It’s not Camden Yards.
Just a reminder for those of you heading out to Nationals Park this weekend for either the exhibition game against Baltimore or the inaugural opening Sunday night against the Braves.
It’s going to be easy for many fans to find things to grouse about, as long as they cling to the thought that this will be comparable to the Orioles’ home ballpark, which will host its 17th opening day this season. New baseball-only stadiums were a revelation in 1992. Asymmetrical dimensions and immovable stands were these things had been available in other cities, but nowhere in the mid-Atlantic region. Add to those things the huge parking lots around Camden Yards — there was no adjacent football stadium for several seasons — and fans could find little fault with the place.
Today, baseball-only ballparks are the rule rather than the exception. And, while the brick exterior of many of these palaces is exceptionally attractive, it would not have been an architectural fit in our nation’s capital.
Of course, the folks who approved the exterior design of RFK Stadium weren’t really thinking about architectural fits in the late 1950’s. RFK was really the first stadium designed to be multi-purpose. Look at it this way: in the early days of pro football, baseball owners gladly accepted rent payments from NFL owners to shoehorn their fields into baseball parks. Once RFK — then known as District of Columbia Stadium — opened up, the shoe was on the other foot, as baseball teams moved into buildings that were really designed for football.
If you can get past the parking issues around Nationals Park — which will largely be rectified in 3-4 years — it’s a place that will be easy to embrace.
Virtually every pro scout I’ve spoken with believes the Nats will be one of the game’s elite franchises within five seasons. They base their opinion on the credibility of the ownership (including team president Stan Kasten), the skills of their talent evaluators, the judgment of manager Manny Acta, and the new ballpark. You can’t underestimate the value of a new, state-of-the-art facility, in helping you get where you want to be in the standings.
Nationals Park is the battery that is sparking the rebirth of an entire neighborhood, a revival that’s happening much faster than expected. It can provide the same kind of spark to a franchise that not so very long ago was essentially moribund. No, it’s not Camden Yards, but its impact can be just as enduring.
Hear Phil Wood Saturdays at 10 a.m. on SportsTalk 980 AM and weekly on Comcast SportsNet’s WPL through the World Series. Contact him at [email protected].
