DCist today published a wonderful Oral History of the Nationals Racing Presidents, lovingly curated by intrepid journalist Matt Blitz. including a first-ever formal admission by a team official that the fix was in for Teddy Roosevelt.
Blitz tells the history of the presidents race through interviews with many of the people behind the scenes and involved in its creation, revealing even a few things I hadn’t documented on our facts page, such as the inspiration that costume designer Randy Carfagno received from none other than Bette Midler.
But Blitz’s biggest “scoop” comes from Josh Golden, an ad agency executive who served as the Nats’ Director of Creative Services for the team’s first two seasons. “The first race we had George win, but we [decided] we didn’t want to go in order, so we skipped Teddy,” Golden told Blitz. “…people started emailing us, “Why hasn’t Teddy won?” There wasn’t a plan to [have Teddy lose] until those emails started coming in. By the fifth game, we had decided that Teddy isn’t going to win. Let’s make it a thing.”
Yikes. I may or may not have written a couple of those emails.
Great stuff and a worthy read.
LET TEDDY WIN 