WASHINGTON ¨C Two decades ago, Jamey Carroll, Chad Cordero, John Patterson, Brian Schneider and Ryan Zimmerman were inaugural members of a Major League club that had just been relocated to Washington, D.C.
Time has quickly passed.
This weekend, the quintet was reunited at Nationals Park -- looking back on and celebrating the 20th anniversary in Nationals team history.
¡°It snuck up on me real quick,¡± said Schneider.
The ¡®05 team was inducted into the Ring of Honor in a pregame ceremony on Saturday afternoon, before the Nationals' 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks. The Ring of Honor pays tribute to some of the most elite players and managers with historical ties to the Nationals, Washington Senators, Homestead Grays and Montreal Expos. The marker was unveiled at sections 314 and 315 by 20 season plan holders, all of whom have held the plan since 2005.
Cordero said the tribute ¡°kinda put a little tear in my eye.¡±
¡°It's something you don't really expect,¡± said Cordero, who is a coach and mentor at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. ¡°We were just a team that was coming down from Montreal and trying to find a way to bring back baseball to all the fans who were missing it after a long time. ¡ It just kind of makes it come full circle. I'm pretty emotional anyways, so that¡¯s just how I am. To find out that they're doing that [was] pretty special."
The Nationals brought baseball back to Washington, D.C., for the first time in 33 years when the team relocated from Montreal.
They played their first game in team history on April 4, 2005, against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
On April 14, 2005, they hosted their first home game at RFK Stadium -- a 5-3 win over the D-backs.
¡°You can just tell, the fans here, they love the game,¡± said Cordero. ¡°You could tell after that first win against the Diamondbacks all those years ago and when the fireworks were going off and everybody was cheering and jumping up and down and seeing RFK shake like it's an earthquake or something.¡±
The inaugural Nationals team began the 2005 season with a strong first half. They held a 5 1/2-game lead over the Braves for first place in the NL East with a 50-32 record in early July. They finished the season 81-81.
¡°We came here every day to play baseball, try to do the best we could,¡± Schneider said. ¡°The fans showed up like crazy. They¡¯re still showing up. Did we know what we were getting ourselves into? You see the history of the game that was here, with the presidents, and then they had baseball taken away from them. So we knew it was going to be a huge deal.¡±
Carroll is reminded of Nationals history often. He lives in Viera, Fla., the former site of Spring Training, and he has visuals in his home, too. Carroll still has a poster from the 2005 season hanging on his wall.
¡°You were a part of MLB history¡¡± said Carroll. ¡°The longer you get away from it, the more you realize it was a pretty big deal.¡±
The alumni participated in a Q&A, meet and greets and photo and autograph sessions during the weekend. Fans in attendance received a NATS20 replica commemorative ring on Friday and a replica 2005 jersey on Saturday. (Zimmerman even helped hand out the jerseys).
Prior to Saturday¡¯s game, 2005 Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Cordero threw the ceremonial first pitch to ¡®05 Opening Day catcher Schneider; Carroll delivered the game¡¯s lineup; and Patterson called ¡°Play ball!¡± with his son, Palmer.
¡°To be on that team that came back, and to see fans that have been here since Day One, it¡¯s always good to see their faces again,¡± Schneider said. ¡°I¡¯m very grateful to be a part of this.¡±