Washington DC: Nationals Park

Nationals Park was built in Washington's old Navy Yard neighborhood, which used to be full of questionable institutions and lots of crime. Now it's just full of nothing. Around the ballpark there's lots of new development, but absolutely nobody around and nothing to do. Luckily the subway lets you off right around the ballpark's center field gate.

The park's exterior is spacious. Nationals Park is actually built right next door to a concrete company, which was convenient when they built the place. The exterior is mostly glass and concrete...finally, a park without brick.

Even from the outside the park looks a little awkward. It's great in many respects, but the upper decks are set pretty far back from the field. Plus behind the plate the team built a college football-esque pressbox that takes up the entire height of the upper section of the upper deck, removing a lot of good seats.

There isn't much history associated with the Nationals, but they do a decent job trying to commemorate baseball in DC, as well as baseball's past in general.

Easily the best player in DC baseball history...

This is inside one of the stadium club areas. At least the Reds don't have to cling onto a lone championship from 1924. DC is the longest tenured baseball city without a world championship.

View from right center...

There's a lot of exposed steel here. Around these outfield seats, the upper deck overhangs pretty far out. This phenomenon is for some reason not continued around the infield. Also note the presence of the TV screens, convenient for fans who can't see the trajectory of the fly balls from these seats.

Being in DC and all, the team had to reach out to the locals. Allowing local artists to creat art for the ballpark perhaps wasn't the best idea...

At least the trash cans are interesting-looking, though...

The seats are all pretty intimate, but as you move up they're set pretty far back...the view out to left also isn't much...

Here you can see the seating structure. Note the bulky press box at the top left...

Nationals Park was built based on a lot of market research about the DC crowd. A huge percentage of the seats are in the lower deck, theoretically close to the field. There are also three large clubs, which account for probably eight or nine thousand seats in total.

This is the concourse for the least glitzy of the clubs...

From the club you can see the Frederick Douglass Bridge and the Navy Yard's not-so-glorious waterfront.

You also overlook the players' parking lot...

The view from its seats isn't bad, either...

Note the abundance of the seating in the lower deck, the lack of foul territory, and how far back the upper decks are set...

All the concourses in the park have a view of the field. Philadelphia's park is like this, too. This includes the second nicest of the park's three clubs, which is right atop the lower level...

Also atop the first level are the park's eight fanciest private suites. The chairs are probably the most confortable I've ever seen at a ballpark...

As I mentioned, the press box is way above the field. The view is pretty distant, but it does give you a feel that this park was well designed, despite its flaws. Every component more or less fits together. They did a nice job minimizing the blank space that most parks have for a batters' eye in center field.

The view is mostly of newly constructed apartment buildings and parking garages. I guess it's better than parking lots like in Philadelphia. Still, not great...

From some seats, you can see the Capitol building. From the Capitol building, however, the park doesn't look this far away.

The press box dry erase board still had the lineups on it from the Reds-Nats game on Thursday...which the Nationals won, their 16th victory of the year, putting them on pace for 43 for the year. I count 11 players that belong on the Reds on this board...

The press box also includes an original scorecard from Don Larsen's 1956 World Series perfect game. I'm not sure why, since it had nothing to do with the Nationals or DC...

That thing in center field is a Machine Room equivalent, topped by indoor seating and a spinning ribbon scoreboard. The Nationals originally had this bullpen, but upon realizing it is perpetually in the sun, they gave this one to the visitors and took the other bullpen down the right field line.

The nicest of the Nats' three clubs, The Presidents' Club (like the Diamond Club), has the feel of a fancy saloon. The buffet, which I did not get a photo of, has fancy china and glasses...looks like scenes from the Titanic. There is also an oval-shaped bar...get it, like the Oval Office...

The view from the Presidents Club seats isn't bad at all...might get blocked by the umpire, though.

The open air entrance to the Presidents Club seats seems to waste a lot of valuable space where they could have included seats. But as is evidenced by the press box placement, wasting valuable space behind home plate didn't seem to bother the architects...

Inside the locker room...another play on the Oval Office thing? It seems pretty upscale compard to the Reds' locker room.

The staff wouldn't let me get a photo with Dunn's or Kearns' jersey. Interestingly, their lockers are right next to each other...

The press room was still set up for draft announcements from a few nights ago.

View from the dugout...

The dugout has two levels of seating...one with a view of the field out in the sun, the other dropped back with no view, but in the shade...tough call.

I know DC summers are hot, but looks like they're kind of letting the grass go...

I got to throw a couple pitches in the Nationals bullpen, both strikes.

From the field, the seating structure looks pretty interesting...

Overall, though, the park is nice but maintains a little bit of an awkward feel. There's that pressbox again...

One of the park's interesting features is the bicycle valet...although I'm not sure how many people ride their bikes through this area that actually plan on attending the games. I guess it's "green" or something...

Might this be the most important part of the park? The beer fridge...