spot where they wanted to put it, and they made offers to purchase the land from the people who currently own the 21 acres they want. Ten of these landowners never responded to the offers, and of the remaining 13 landowners, many rejected the offers. In a free-market, "ownership society", as George W. Bush...

NEW Zealand's caretaker Prime Minister Helen Clark returned to the capital Wellington today for negotiations with minor parties to form a government after the weekend's stalemate election result. The nation faces two weeks of political limbo before more than 200,000 special votes are counted but Ms Clark said she wants to put arrangements in place so a government can be formed quickly after full results emerge on October 1. Ms Clark, who has been Prime Minister since 1999, said she would hold "exploratory talks" with the minor parties, but this would be followed by a quiet period leading up to...

Comcast cable company accused Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos yesterday of creating a regional sports network whose purpose is to keep Washington Nationals games off the vast majority of the region's cable networks. "Peter Angelos and the Orioles have knowingly created a situation where cable carriers predictably would not carry MASN and, thus, many Washington Nationals' games," Comcast said in a written release that coincided with a legal filing in Montgomery County Circuit Court. "This is particularly regrettable given that, unlike Mr. Angelos, Comcast supported the return of Major League Baseball to Washington D.C. and offered to broadcast the Nats...

DETROIT (AP) -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig says remarks by a congressional committee chairman against billionaire George Soros won't be considered as the sport weighs offers for the Washington Nationals. Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who chairs the House Government Reform Committee, told Roll Call last month that "Major League Baseball understands the stakes" if the group Soros is a part of purchases the first-place team.

A free association exercise: Think of a Washington Nationals baseball cap. What's the next thing that pops into your head? Some people think of the old Senators, whose caps inspired the new team's logo. Some think of the first-place team they now root for, or of hometown pride. Then there are those steeped in the kind of partisan perspective that forced the french fry to decide whether it was with us or against us. They can't get past the "W," as in the president's trademark middle initial. That can be good: "My immediate reaction was, 'W! Perfect!,' " said Dan...

There is talk in Washington about taking away Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption. Because of all that steroid stuff? No. Because of MLB's heavy-handed approach to financing new stadiums? No. Because of the possibility of liberal financier George Soros buying the Washington Nationals. Soros is a critic of President Bush, the former Texas Rangers part-owner. "It's not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so polarizing in the political world,'' Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) told the Washington Post. "That goes for anybody, but especially as it relates to [MLB] because it's one of the few businesses that get...

Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has joined Washington entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky's bid to purchase the Washington Nationals, Ledecky said in an interview yesterday. "The Soros family shares my belief that the Washington Nationals are a community trust that can serve as a positive platform for the economic development of the inner city," Ledecky said. Soros spokesman Michael Vachon declined to comment. The Soros announcement is the latest in a flurry of activity in recent days as at least seven groups have filed initial bids for the Nationals with Major League Baseball, according to baseball sources. Several groups have added...

Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has joined Washington entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky's bid to purchase the Washington Nationals, Ledecky said in an interview yesterday. "The Soros family shares my belief that the Washington Nationals are a community trust that can serve as a positive platform for the economic development of the inner city," Ledecky said. Soros spokesman Michael Vachon declined to comment. The Soros announcement is the latest in a flurry of activity in recent days as at least seven groups have filed initial bids for the Nationals with Major League Baseball, according to baseball sources. Several groups have added...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: The President and First Lady are spending the weekend at Camp David, and there are no planned public appearances. President and Mrs. Bush reported total income last year of $784,219 and paid $207,307 in federal income taxes, according to documents released by the White House on April 15, 2005. Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne reported $1.3 million in taxable income, the White House said. THE WEEK AHEAD: Monday, the President will go to Columbia, South Carolina, where he'll make remarks on strengthening Social Security. Tuesday, the President will go to Springfield, Illinois,...

You are one of the aggrieved property owners who stands in the way of the proposed baseball stadium along the Anacostia River waterfront in Southeast. You have made a living -- and, in some cases, a good one -- on this previously forgotten stretch of asphalt in the city. But now you are an impediment to the baseball vision of Mayor Anthony A. Williams. You are being urged to part with your property and start anew somewhere else, perhaps in another hardscrabble section of the city. You took a chance on Half Street in the bad times. Yet you won't...

Washington Nationals officials say as few as 5,000 general admission tickets will be available for the team's home opener next month, making it one of the hottest sports tickets ever in the city. The Nationals are strongly considering the use of a lottery system to distribute at least a portion of those tickets to the historic event, a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 14 at RFK Stadium. That contest will mark the first regular-season Major League Baseball game played in Washington since September 1971. A decision on whether the club will use a lottery is expected by the...

The uncrowded concourse at Akron-Canton Airport belies the fact that it's one of the fastest growing airports in the country. Akron-Canton and some other small to midsize airports are taking business from larger hubs with a formula for success that starts with a discount airline. Add in proximity to a big metro area, light traffic and short lines and the passengers seem to follow. "I love this airport," said Elaine Smolka of suburban Chicago after taking a United Express flight to Akron-Canton this week. Smolka was drawn to Akron-Canton by its low fares, but uses it exclusively when visiting...

Instead of pitchers and catchers, the opening of baseball's spring training seemed preoccupied by syringes and steroids. One day after stores began selling former American League MVP Jose Canseco's book of doping allegations, the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, and Cincinnati Reds opened their training camps. In his first press conference, Yankees manager Joe Torre faced a torrent of questions about the proliferation of performance-enhancing drugs in America's pastime, with the subject taking the first half-hour of the 45-minute session: "It doesn't go away, unfortunately." In light of the quick sales of Mr. Canseco's new book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES VIERA, Fla. — The Washington Nationals logo is everywhere at Space Coast Stadium. More than 1,500 tickets for the new club's spring training games were purchased online within 20 minutes of going on sale. ESPN will televise the Nationals' first exhibition game on March 2 against the New York Mets. Ads for the Nationals' spring training games appear in the newspaper Florida Today. There is a new show in town for Major League Baseball's spring training, one that local officials expect to be much bigger than those of the past. Pitchers and catchers report today for spring...

D.C. debut set for April 3 charity game against Mets President George W. Bush has accepted the Nationals' invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the regular-season home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 14 at RFK Stadium, club president Tony Tavares confirmed on Thursday. President Bush, an avid baseball fan and former co-owner of the Rangers, will become the first president to throw out the first pitch in Washington, D.C., since Richard Nixon. "The president has told me he will [throw out the first pitch]," Tavares said. "It's outstanding. I've seen [presidents] throw the first pitch...

The newborn Washington Nationals might be gone before we can memorize all their personnel. The rumor is (Linda) Cropp will run for mayor. If she kills baseball in this town, she shouldn't be elected chief bug catcher. And if Tony Williams lets her kill baseball in this town, he should be run out of it on a rail. Which would leave a golden mayoral opportunity two years from now for ... Marion Barry?

Linda W. Cropp, the newly fashioned woman of the people, is drawing kudos from certain corners of the city, which is understandable. That is not the work of a populist. That is just another politician motivated by self-interests.

Hours after the D.C. Council drastically altered Washington's stadium financing plan, a move that called for half of the project to be paid for with private funds, Major League Baseball on Wednesday called the proposed new deal "wholly unacceptable." The Montreal Expos might not have a new home after all. Bob DuPuy, chief operating officer of Major League Baseball, issued a statement Wednesday calling for the halt of business and promotional activities by the team that was to be called the Washington Nationals in 2005. That about-face caused some stirring in Portland, where the major league effort was less than...

Nationals' stay in D.C. may be short D.C. approves park construction, wants more private financing Dec. 15, 2004 SportsLine.com wire reports WASHINGTON -- Baseball fans in the nation's capital might not have long to cheer their new team. The District of Columbia Council voted 7-6 Tuesday night to approve legislation that would finance construction of a ballpark. But it contained a provision that could cause the baseball commissioner's office to reopen the search for a long-term home for the Expos franchise, which has been tentatively renamed the Nationals. The legislation was amended to require private financing for at least half...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Politicizing Sportsby Chris Shugart, Dec 2, 2004 The recent relocation of the Montreal Expos is hardly a done deal, yet Major League Baseball is already selling Washington Nationals paraphernalia in anticipation of baseball returning to the Capitol. Why would I care about any of this to begin with? One reason only; and that is I regret that MLB did not consult my marketing genius before settling on a new name for the team. I think I could have offered a number of names that would have better reflected today’s contemporary WashingtonD.C. culture; mixing sports and politics into an appealing image...

ATTENTION EDITORS: REPEATING WITH ADDITIONAL CAPTION INFORMATION - Adam Eidinger, a protestor against funding for a new baseball stadium in Washington, is grabbed by team officials before a ceremony unveiling the new Washington DC Major League Baseball team logo and name for the 'Washington Nationals' in the Union Station, November 22, 2004. The Nationals moniker has served two other Washington franchises during the 1800's and during the first-half of the 20th Century. Eidinger, who is not opposed to having a team in Washington, is against public financing to build the stadium. REUTERS/Larry Downing

The Major League Baseball club scheduled to play next season in Washington was officially renamed the Nationals this afternoon, as District Mayor Anthony A. Williams joined club officials and a lunchtime crowd of a few hundred onlookers at Union Station in unveiling the team's new logo. "Baseball is about our way of life," Williams told the crowd. "It's about community. It's about opportunity. And now, with the Nationals, it's about our nation's capital, Washington, D.C." Though Major League Baseball owners last week delayed a vote on whether to officially approve the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, and despite...

Team officials announced at a Monday gala that Washington, D.C.'s baseball team will be known as the Nationals, with a color scheme featuring red, blue and gold.

Sources: Expos to be renamed Nationals By JOSEPH WHITE, AP Sports Writer November 19, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Montreal Expos are about to get their new name: the Washington Nationals. A city official and a baseball official, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that the team will reveal its new name, cap and red-white-and-blue color scheme during a news conference Monday. The search for a new name began Sept. 29, when Major League Baseball announced it planned to relocate the team for the 2005 season. Initially, the plan was to wait until the team was sold to...

Fix the schools. That appeal has become the self-serving mantra of the anti-ballpark brigade in the city. The purpose is to disarm those who embrace the vision of a publicly funded ballpark along the Anacostia River waterfront in Southeast. It is an intellectually dishonest course, for the broken-down D.C. public school system remains impervious to

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) --  U.S. law enforcement authorities will ask some 3,000 foreign nationals for voluntary interviews in continuing attempts to learn more about the threat of terrorism, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday.</p> <p>During a visit to the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which will handle several major terrorism cases, Ashcroft said the second-phase interviews will be similar to some 5,000 undertaken since early November.</p>