Cherryl and Gerald Thompson settled into their seats along the third-base line Tuesday afternoon just in time to see Vice President Dick Cheney toss an arching one-hopper to Nationals catcher Brian Schneider.
“He wasn’t even on the mound,” Gerald said with a smirk as the crowd let out a deafening mix of cheer and boos. “Unbelievable.”
The Thompsons, from Chantilly, were among 40,530 fans who converged at RFK Stadium on a warm, sunny afternoon to help kick off the Nationals’ second season in the District. The attendance at the game, a 7-1 loss to the New York Mets, was more than 5,000 lower than the sellout crowd of 45,596 recorded during last year’s much-ballyhooed inaugural home opener.
Nearly half of the 9,000 unsold tickets were bought at the box office Tuesday morning as thousands poured from the nearby Metro station, snatching up T-shirts and peanuts outside the stadium. By the third inning, only a few yellow seats in the upper deck in left and center field remained.
The luxury suites were buzzing with men and women in suits and ties drinking beer out of plastic cups. The concession stands were packed, creating massive pedestrian blockages due to their side-by-side location.
“We expected some attrition since last year because it wasn’t the inaugural season,” Nationals spokeswoman Chartese Burnett said of ticket sales. “But we were always optimistic that we would have a good crowd — people love baseball here.”
About 16,400 season ticket packages had been sold as of Monday, about 5,000 fewer than at the same time last year, Burnett said. She said the lack of both a permanent owner and a game-by-game television deal has limited some exposure, she said.
Tuesday’s game ended an offseason filled with political turmoil overa new stadium deal that, at least for a short time, put the team’s future in the District up in the air. A deal was eventually formed between Major League Baseball and the city early last month, but some said the battle left many fans disenchanted.
A scalper who gave his name as Tony was doing brisk business outside the stadium and said there still was plenty of energy.
“It’s not as frenzied as last year,” he said. “But a lot of people have been waiting for Opening Day, and just look at them coming.”
