Baseball.

It’s a game that holds and carries so much history which is so unique to the sport. It’s the American Nation’s pastime since it’s been around since the 19th century and was even around during the American Civil War. Needless to say, there are a lot, and we mean A LOT, of baseball archives.

So why not dig one up on oh you know, the White House Ellipse.

Do you know the area where the President holds an annual Easter Egg Roll? Well, imagine that area as baseball heaven.

Along the 52-acre that now sits within President’s Park, sat not one, not two, not even three but four baseball diamonds. Dating back to the 1860s, the National Mall states how semi-professional baseball clubs were made up of federal employees.

How’s that for a work softball league eh?

So who exactly played on these diamonds? Well, the land was used by many different baseball teams and leagues.

Within the 1860s, DC’s baseball team the Washington Senators used the land closest to the Capitol and was even the first meeting site for the Senators and the Washington Nationals. 

The Nationals used the land closest to the White House and even hosted a spectated tournament with the Philadelphia Athletics that had charged admission.

Additionally, congressional pages who worked on delivering messages for congressmen from the House and the Senate had their respective teams. The teams made up of high school boys would compete with fellow local high schools.

Now for A League of Their Own moment which is super cool, women who were federal government employees would also play on the Ellipse grounds! Due to World War I, many women moved to Washington in efforts to support during wartime.

Even during the Second World War, the Ellipse grounds were used for games between not only government employees but small business and restaurant employees.

There are still fields around the Washington Monument today, which softball teams enter a lottery every year to be allowed to play on one of the fields.

Even back when Bryce Harper first landed on the Nationals, he went to one of the grounds and played a game of softball right near the Washington Monument. 

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Just imagine if that land on the Ellipse was used today to host MLB games? Seeing Juan Soto slap a couple of dingers or Max Scherzer dominate the mound with the National Mall sitting behind them is almost very Field of Dreams-like and is pretty symbolic of baseball’s impact in America.

Just wouldn’t want to see any home runs leave the stadium and hit any monuments or tourist!