Ballpark #1- Nationals Park May 8, 2010

Exactly one month before Stephen Strasburg made his debut for the Washington Nationals, I had the pleasure of catching a game at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. A bunch of friends and I descended on our nation's capital for a weekend of fun and games. We all managed to cramp ourselves in the apartment of a good friend who was living in DC for work purposes. In the meantime, he was living a mere 2-3 blocks away from the stadium, so a ballgame seemed like a no-brainer.

Washington's ballpark was a real treat for fans. As the franchise is still relatively new to the DC area, the ballpark is clean, new, and well-maintained. Green grass, bright and shining seats, uncluttered walkways...while some of this can be attributed to it being early May, the overall feel is that it is a fun place to be. Picture time!



Nationals Park. Benefits include: Proximity to public transportation, pick of good seats.


Towards the end of the season, the mascot may become more intimidating than the team. Not a good sign.

Sampling the fare at the ballpark...

Chili cheese dog. Verdict: Delicious! Not even 'delicious for ballpark food'. It was legitimately tasty.

Views from the stadium include: The Capitol! A very unique experience at MLB parks, from my experience.


Maybe it's just that it was a day game, or that it's the Nationals, but I thought it was a really tranquil place to catch a game...


Lounge area for when the Nats aren't worth the $24 bleacher seat ticket...


Easily navigable concourses. Well-lit and not overcrowded. Two big pluses.


View from the outfield concourse. Nothing like a well-manicured field..
Photographic evidence that I made it to Washington.


From the upper deck. Classy.


The good:
Thanks to a smaller crowd than I'm used to, the stadium felt very friendly. I managed to get around without any crowd issues, which meant I had plenty of time to take it all in (like a picture of the Capitol).
The hot dog was good, and the beer was cold. It can be a real crap-shoot when you go to the park to get food, but Washington delivered.
No line at the bathroom!
Friendly staff. People are vastly friendlier outside of New York, and so it was nice to get to experience that at a ballgame.
Scoreboard: having multiple places to look to find the score, lineups, etc. is an underrated part of the game. Understandably, it comes from the advances in technology (this would be a lone drawback at Fenway or Wrigley).
Atmosphere: Laid back. Nice for a relaxing afternoon watching a game.
Public transportation options. A stop only a block or so away from the ballpark. Tough to beat that.

The bad:
The frenzy of sport was lacking until late innings.
It didn't look like there would be great lighting at night games outside the stadium. While I went on a gorgeous day, I would imagine that the walk back to a car parked up the street a few blocks might be a little more ominous.

Perks: Got to see Josh Johnson pitch, and Tyler Clippard, too. Also, got to cheer for Josh Willingham and his game-winning homer skills. Big day for team Parmesan.