WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Washington Nationals have enjoyed a number of sluggers during their 11 years in the Nation’s Capital – Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, Alfonso Soriano and Bryce Harper come to mind.

But none of them can touch the long reach of DC’s all-time “Capital Punisher” – Frank Howard.

“Hondo”, who played for the Washington Senators from 1965 until the team left town after the 1971 season to become the Texas Rangers, was the biggest star on what was perennially a bad team playing at RFK.

“The only thing those Senators teams had going for them were home run hitters,” says longtime Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell. “We couldn’t win games, but we could always seem to hit home runs. To this day, I’ve never seen hit a ball harder or further than Frank Howard,” he added.

Now, 45 years after the Senators left town, Howard is being honored into the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park. Hondo, who just turned 80 this month, will be inducted before Friday night’s game against the Colorado Rockies.

“Inducting Frank into the Nationals Ring of Honor will be a personal thrill for my entire family and me,” said team President Mark Lerner in a press release. “We are excited to honor him for all he has contributed to the game of baseball.”

Howard, who stood above all players of his time, was six-foot-eight, 280 pounds as a player, and his tree trunk sized biceps could power balls longer than just about anyone in baseball. His monstrous shots into the upper deck are still, to this day, marked with seats painted white in the far reaches of RFK.

Howard is DC’s all-time home run leader, with 237 dingers as a Senator, ahead of the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman at 213. Howard represented the Senators in four All-Star Games (1968-71) and led the American League in home runs twice, clubbing 44 homers in both 1968 and 1970.

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