# Why did the Washington Senators move to Texas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316 "2002-04-18T14:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/1 "2002-04-18T14:24:12Z")
Well…? I was just a tad. I vaguely remember lumbering Frank Howard’s crushing shots and Mike Epsteins thunderous drives but I’ve forgotten the rationale for the move. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/2 "2002-04-18T15:01:29Z")
Money. As always. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/3 "2002-04-18T15:17:47Z")
\*First in War, First in Peace, Last in the American League\* ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/4 "2002-04-18T15:29:01Z")
The original Washington Senators, with Walter Johnson, became the [Minnesota Twins](http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/history/min_history_timeline.jsp) in 1960. Although, I haven’t found a reason why, yet. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/5 "2002-04-18T15:33:04Z")
A little more on the ‘money’ angle. Phil Wood (local baseball historian) defines the issue this way. Bob Short was offered some real incentives to move the team from DC to Texas. One of them was the fact that HE personally would earn the local TV revenue, regardless of whether he still owned the team or not. In effect, they bribed not the team, but the OWNER to move. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/6 "2002-04-18T15:35:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Well…? I was just a tad. I vaguely remember lumbering Frank Howard’s crushing shots and Mike Epsteins thunderous drives but I’ve forgotten the rationale for the move. \*\* The Senators 2.0 were bought out by Bob Short in 1968, who planned all along to move the team to Texas. Short’s purchase of the Senators and his subsequent moving of them to Texas is eerily similar to Jeffrey Loria’s purchase and dismantling of the Montreal Expos. Short, like Loria, bought his team with promises of supporting it and building a strong franchise, but in fact it was later revealed that he planned to break it up and move it. The Senators under Short’s ownership raised ticket prices to ridiculous levels, lowering attendance and allowing the Sens to get out of their lease. The ultimate goal, of course, was to get a sweetheart stadium deal in Arlington at taxpayer expense. Just like almost every other modern franchise move in pro sports. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/7 "2002-04-18T16:01:26Z")
**RickJay’s** got the basics down. I’ll add some detailed cites. From [http://www.geocities.com/cyberclopedia4/al/wastex/senators61.html](http://www.geocities.com/cyberclopedia4/al/wastex/senators61.html) : > [@](#): > > **1971: The worst news for the fans of the Senators had nothing to do with their 5th Place 63-96 finish. For years the Senators had trouble-drawing fans to their stadium, it in part led to the departure of Washington’s original team to Minnesota in 1960. The American league that did not want to lose its Washington presence expanded right away replacing the old team seamlessly. However, after a decade the new team was on the verge of leaving and baseball, and the city of Washington did not have any quick expansion options. Part of the problem preventing success in Washington was the Baltimore Orioles who cut their fan base in half, and was one of baseball best teams. The Senators meanwhile, who were struggling at the gate, received an offer from Dallas Fort Worth to move to Texas in 1972. Dallas-Fort Worth for years had been trying to lure a Major League team. In 1962 Major League officials halted an attempted move by the A’s (to Dallas-Fort Worth). In 1969, the metro area fell short in an attempt to gain one of baseball’s 4 expansion slots. This left city officials just one option was to lure an existing team. So a Minor League Stadium on the Turnpike in near by Arlington was expanded. With the Senators struggling in Washington owner Robert E. Short began looking for other options. When Dallas offered a reported multi-million dollar up-front payment for TV and radio broadcast rights Short asked AL owners permission to make the move. With Baltimore already entrenched in the area, owners would have no problem with the move, and 10 days before the end of the season it was approved.** From [http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/archives/cheap/2001/cheap0921.html](http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/archives/cheap/2001/cheap0921.html) : > [@](#): > > **(Senators’ owner Bob) Short’s despicableness was the result of his charging fans the highest ticket prices in the league to watch a team with no chance to win—-Dan Snyder, sadly, is only the latest in a long succession of D.C. sports owners who gouge. Bleacher seats at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, where the pennant-winning Orioles then played, cost less than a buck in 1971, whereas Short demanded $2.25 for a ticket to RFK’s upper deck, where there was a darn good chance you couldn’t even see the left fielder.** From [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0112.perry.html](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0112.perry.html) : > [@](#): > > **… the District (of Columbia) lost a second incarnation of the Senators in 1972, owners of that franchise cited the city’s refusal to pony up public funds for a new stadium, an unusual practice at the time, though common today** From the same article, a chilling quote from former Senators owner and then-Twins owner Calvin Griffith: > [@](#): > > \*\*Calvin Griffith, onetime owner of the original Washington Senators baseball team, was once asked why he moved the team in 1960 from Washington, D.C., to Minnesota. Griffith paused for a moment to consider. “Black people don’t go to ball games, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant they’ll scare you to death,” he replied. “We came [to Minnesota] because you’ve got good, hardworking white people here.” \*\* Not necessarily relevant to Bob Short moving from Washington, but perhaps racism was then an underlying current in the motivation to move. Also, from [http://www.coopercrier.com/2001/sports/10/11/cckuhn.html](http://www.coopercrier.com/2001/sports/10/11/cckuhn.html) : [quote] \*\*(Former MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn) grew up an avid Washington Senators fan. Kuhn admitted he held up approval of the Senators’ move from Washington to Texas in 1972 for three months in hopes of buyer would emerge to keep the team in Washington. > [@](#): > > **The move was “the most heart wrenching things I had to deal with.” Holding up approval “stirred up quite a rumpus in the American League,” he said, but in the end - “literally with tears in my eyes” - he had to approve the move.** ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/8 "2002-04-18T18:47:31Z")
Its interesting to compare what were considered outrageous ticket baseball prices back in the early 1970’s with today’s. We tend to forget about inflation and how $2.25 per ticket to the upper deck was a lot of money back then. One of the things Organized Baseball does well is blame the fans when a team wants to move. OB says “The community doesn’t support us.” It never says, “The team couldn’t beat a bunch of sick nuns, the beer prices are too high and we never clean the restrooms, so it is a wonder anyone pays good money to come our games at all.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/9 "2002-04-19T00:14:13Z")
They moved simply because “misery loves company.” 🙂 And I watched those bums in 61-62-63. Spent the nights of my Junior and Senior proms there. Watching Ryne Duren strike out four guys in one inning sticks in my memory. And Piersall make an impossible catch. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/10 "2002-04-19T00:38:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Watching Ryne Duren strike out four guys in one inning sticks in my memory. And Piersall make an impossible catch. \*\* **Four** guys in one inning? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/11 "2002-04-19T00:49:33Z")
He was fast, but OH! was he wild. He was an alcoholic to boot. PItched many a time when he was drunk. Think wild. Runner gets to first on third strike which was either a wild pitch or a passed ball. But dies on base when other batters strike out. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/12 "2002-04-19T04:35:04Z")
Same reason the St. Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and the Boston Braves moved. The weather. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-washington-senators-move-to-texas/104316/13 "2002-04-19T21:58:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by St. Urho \* > \*\*The original Washington Senators, with Walter Johnson, became the [Minnesota Twins](http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/history/min_history_timeline.jsp) in 1960. Although, I haven’t found a reason why, yet. \*\* _“If you build it, they will come…”_. A big reason is that a new stadium was built in the cornfields in Bloomington, MN in an attempt to attrack professional sports to Minnesota. Met Stadium succeded in bringing Vikings (American) football and Twins baseball. The Met Stadium site is now the Mall of America (with the site of home plate marked with a plaque in Camp Snoopy).