Artifacts to look for at Nationals Park ?

In September 2013, the community came together in response to the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. On Opening Day 2014, a private plaque unveiling was held for the victims’ families in Center Field Plaza. Ceremonies were dedicated to honoring and remembering the lives lost, as well as recognizing and celebrating the resolve and compassion demonstrated by so many in the aftermath of the tragedy.

On April 15, 1997, former Commissioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig announced the baseball-wide retirement of Jackie Robinson’s uniform number 42. Robinson’s number is displayed on the Terrace Level façade. To date, no Nationals players’ numbers have been retired.

World-renowned husband and wife artists Omri Amrany and Julie Rotblatt, along with Jody Rotblatt, Sean Bell and Oscar Leon, worked hundreds of hours to bestow on Nationals Park the likes of Josh Gibson, Frank Howard and Walter Johnson in white bronze. These Negro League Baseball, Major League Baseball and D.C. sports icons have now staked claim near Home Plate Gate where they can be seen, admired, discussed and argued over by all who enter the gates of Nationals Park. Known for many types of art mediums, the team from the Fine Art Studio of Rotblatt-Amrany in Highwood, Ill. has created such artistic immortalizations as Michael Jordan, “Magic” Johnson, Gordie Howe, Ty Cobb and – Mr. Take Me Out to the Ballgame himself – Harry Caray.