In the 1969 summer of Woodstock, something mildly hallucinogenic was going on hundreds of miles away in Washington. The Senators, a famously bad team that had finished over .500 only four times in the previous 35 seasons, had become pretty decent.

Ted Williams was the famous manager, Frank Howard would end up hitting 48 home runs, first baseman Mike Epstein would have his best year with 30 home runs of his own, and the Senators — yes, the Senators — would finish with an 86-76 record that was five and a half games better than the Yankees’ 80-81 mark.

It was the first time that this second edition of the Senators (the first had bolted to Minnesota after the 1960 season) would finish over .500, and it would be the last. After two more seasons, they were off to Texas to become the Rangers, and Washington was left without baseball until the Nationals arrived in 2005....