Potomac Nationals
Potomac Nationals | |||||
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Minor league affiliations | |||||
Previous classes | Class A-Advanced | ||||
Previous leagues | Carolina League | ||||
Major league affiliations | |||||
Previous teams |
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Minor league titles | |||||
League titles (4) |
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Division titles (9) |
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Team data | |||||
Previous names |
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Colors | Red, white, blue | ||||
Mascot | Uncle Slam (2005–2019) Big Shot (1995–2004) Prince Willie (1987–1997) Boomer (1992-1995) | ||||
Previous parks | Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium (1984–2019) |
The Potomac Nationals were a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League. They were located in Woodbridge, Virginia, and played their home games at Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium. After the 2019 season, the team relocated to Fredericksburg, Virginia, becoming the Fredericksburg Nationals.
History
The Alexandria Dukes moved from Alexandria, Virginia, to Woodbridge for the 1984 season and were renamed the Prince William Pirates. Subsequently, the team was named the Prince William Yankees, Prince William Cannons, Potomac Cannons, and the Potomac Nationals.
The team was affiliated with the Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and lastly the Washington Nationals. The franchise played all its home games at Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium, with an announced seating capacity of 6,000 people.[1] The team mascot was Uncle Slam, a blue creature resembling Uncle Sam in hair and attire.[2]
Relocation
Previous attempts
The team sought a better ballpark for at least twenty years. When Prince William County officials rejected a 1998 proposal for a $150 million sports and entertainment complex on the Cherry Hill Peninsula by the Potomac River, team owner Art Silber changed the team name from Prince William Cannons to Potomac Cannons and announced an effort to move to Fairfax County.[3] In 2000, the team proposed a $250 million stadium and apartment complex next to Fairfax County's Dunn Loring Metro station,[4] but county officials rejected it in 2001. In 2002, the team and Prince William County officials reached an agreement to build a new $10 million stadium tentatively sited next to Pfitzner Stadium.[5] In 2005, the team announced preliminary details about construction of the stadium, due to open in 2007, but with the site undecided.[6]
Another ballpark proposal began as early as 2010.
On July 13, 2017, the Nationals withdrew the proposal for the new stadium in Woodbridge after it was clear it did not have the votes to pass.[13] Silber indicated that the team could be sold to buyers outside the Northern Virginia area, but that he preferred to keep it local if possible. Potential locations included the cities of Alexandria (former home of the team when they were the Alexandria Dukes) and Fredericksburg, as well as Loudoun, Spotsylvania,[14] and Fairfax counties.[15] Maryland and Arlington County were ruled out as possibilities, and Silber indicated it was unlikely the team would find another site in Prince William, either.[14] Alexandria indicated it wasn't interested in February 2018.[16]
In January 2018, Silber announced an extension of the team's lease at Pfitzner Stadium through 2020, still needing Minor League Baseball to approve playing there past the end of the 2018 season.[17][18] Silber remained interested in moving the team and building a new stadium, in Northern Virginia—including Prince William County—or another nearby locality,[17][18] but said he was not pursuing a sale.[17]
Move to Fredericksburg
Silber announced in June 2018 that he had signed a letter of intent to build
The Potomac Nationals played their last regular season game at Pfitzner Stadium on August 29, 2019.[22][23] On October 5, 2019, the team announced that it had changed its name to the Fredericksburg Nationals for the 2020 season and that its marketing nickname for the team – "P-Nats" when the team was the Potomac Nationals – would change to "FredNats."[24][25][26] Because minor league baseball for 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[27] the Fredericksburg Nationals played their first game on May 4, 2021.[28]
Playoffs
- 1989 season: Defeated Lynchburg, 2–1, in semifinals; defeated Durham, 3–1 to win championship.
- 1991 season: Lost to Lynchburg, 2–0, in semifinals.
- 1995 season: Lost to Wilmington, 2–0, in semifinals.
- 2004 season: Lost to Wilmington, 2–1, in semifinals.
- 2008 season: Defeated Wilmington, 3–0, in semifinals; defeated Myrtle Beach, 3–1 to win championship.
- 2010 season: Defeated Frederick, 3–1, in semifinals; defeated Winston-Salem, 3–1 to win championship.
- 2011 season: Lost to Frederick, 3–2, in semifinals.
- 2013 season: Defeated Lynchburg, 2–0, in semifinals; lost to Salem, 3–0 in finals.
- 2014 season: Defeated Lynchburg, 2–0, in semifinals; defeated Myrtle Beach, 3–1 to win championship.
- 2016 season: Lost to Lynchburg 2–1 in semifinals.
- 2018 season: Defeated Buies Creek, 1–0 in finals.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni of the Mariners/Pirates/Yankees/Cannons/Nationals include:
- Rick Ankiel
- Brad Ausmus
- Rafael Bautista
- Barry Bonds
- Carmen Cali
- Mike Cameron
- Coco Crisp
- Ian Desmond
- Ross Detwiler
- Edwin Encarnación
- Danny Espinosa
- Félix Fermín
- Dan Haren
- Sterling Hitchcock
- Scott Kamieniecki
- Jeff King
- John Lannan
- José Lind
- Braden Looper
- Kevin Maas
- Justin Maxwell
- Hensley Meulens
- Alan Mills
- Magglio Ordóñez
- R. C. Orlan
- Andy Pettitte
- Jorge Posada
- Albert Pujols
- John Smiley
- Joey Votto
- Josh Whitesell
- Bernie Williams
- Gerald Williams
- Jack Wilson
- Dmitri Young
- Jordan Zimmermann
References
- ISBN 978-1-59921-024-7– via Google Books.
- ^ "Meet Uncle Slam | Potomac Nationals Fans". Potomac Nationals. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
- ^ Shear, Michael D. (March 21, 1998). "Cannons Aim for Stadium in Fairfax". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Eggen, Dan (November 1, 2000). "Cannons Set Sights on Fairfax". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Weiss, Eric M. (July 4, 2002). "Stadium Deal to Keep Cannons in Pr. William". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Campbell, Rich (February 14, 2005). "Cannons Make Name Change; New Stadium Also Will Be Built for the Potomac Nationals". The Washington Post. p. D04. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Reichard, Kevin (September 27, 2010). "P-Nats, Prince William County working on new ballpark plan". Ballpark Digest. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
After making several runs at a new ballpark in several years, [...] yet another new ballpark plan.
- ^ Buske, Jennifer (August 1, 2011). "Aging Potomac Nationals' stadium field to get a makeover". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Koma, Alex (December 14, 2016). "Potomac Nationals, Prince William County nearing stadium agreement". InsideNoVa.com. Leesburg, Virginia: Northern Virginia Media Services. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
- ^ Koma, Alex (December 30, 2016). "New Potomac Nationals stadium construction may face hurdles". InsideNoVa.com. Leesburg, Virginia: Northern Virginia Media Services. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
- ^ Rist, Hugh (February 16, 2016). "Potomac Nationals face 2018 deadline for new stadium". InsideNoVa.com. Leesburg, Virginia: Northern Virginia Media Services. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- ^ Koma, Alex (June 21, 2016). "Prince William's $35M stadium deal avoids referendum". InsideNoVa.com. Leesburg, Virginia: Northern Virginia Media Services. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- Washington Business Journal. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- ^ a b Foley, Dennis (July 17, 2017). "Possible new homes for Potomac Nationals being considered". WTOP-FM. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- ^ Maese, Rick (July 13, 2017). "Potomac Nationals say they might leave Woodbridge after stadium deal falls through". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- ^ Koma, Alex (February 1, 2018). "Alexandria not interested in Potomac Nationals". InsideNoVa.com. Leesburg, Virginia: Northern Virginia Media Services. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Washington Business Journal. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ a b Koma, Alex (January 29, 2018). "Potomac Nationals owner in stadium talks outside of Prince William". InsideNoVa.com. Leesburg, Virginia: Northern Virginia Media Services. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Hambrick, Greg (June 26, 2018). "Potomac Nationals announce plans for Fredericksburg stadium". InsideNoVa.com. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
- ^ "P-Nats Announce First Fredericksburg Ballpark Founding Partnership". Ballpark Digest. July 9, 2018. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
- ^ Jett, Cathy (November 13, 2018). "Fredericksburg finalizes $35 million stadium deal with Potomac Nationals' owners". The Free Lance–Star. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
- ^ Murillo, Mike (August 30, 2019). "Thanks for the memories: Potomac Nationals play last regular game in Prince William Co". WTOP-FM. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ "Corredor's Bomb Drives P-Nats to 5–1 Victory". MiLB.com. Potomac Nationals. August 29, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Caputo, Phil (October 5, 2019). "Introducing the FredNats, by George!". SportsLogos.net. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ LoMonaco, Joey (October 5, 2019). "Fredericksburg minor league baseball team unveils new name". The Free Lance–Star. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ Hill, Benjamin (October 5, 2019). "Fredericksburg makes Nationals news". MiLB.com. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "2020 Minor League Baseball season shelved". MiLB.com. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ^ "Nationals vs. Hillcats Box Score 05/04/21". Minor League Baseball. May 4, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.