Washington Nationals success translates into big local and national interest

By Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post

For most of the past decade, baseball fans averted their eyes from Washington in July. Even the team’s natural fan base sometimes found it difficult to pay attention to a losing team and its half-empty ballpark.

Wilson High assistant baseball coach Shellie Bowers Jr. couldn’t interest his players in free tickets. Jordan Mercer, a high school freshman from Luray, Va., didn’t bother staying up for the team’s late-night West Coast trips. David Sheinfeld, a 25-year-old from Rockville, would watch ESPN for highlights, only to find the announcers focused on the opposing team.

But for the first time since moving to the District, the Nats have three National League all-stars, and could yet add a fourth. They will wake up on July 4 with the best record in the National League; no Washington baseball team has led its league on Independence Day since the 1933 Senators, the last Washington team to play in a World Series.

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