Nationals Park

I had to save Nationals Park and Jack Murphy Stadium for last for different reasons. I am now a resident of the DC metropolitan area and the Nats are the home team. As a fan of the game, I want to see the local team do well, something the Nats haven’t accomplished over the past two years. Given a choice between living in a city with a bad team and living in a city with no major league baseball, the choice is obvious.

Nationals Park is a nice facility. It’s not great, but it is a really nice place to see a game. The majority of people travel to the game by Metro (the DC subway system). There is an exit a few hundred yards from the main entrance into the outfield. This entrance has two ticket window areas and some self-serve kiosks. If you prefer to scalp tickets, there are a number of unauthorized resellers between the Metro station and the ballpark. My only complaint about this entrance is the lack of any real outside architecture. The field is below street level. As you come in through the outfield entrance you are at the top of the field-level seats. In place of any substantial ballpark aesthetics for this entrance are two big [and ugly] parking garages. These garages serve another purpose which is to block the view of the US Capitol building from the stadium. There are a few seats where you can see the Capitol between the garages. This may become a moot point as this area goes through re-development. This was a warehouse district before the stadium and has a lot of potential to become a very trendy/hip neighborhood. For now it’s a bit sparse. If you’re looking to have dinner before the game, grab something downtown then travel to the ballpark. On the opposite side of the stadium is the first base entrance. Here is where the stadium structure rises up along the Anacostia River. There is also a walkway with years imprinted along the way. Each year has significance to Washington baseball and a small statue to the side explains the importance of that year. This entrance is hardly used in comparison to the OF entrance.
 

Once inside, you realize you’re in a nice ballpark. There are some statues right by the OF entrance. They look a little weird as the artist went for an effect of showing the people in motion. As a result, Walter Johnson has three arms. To the artists credit, he did show Johnson’s side arm pitching style. Along the vending area above the field level seats, the columns have large pictures of hall of fame players. What I found interesting was the choice to use all baseball HOF players as opposed to pictures of famous Washington players. [Please keep your chuckling to a minimum.] The scoreboard is huge and has great resolution. The New Yankee Stadium scoreboard may be bigger but Washington has nothing to be ashamed of. There is great variability in ticket prices. [add lower-level ticket prices here] The Nats also sell some upper deck tickets on day of game for $5 each. Otherwise the cheapest tickets are around $10. If you’re catching a day game in mid-summer, I suggest finding seats in the shade.

The food is standard ballpark fare, but they do have a few Ben’s Chili Bowl booths. Ben’s is a DC icon. [I highly recommend the original location downtown.] It’s not nearly as famous as Pat’s and Geno’s in Philadelphia, but the food is a lot better and the staff much friendlier. They also have a few gelato carts. I’m not much of an ice cream fan, but this is good stuff.  

Inaugural season, second home game

I went to the second regular season game ever held at this park. It was right after the 2008 BRBL draft and in keeping with the other two games I saw that weekend in Philadelphia and Baltimore, it was f-ing cold. I understand the first game was a sellout. The park was almost empty on this night. Partially due to the cold, partially due to the final four championship game being on. Since moving to the area, I have attended a number of games. I expect to be a season ticket holder within the next few years. The Nationals have been terrible the past two seasons. [>100 losses each year] They seem to have some good hitting with bad pitching. During this past season, they signed highly touted prospect Steven Strasburg. They held a ‘Welcome Steve’ press conference before a game I attended. I wasn’t able to get to the press conference but during a rain delay I saw Scott Boros leaving the stadium. On another night, I had my first experience with the umpires calling a rain delay and putting the tarp on the field…and it wasn’t raining. It did start raining about 25 minutes later – and it did get to be heavier rain within 45 minutes, but they could have continued play. Are players becoming so spoiled that they can’t get rained on? 

 

If you’re in the DC area and have the opportunity, go see a game here. Get the full DC experience and Metro to the game. Be aware, this crowd is not ‘baseball mature’ yet. In other words, when you see a game in New York or Los Angeles, the crowd knows to stand up and/or make noise when the home team has 2 strikes on an opposing batter [especially when there’s 2 outs]. You’re lucky to get a handful of people to stand with 2 strikes with 2 outs in the top of the 9th with a lead. Just like the surrounding area, it’s under development.

One final comment. The park features a President’s Race before the bottom of the fourth inning. This is somewhat stylized after the sausage race featured in Milwaukee. The difference is the President’s Race is a complete farce and should be stopped completely in its current form. The sausages actually race. It’s not a difficult concept. Let the people in the giant heads try to win the race. The four Presidents depicted are Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt – from Mount Rushmore. [That would be Teddy, not FDR – which would be horribly inappropriate for a race.] The shtick for the race is Teddy never wins. With this race, the fans never win either.

Update August 2010: I was invited to the August 26 Nationals game against the Cardinals by my friend Wilson [who spent many years in St. Louis]. While the game itself was an impressive 13 inning back and forth battle, the most impressive event of the evening was Albert Pujols hitting career home run #400.

 Albert rounding 3rd after career HR #400.