Brother-in-law Bryan and I took off from Baltimore at about 5:00 in order to get to D.C. We chose a bit of a different route than I've been taking to the ballpark. We took I-95 to the Greenbelt Metro station north of DC. We parked and rode the train to the Navy Yard stop, and when you come out of the train station to turn left, the park is right there, while the capitol is to your right:
The view of the capitol from the train station
Nationals Park is in its inaugural season this year. It’s a nice, new-ish style stadium. In layout and footprint, not a heck of a lot different from Progressive Field in Cleveland. One of the slight disappointments is the area surrounding the stadium. There’s some nondescript office buildings, and the river to the south, but the view from the stadium doesn’t face the river; or the government buildings. Bryan suggested that the District is probably hoping for the stadium to be a boon to the area, and hopefully shops and culture start to spring up around it. If that’s the case, it should be great in a couple of years, but right now the part of town is pretty drab.
Bryan and I grabbed some upper-deck tickets from the box office. Nationals Park hasn’t really realized their team is terrible... the lower deck is vastly overpriced. In the first few innings, the upper deck crowds outnumbered the lower by probably 2-1. I guarantee that patrons going to Nationals Park next year will find some lower-level price cuts... if the management has any intelligence about it. Which.. they might not.
The upper-deck view of the field. No wonder no one will pay $60+ to sit lower.
The best part of the night?
FLOPPY CAMOUFLAGE HAT NIGHT!!
Lunzer, this one’s for you.
Bryan doesn’t like to turn around for pictures.
It was veterans’ recognition night, which is why the floppy hats were in abundance. They did some nice tributes, including the color guard and a fantastic Star Spangled Banner by a Navy Musician 1st Class. I always get nervous when ballparks hold military tributes*... but Nationals Park did a nice job of honoring but not fauning. It was inspiring but not overboard.
*Melissa and I attended a Twins/Rangers game at Arlington in 2006, and the military sappiness was just nauseating. Like I said, I don’t mind a tribute or honor. My brother is in the Air Force, and though I don’t always agree with the ideals, I couldn’t be prouder of him. Military members do a hard job. But, the Arlington experience was so... Texas. Too big, too much, you know. That’s all.
A nicely done Anthem.
Bryan introduced me to Yeungling beer and Old Bay spice... it’s marvelous on fries. We munched and drank and Bryan did the Nationals’ half the scorebook. Bryan dropped his beer, but saved the overflow by dropping the fizzing bottle into his empty glass. It was a moment of inspiring improvisation... and saved the beer. Which is the most important.
Unfortunately, late in the game we got a call from Melissa with bad news... We had been told by our broker (all through the leasing process of our apartment) that we’d be able to move our stuff in this weekend. Since it’s brand new, and the apartments haven’t been inspected, it wasn’t something she was actually able to promise. It turns out we won’t be able to move stuff in early, and Bryan and I left with a 5-5 tie in the 7th inning in order to deal with the issue, which I’ll touch on in a later post.
I think Nationals Park has potential, especially in the development of the neighborhood. I don’t think the park has enough personality on its own to draw without a good neighborhood and a better team. I’ll end with my hands-down favorite part of the night, the Presidents’ Race:
Lincoln had a handy lead before pulling a hammy and giving the race to Washington. Out of all the variations of this odd tradition, this is probably my favorite.
Thanks to Bryan for a good time in D.C.!
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