In a cruel irony, the national pastime was not played in the nation's capital for 33 years on the major league level. That all changed nine seasons ago, when the Montreal Expos moved to D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. For the first time since 1971, a Washington baseball team played ball on April 4, 2005, losing, to the Braves, 8-4. Livan Hernandez, who had led the Marlins to their first-ever World Series title in 1997 was the first pitcher in Nats history that afternoon in Atlanta, allowing seven runs in 4.2 innings. His poor outing aside, it was a historic moment, and Hernandez threw this official Major League Opening Day baseball in the first inning that day. It is signed, along with the following notation by the pitcher: "1ST PITCH EVERY (sic) IN NATIONALS HISTORY" with "NATIONALS" running into the seams. The ball shows nice use and comes with an LOA from Hernandez. Prior to the birth of the Nationals, Washington had deep roots in Major League history. The Senators were a founding member of the American League and existed from 1901 to 1960 before moving to Minnesota and becoming the Twins. A second Washington Senators team existed from 1961–1971 before moving to Arlington, Texas for the 1972 season and changing their name to the Texas Rangers,