The song Baby Shark blared over loudspeakers and a wave of red washed across the US capital on Saturday as Washington Nationals fans rejoiced at a parade marking their first World Series victory since 1924.
“They say good things come to those who wait. Ninety-five years is a pretty long wait, but I’ll tell you, this is worth the wait,” Nationals owner Ted Lerner told the cheering crowd.
As buses carrying the players and team officials wended their way along the parade route, pitcher Max Scherzer at one point hoisted the World Series trophy to the cheers of the crowd.
Photo: Amber Searls-USA TODAY
At a rally just blocks from the Capitol, Scherzer said that his teammates grinded their hearts out to “stay in the fight.”
After backup outfielder Gerardo Parra joined the team, they started dancing and having fun, he said.
They also started hitting.
Photo: AFP
“Never in this town have you seen a team compete with so much heart and so much fight,” Scherzer said.
And then the Nats danced.
Team officials, Nationals manager Dave Martinez and several players thanked the fans for their support through the best of times and staying with them even after a dismal 19-31 start to the season.
The camaraderie among the players was a theme heard throughout the rally.
“It took all 25 of us, every single day we were pulling for each other,” said pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the World Series MVP.
Nationals veteran slugger Howie Kendrick, 36, said that when he came to the Nationals in 2017, “I was thinking about retiring. This city taught me to love baseball again.”
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser declared the city the “District of Champions.”
The Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup last year, the Washington Mystics won the WNBA championship this year, and now the Nationals.
The city had been thirsting for a World Series championship for nearly a century. The Nationals gave them that by winning in seven games over the Houston Astros; the clincher came on the road on Wednesday.
“I just wish they could have won in DC,” said Ronald Saunders of Washington, who came with a Little League team who were marching in the parade.
Nick Hashimoto of Dulles, Virginia, was among those who arrived at 5am to snag a front-row spot. He brought his own baby shark toy in honor of Parra’s walk-up song, which began as a parental tribute to the musical taste of his two-year-old daughter and ended up as a rallying cry that united fans at Nationals Park and his teammates.
As “Baby Shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo” played on a crisp morning, early risers joined in with the trademark response — arms extended in a chomping motion.
Chants of “Let’s go Nats!” resonated from the crowd hours before the rally.
Kimberly Ballou of Silver Spring, Maryland, said sports “is a unifier” that transcends race, gender and class and brings people together.
The crowd along the route was deeply packed. Cheers went up and fans waved red streamers, hand towels and signs that said “Fight Finished” as the players rode by on the open top of double-decker buses.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, a cigar in his mouth, jumped off with the World Series trophy to show the fans lining the barricades and slap high-fives.
Martinez also got in on the fun.
“We know what this title means to DC, a true baseball town, from the Senators to the [Homestead] Grays and now the Nationals,” Bowser said at the rally. “By finishing the fight, you have brought a tremendous amount of joy to our town and inspired a new generation of players and Nationals fans.”
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