The weather is warmer, the days longer, the cherry blossoms have bloomed and the parkas are in the closet.
But for Collin Mills and thousands of others in the national capital area, spring won’t have begun until he hears two words: Play ball.
“An evening at the ballpark is better than an evening everywhere else,” he said in a recent phone interview. “I am a baseball nut.”
The 28-year-old Reston resident is president of Nats Fanatics, the unofficial fan club of the Washington Nationals. The Nats open their third season in the District of Columbia today with an afternoon game against the Florida Marlins.
Mills and his 6-year-old daughter, Leslie, will attend.
“I was at the head of the line when they said the team was coming here,” Mills said.
The line of Nationals fans has dwindled, though. The Nationals season ticket sales slumped again this year, down to about 15,000, the team announced. Going into the weekend, the team had not sold out its opening day.
“There are some people who think the team won’t win the World Series,” team president and co-owner Stan Kasten told The Examiner. “I’m not conceding that we won’t. And that’s all you’re getting out of me.”
Team executives admit that they’re in a difficult position: The club’s new stadium won’t be ready until next year and the team is building itself from the bottom up, focusing on developing young talent.
Kasten used the same approach when he was an executive with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were a Major League laughing stock until ripping off 14 consecutive division titles, six pennants and a World Series title between 1991 and 2005.
Baseball pundits have predicted a grim season for the Nats, some going as far as to compare them to the 1962 New York Mets, who set an all-time record for baseball futility. Las Vegas bookmakers gave the Nationals 300-to-1 odds to win the World Series, the longest odds of any team in the major leagues.
But newly minted die-hard fans say the Nationals’ youth movement has its own appeal.
“I’m very impressed with them. There’s a lot of key, good players,” said Don Plavnick, 62, the vice president of Nats Fanatics.
Plavnick used to root for the Washington Senators in old Griffith Stadium.
“There’s still a learning curve,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of good young arms.”
Mills agrees.
“Keep your eyes on the kids,” he said.
Play ball!
» Nationals vs. Florida Marlins
» Robert F. Kennedy Stadium
» Probable pitchers: Florida’s Dontrelle Willis and Washington’s John Patterson
» First pitch: 1:05 p.m.
» Tickets: www.nationals.com
