Nationals Ballpark, etc.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Hoya recently commented on the new park.

I went last night for the first time. I'm underwhelmed. Can't hold a candle to Coors, Camden Yards, Petco, some of the other parks I've been to. I haven't been, but I understand the Pittsburgh and Detroit parks are also up there.

I understand now why they didn't do a retro old-style park. It wouldn't fit the location. Basically it's in an area of low-rise ugly industrial buildings that'll all be torn down. It doesn't have the natural advantages of Camden Yards or LoDo. More like the setting of the Giants' park -- a forgotten industrial zone. (But the Giants park makes beautiful use of the water; Nats park doesn't). Most of the new development mirrors the ballpark: lots of steel and glass.

Outside the ballpark is dull. Nothing much that says "baseball." Not very open to the street -- there's no street scene at all yet, but the bars, etc, will come. But even when they do, the park itself isn't very inviting and not well-integrated into the surrounding streets. Most traffic comes from the north/metro stop side, but that's centerfield. They should've made the public face of the park in centerfield then.

Inside reminds me of the new retractable domes, like the former BOB in Phoenix. Again, lots of steel. Or (and this isn't an insult) like one of the nicer new minor league parks blown up by 100%. What the minor league parks do to save costs -- exposed steel, minimalist form-follows-function stuff -- the Nats do for (expensive) style reasons. I don't really get it.

And it's really, really expensive. I had a seat in the first row right above the Nats bullpen (I figured there's always a lot of action in the pen given the state of the Nats starting pitching). 39 bucks. Yeah, the Cubs are considered "premium," but that's pretty steep.

Infield boxes between the dugouts are "sold out" all season, yet were about 3/4 empty. I understand this is normal. I guess lobbyists bought all the season tix and they don't use them or even bother to throw them back into the resale pool. I tried to find someone scalping good tix and ... weirdly (this has never happened to me before) was unable to do so. So the TV shots are of an empty background.

Weird concourses -- so much is shut off for the "club" stuff behind homeplate that you can't do a full circuit on anything other than on the bottom ring, and even that narrows a lot around homeplate. No microbrews, just crappy Miller stuff. Crappy undersized bar in CF. Most of all: no views at all. It's not right on the Anacostia River. I had wondered why not. Walking around before the game, I realized: the sewage treatment plant is on the river directly across the street from the park. Oh.

I left early (an oddity for me, since I'm a pretty hardcore "the game is over when it's over" fan) because there was no way on earth the Nats were going to come back from a 5-0 deficit after 6. Lucky I did: I saw the pics on the news of the mob waiting to get on metro after the game. No bars, etc, nearby to cushion the flow by absorbing some post-game traffic. Just a huge mass of people standing outside the metro station.

I will come home with a new appreciation for Coors ... and Camden, the first and the best of the old-is-new parks.

I'm wondering: what favorite parks do you folks have?

[Newman]

Hey, thanks for that detailed description of National Park, Jackass.

As a fantasy baseball player I'm wondering did it seem like a hitter's park or a pitcher's park?

I think I heard that Coors Field is now one of the oldest parks in existance. A lot of new parks have been built since Coors, when, 1995?

Dodger Stadium will be revamped.

Yankee Stadium will be new next year?

Besides Wrigley and Fenway, lots of new stadiums have been built. Not many of the old ones left.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Dodger Stadium is getting a makeover but isn't getting torn down, so that'll remain the 3rd oldest.

I'm guessing the Nats park will play pretty neutral. Balls really carried in batting practice, so much so that I almost got nailed with one when I was out looking around the concourse in CF. In the game, the humid air seemed to make them die.

[HoyaRoxFan]

There's been a lot of chatter about wind in Nationals Park preventing it from being a hitter's paradise, though to be honest, I've not made heads or tails of that as it seems the wind down there would come across the rivers and blow straight out center field...

I think it's way too early to make judgments on the place yet, though I'll agree that there's not a lot of character built in. Ridiculously wide concourses, no neighborhood just yet, and frankly, no team... It's no Coors Field, that's certain.

But we locals are pretty excited that they've put so much local food inside, and we're thrilled about the potential. Time will tell though...

[BigRapidsJackass]

Hoya, in favor of the new park:

-- they kept it in the District, on the metro.
-- they do have local vendors. I never went to Ben's Chili Bowl when I lived in the District, but I went to the one in the ballpark last weekend, and now I can honestly say: "what's the big deal?" Better than that in a disgusting but good way: the nachos with Cincy chili at the Hard Times. Hot grease goes with cold beer.
-- it will develop, and quickly. Probably a lot like the Giants park.

Hey, and the Nats actually have something close to a core of decent young talent: Zimmerman, Milledge, Elijah Dukes, a couple decent arms, etc. Once the Guzmans of the world come off the books, I think they may have a future.

I forgot to mention the weirdest thing: the strange collection of former stars honored on the pillars in the main concourse. I thought they'd be former Senators. Frank Howard? Yes. But the Frank Howard pictured is clearly a black guy. Wasn't there also another/lesser Frank Howard? Was he African-American? Cause "Hondo" was huge and quite white. But why would the other one get a pillar? Maybe hey were all from DC? No. There's Hank Aaron. Maybe they were all Negro Leaguers who played in and around DC? No. There's Hank Greenberg. You tell me, cause I'm all out of guesses.

[HoyaRoxFan]

O'Dowd may be complacent, but Bowden is just bizarre (why do the Nats need to have locked up Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young, Ronnie Belliard and Felipe Lopez, and any number of extra mediocre outfielders, so I'm not optimistic about the young talent just yet outside Zim and Milledge.

I can understand why the Rockies wouldn't re-sign Josh Fogg; I am baffled as to why the Nationals wouldn't want him, and would then cut John Patterson, given the "talent" they have.

They have a similarly strange "Wall of Fame" in RFK with some random folks on it. As ever, there's this tension with all things DC about should it embrace its own culture (richly African-American) or be a mirror of the nation (meaning what?). I think they opted for the latter with Nationals Park, but it's not mirroring much at the moment. We shall see...

[BigRapidsJackass]

Nick Johnson I have no problem with. Dmitri Young was signed because -- as I've learned -- he's really the only "popular" Nats player here in DC. Belliard? A mystery. I really think Bowden hasn't been that awful the last couple years. He's collecting some young talent and his trades have been decent (after all, the Reds trade for Lopez and Kearns was his idea) ... I think they're still at least 3 years away, but they haven't done anything really stupid.

Except not trading Chad Cordero when he had value ...