NATIONALS PARK

After 3 seasons in RFK Stadium, the Nationals opened the newest park in the Major Leagues in 2008. Thankfully free from a commercial name, Nationals Park is a great place to check out a ballgame.

There are plenty of seating options at the stadium, but I will just tell you about the one I use, which is the $5 grandstand seats. You can only buy these tickets on game day, and then you must enter the park immediately. But as the Nationals are not drawing well, you can pretty well sit where you want. I suggest walking around and finding a friendly usher to let you in closer to take a picture, after which you can usually find a good seat. The picture below shows the view from the grandstand seats.

 View from the grandstand seats

The stadium itself has the newest of the new throughout. For those of you sitting underneath an overhang, large HD TVs are provided for replays - you may find yourself watching the TV more than the game! The scoreboard is also the biggest in the majors and the quality is fantastic. 

Scoreboard in right field

You can walk around the entire concourse and watch the game while it happens. Food options are plentiful, I recommend Ben's Chili Bowl out near the left field corner, or Five Guys burgers on the 200 level in the outfield. There is also a designated driver booth behind home plate where you can get your free soda by promising not to drink.  There is a restaurant out beyond center field known as the Red Porch, but I didn't try it, as I was happy with the traditional fare on offer.

The Red Porch restaurant

The out-of-town scoreboard is posted in the fences and updates the baserunners, but not the outs. Other features are a Washington Baseball history display on the 100 level concourse behind home plate. 

Getting to the stadium is easy, but you should avoid parking in the neighbourhood, as the cheapest lots I could find were $20. You can drive to RFK stadium and park for free in lot 8 and take the free Nats Express bus over to the stadium. For those of you preferring the subway, the Green Line stop at Navy Yard is about a 2-minute walk to the stadium from there. Get your return farecard in advance, as the trains are very busy after the game.

These seats are great for singles

One of the better promotions is the racing presidents, where four people dressed as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt run from center field to the first base - Teddy never seems to win. 

Tom and Abe battle it out

Overall, I really enjoyed Nationals Park, for its affordability and friendly staff, as well as plenty of food and transportation options. It's too bad the locals are not more supportive of their team, here's hoping that they show some improvement and start to fill up this nice, new stadium.