WASHINGTON — The Nationals paid tribute to local sports history before Game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers on Thursday. First, Livan Hernandez — the man who started the franchise’s first game after it moved to D.C. in 2005– threw out the first pitch to former teammate Ryan Zimmerman, the longest tenured National.
But the Nats have a championship trophy on the mind and none of them on the shelf, so they had to turn to a different D.C. sports legend to fire up the crowd before the start of the game. Former Redskins runningback John “The Diesel” Riggins, the MVP of that team’s 1983 Super Bowl win, stood on top of the Nationals’ dugout just before Max Scherzer’s first pitch and delivered a message to the fans:
“It’s fourth and 1, and the Nats are going for it,” Riggins said. That’s a football metaphor.
As USA TODAY Sports’ own Gabe Lacques pointed out, Riggins played a big role in another big win for D.C. over a Los Angeles team in the playoffs:
The 67-year-old Riggins now co-hosts Redskins pregame shows on ESPN 980 in Washington.
