The view from South Capitol Street.
The main entrance across from the Half Street complex.
2008 was the Inaugural Year for Nationals Park. This was the 7th ballpark I’d been to in its first year (Camden, Ballpark at Arlington, Turner, Pac Bell, PNC, Citizens Bank and Nationals).
This is the only angle where you can see the Capitol from the ballpark.
The Washington Hall of Stars board includes Red Auerbach, Mickey Vernon, and Eddie Yost (who once stopped me on Oak Street in Wellesley and asked about my “EY” Massachusetts license plate).
Jarrod Zimmerman delivers the first pitch of the game to Dustin Pedroia.
Jason Varitek at bat. See similar shots in Cleveland and Baltimore.
In 2009 the Red Sox drew the largest crowd ever at Nationals Park. I’m sure that was surpassed by the Nats World Series Championship in 2019.
Hall of Famer John Smoltz spent 20 seasons pitching for the Braves with a career ERA of 3.33. In 2009 he was a free agent and signed with the Red Sox. This was his first appearance for Boston and his ERA was a disastrous 54.00. It was not mentioned during his Cooperstown induction.
Nationals Park claims the best scoreboard in the majors. So do both Houston and Cleveland, both of which are bigger. They’re all good, though. At the Phillies game Jamie Moyer, a junkball pitcher who was with the Red Sox in 1995, beat the Nats, 8-5.
This is the Blue Suits SRO section right behind the plate.
Decent seats with legroom and cupholders.
Many ballparks hold a 6th inning race, often on the Jumbotron (video race cars, caps, ketchup v. mustard v. pickle). At Nationals Park it’s a Presidential race with live mascots: George v. Tom v. Abe v. Teddy. On this night Abe was in the lead, followed by George and Tom. Teddy, who never wins, is pulling up the rear.
The Nat-Pack girls can shoot the t-shirts all the way to the top deck.
Screech the Eagle is the Mascot – seen here accosting a fan in the Club seats.
If you cropped this picture, at a quick glance this could be a Fenway Park shot. Sort of.
Charlie Sislen, Ann Santos and Marc Greenspan of The Research Director. We sat in their Club Seats (Sec 127). Excellent seats. Padded, leg room and cupholders.
Marc Greenspan (above right) took this picture.
It was also the third home park where I’d seen a Washington team play: Griffith Stadium, RFK and now Nationals Park.
First game: July 28, 2008. I was in Maryland for my final Arbitron Diary Review because Arbitron, who would eventually be taken over by Nielsen, the TV ratings people. The big tech switch from hand-written diaries to an electronic measurement called Portable People Meter was underway. This caused major disruption in the radio business. My friends at Research Director, Inc. (the ratings experts) took to a Washington Nationals game at the new park. Another ballpark trip I didn’t have to pay for. This was my 7th time going to a ballpark in its inaugural year (Camden Yards, the Ballpark at Arlington, Turner Field, AT&T Park, PNC Park and Citizens Bank Park being the others. The following year I would add Citi Field, new Yankee Stadium 2 and Target Field to that list, and a few years after that SunTrust Park.
The new park is near the Navy Yard (take the Metrorail Green Line to Navy Yard station). Like all the new ones it’s big, bright, and fun. Six decks in red, white and blue. The adjacent Half Street complex (still under construction at the time) includes a shopping mall, condos and offices. New high-rise construction in several nearby blocks has transformed the once-gritty section full of shuttered factories and warehouses into something vibrant. Because of this new construction n there is only one spot in the ballpark where you can see the Capitol – it’s on the second deck near the scoreboard.
The entry way has a decent sized-HD video screen facing the incoming crowd. The concourses are open and airy – a big improvement from RFK Stadium, where the summer heat and humidity could really wear you out.
It’s a great-looking park with tons of concessions. We had chili dogs at Ben’s Chili Bowl, a DC tradition. Many ballparks hold a 6th inning race, often on the Jumbotron (video race cars, caps, ketchup v mustard v pickle). At Nationals Park it’s a Presidential race with live: mascots: George v. Tom v. Abe v. Teddy. Teddy never wins.
Washington is famous for bad baseball teams (“Washington…first in war, first in peace, last in the American League”) and at that time the Nats were no exception. Only four of the 30 MLB teams had never been to the World Series, and two of the four are present or former Washington teams. Since moving to DC in 2005 the Nationals had finished last every year, and 2008 looked to be no different. On this night the Nats gave up two runs in the first on four straight singles. In the bottom of the 1st leadoff hitter Willie Harris homered. Two outs later a double, another homer and another double put DC on top 3-2. It went downhill in the 5th when the Phillies scored 5 times. Final score: Philadelphia 8, Washington 5.
Note: Since I originally wrote this the Texas Rangers, who were the Washington Senators from 1961 to 1971, have been to the World Series twice but still have not won. Of course, In 2019 the Nats ended a 96-year DC drought and not only got to the World Series but won!
Second game: July 31, 2008. Went again the next night. The cheapest seat was $33 in section 201. High up near the left-field foul pole. Philly was leading, 8-2 for most of the game. Former horrible Sox pitcher Rudy Seanez (now with Philly) gave up two runs in the 9th to make the final 8-4.
Third game: August 14, 2008. Arbitron had a two-day fly-in to train Programmers on how to interpret the new PPM Ratings. That night we were bussed from Arbitron’s HQ in Columbia MD to a Nats-Mets game at Nationals Park. We sat in the nosebleed section, but that was fine. We were told they would have shuttles back to Columbia after the 7th inning and at the end of the game. I was with Bill Weston from our Philadelphia rock station WMMR. We decided to stay for the whole game. As we headed out at the end we walked all around the outside of the park but there was no shuttle to be found. So grabbed a cab and said we need to go to Columbia. The guy’s driving down South Capitol Street and asks us to repeat our destination. We said Columbia, about 45 minutes away in Maryland. He had no idea where that was so he stopped the car and kicked us out.
We eventually talked someone into driving us but we had to pay for a round trip so he didn’t have to deadhead back to DC.
Fourth game: June 25, 2009. Red Sox were playing in DC for the first time since 1971. Former longtime Braves pitcher John Smoltz moved to the Red Sox after 20 years and had a bad first outing against the Nationals as you can see by the ERA on the scoreboard. Despite that, Smoltz was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown six years later. The park was loaded with Red Sox fans. Washington averages 22,000 fans a night, but all three Sox games were sold out with over 41,000 in attendance.
Leave a Reply