The Washington Nationals returned to town Tuesday night after a lengthy road trip that was preceded by the traditional All Star break — a two week stretch that represented the longest break of the season between games at Nationals Park.
With the trade deadline looming, it’s the season for surprise moves, and some fans arrived at Nationals Park expecting to see changes by general manager Mike Rizzo before the homestand concludes; but few expected a wholesale makeover of the presidents race roster.
Yet there it was on Tuesday night. Over the All Star break, every member of the Nationals racing presidents received a facelift.
The oversized caricatures of the Rushmores that first appeared in 2006 were gone — now replaced by slightly more cartoonish, smiling figures.
Was it a rumored licensing dispute with the designer that led to the change, or did the team simply think Abe Lincoln was just too menacing for the kiddies? Both the originals and the new-look racing presidents were created by Randy Carfagno Productions in New York.
No explanation yet from the Nats.
Readers – What do you think of the new “botox smile” look?
New presidents photo by Flickr member Randy Carfagno
LET TEDDY WIN 
I like old Abe, Tom, and George. Teddy looks fine in his new incarnation.
Are the actual mascots looking different? I didn’t notice anything on Tuesday, but I was pretty far away.
I’m okay with Teddy, and I might get used to Tom and Abe. George looks awful though. The costumes we pretty beat up, so I can see why they wanted to make new ones.
Agreed re George. Did you see him at the Park? Those new lips look 10 times worse in profile.
The new Teddy doesn’t look too much different, but the others are not good at all–Abe actually looks more menacing to me and I agree w/Presidents Race Fan about George’s lips–weird!
OMG, in person, George’s lips look like Meg Ryan’s. FAB-ULOUS! Two snaps up!
They should have a contemporary Presidents race with Obama, W., Clinton, and Bush Sr.