Our review of Nationals Park - Home of the Washington Nationals - Day 38 (6/27)

Since the Nationals were on the road, we didn't get to see a game in Nationals Park - only a tour.  But it was a pretty good tour especially for Michael (more on that in a minute).  The Nationals are the reincarnation of the Montreal Expos who folded up shop back in 2005 and moved to Washington DC.  The Washington area was without baseball since the Washington Senators moved to Dallas, Texas and became the Texas Rangers back in 1970.  We got a chance to see the new park that opened for the Nationals in 2007.

On the outside, it's not much to cheer about.  The outside looks like most of the government buildings in DC.  It's white and it has no distinct characteristics.  It's probably the only park of the new ones that we've seen that made no attempt to incorporate some old school feel to it.  That being said, the building on the inside does a a nice job of making every seat a good place to be to watch a game.  There isn't much history to talk about when it comes to the Nats, but they do have a love for one of the greatest pitchers who ever played the game, Walter Johnson.  He played for the Washington Senators back in the 20's.  But since then, it's been pretty light for the history.

Statue of Walter Johnson

The view from CF

Michael liked Nationals Park.

Michael and I both liked the tour.  Milwaukee has its sausage races and Washington has it's presidents races.  We were told that poor Teddy Roosevelt hasn't won a race in the 7 years they've been doing it.  I have to give the edge to old Abe.  He was by far the tallest and probably could run fast in his day.

On the tour, we got to see all the places where the big shots in DC get to hang out.  I have to admit, it's pretty impressive how upscale the stadium is.  We also really liked the scoreboards - again perfect placement in the outfield with a huge video screen.  But other than that, the overall feel of the stadium is pretty sterile.  When looking to the outfield, you don't get a nice view of any of the monuments because the building faces the opposite direction.  If you're in the upper deck, you can see the Capitol building but that's about it.

We also got to see the Nats' clubhouse and press box.  Both were very nice and very impressive.  But the highlight came when we got to go out on the field.  Michael always gets a kick out of going out on the field of a major league ballpark (as do I).  But we got a special bonus on this one.  After visiting the area behind the plate and in the dugout, they took us to the Nationals' bullpen and they let Michael throw pitches in there.  VERY NICE!  He can now say he's pitched in a major league ballpark.  Maybe it won't be his last.  He impressed the tour guide with his blazing fastball.  The guide then wanted to know where he got it from and I had to show him of course.  I didn't fare as well as he did (ha ha).  

Maybe this will happen for real one day.

Me and the main man.

Michael in the Nats dugout.

Michael got to throw several pitches in the bullpen.  

Anyway, it was a great park, but it doesn't match up to any of the newer parks that we've seen.  It's one of those places where you wonder why they didn't try to give it some character instead of making it look like every other government building in DC.  Overall, I give it a 7/10.  Anyway, here's Michael's take:

Hi everyone!  Michael here again.  I liked Nationals Park better than dad did.  I thought it was really cool.  Any ballpark that let's me throw in the bullpen has got to be a great place.  I can't believe I got to do that!  I kept thinking what it would be like to get the call to come into the game and run in from the bullpen.  The tour guide said he would have the scouts take a look at me from the Nationals.  And man were the suites awesome!  There's a lot of W's around the park.  They also had some really cool names for their food stands like Changeup Chicken, and Senator Sausages.  I also saw where the president sits when he comes to the game.  Very cool!  I also really thought the scoreboard was really nice and big.  But maybe my favorite part of the tour was seeing the statues of the presidents that run the races during the 4th inning.  Poor Teddy Roosevelt.  I give the stadium a 7.5/10.

Well, there you have it.  We take a break from stadiums for the rest of the week until Friday.  At the time we are writing this, it's Tuesday morning.  We did an after dark tour of the monuments last night and we'll report on that later today after we go visit the Smithsonian museums on the Mall today.  Tomorrow, we take off bright and early to Atlanta.  More later.