Bernanke says Washington can learn from baseball team's success

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Federal Reserve chief and avid baseball fan Ben Bernanke saluted the playoff-bound Washington Nationals on Friday as an example for gridlocked US government leaders of how to succeed by making wise, patient decisions.

"People decry the absence of leadership in Washington these days. My response: Look no further than the home-team dugout at Nationals Park," the Fed chairman wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal's online edition.

The Nationals just completed the best regular season in their eight-year history, winning the National League Eastern Division with the best record in Major League Baseball. The team begins the playoffs on Sunday in hopes of securing the first World Series berth for a Washington team since 1933.

He said the formula for Nationals' success rested heavily on the wisdom and experience of its manager Davey Johnson. "He combines the best of two seemingly at-odds managerial traditions," Mr Bernanke wrote, noting how Mr Johnson used the latest statistical advances as well as old-fashioned scouting.