Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Catfish Hunter Almost Wore the D.C. "Curly W"

All Washington baseball fans, whether they were alive at the time or not, know the story of the magical year of 1969, when Ted Williams led a group of fair-to-middling baseball players to an 86-76 record, coming within just one game of third place in the American League’s new Eastern Division.   It had been a quarter-century since Washington fans had experienced a winning season, and fans flocked to the then still-new RFK Stadium, hoping to attach themselves vicariously to the miracle that was beginning to blossom on East Capitol Street.   More than 916,000 fans watched the Senators play baseball that year, the seventh highest number in the American League, all the while paying what was by far the highest ticket prices in the Major Leagues.   Those tickets were more than the New York Yankees, more than the Boston Red Sox and more than the Los Angeles Dodgers.   Half the talent and twice the price. Only in Washington.   No one expected that tw...