Washington Nationals
With Dad recovering from a cold, I make a solo visit to Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., to see the Washington Nationals take on the Colorado Rockies.
Dad was still feeling pretty puny (as his Czech mother used to say) when I returned to the hotel from my day at the museums. So I grabbed him some dinner, made sure he was all set for the night, and drove back to downtown Washington, D.C., to Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals.
Completed in 2008 for $693 million, Nationals Park has an official capacity of 41,339 but hosted nearly 46,000 in Game 5 of the 2012 National League Division Series, when the team lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in its first-ever playoff appearance. In 2023, the Nationals averaged about 23,000 fans per game, 23rd in Major League Baseball. Coincidence? Yes!
Nationals Park was the first major professional sports stadium to be green-certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a nonprofit program in use around the world. Roofs throughout the ballpark are covered in plants that capture rainwater and help keep the ballpark and the surrounding area cooler.
Professional baseball first came to the nation’s capital in 1872 with a Washington Nationals team that played 11 games before going out of business. The Washington Blue Legs played a season in 1873, and another Nationals team played in 1875. In 1884, two teams played as the Washington Nationals in two different leagues — the American Association and the Union Association. Those clubs fizzled out after one year. In 1891, another American Association team, the Washington Statesmen, played for a season before moving to the National League as the Senators and playing through 1899.
In 1901, a new Washington Senators team became one of the American League’s eight founding franchises. That team changed its name to the Nationals from 1905-1955, then back to the Senators from 1956-1960. In those 60 years, the franchise won just one World Series title, in 1924, with the considerable help of the league MVP and one of the greatest pitchers ever, Walter Johnson.
In 1961, the Senators relocated to Minnesota to become the Twins, and an expansion Senators franchise took its place before moving to Texas to become the Rangers in 1971. The tide of relocation finally flowed back to Washington in 2005, when the Montreal Expos moved to D.C. as the Nationals, playing in RFK Stadium for three years while Nationals Park was being built. Those Nationals won four division titles in the 2010s before making the playoffs in 2019 as a Wild Card and winning the World Series against the mighty Houston Astros.
I walked into the team store to admire its selection of W’s. While I typically buy a hat at a minor league, collegiate, or independent ballpark, I can’t buy a Major League hat that isn’t from my team, the San Diego Padres. It just doesn’t feel right. But I was sorely tempted by the Nationals red-white-and-blue hat that features a silhouette of the capitol building.
One standout selection in the sea of Nats gear was a jersey and cap from the Homestead Grays, a Negro League team that moved from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., in 1940, sharing Griffith Stadium with the Senators.
I walked up a level in center field and looked down at the kids play area to find a father teaching his son how to run the bases after whacking the ball.
I continued my climb to the upper level of Nationals Park for some commanding views of the stadium, the downtown neighborhood, and the Anacostia River flowing behind the first-base side.
I spent the next 20 minutes examining my options for dinner, searching for some specialty concoction that I would not find at other ballparks.
At Haute Dogs, I spotted a Banh Mi Dog — with diced jalapeno, pickled carrots, pickled cucumber slaw, cilantro, and sriracha mayo. That ticked the boxes, but I just wasn’t in the mood for a dog and chose a cheesesteak sandwich instead — a deeply silly thing to do when we would be going to Philadelphia and other cities that specialize in cheesesteak. The sandwich was fine, but I should have had the Banh Mi Dog.
The Colorado Rockies were in town for a three-game series. Both teams were long past contending for a playoff spot, with identical records of 40-59, and they would finish the season with the two worst records in the league. Throw in a Monday night, and the whole affair was a hard sell for the locals. The official attendance figure was 17,194. Maybe.
James Shaffran, a baritone with the Washington National Opera, treated the crowd to a robust and authoritative rendition of the national anthem, and it was time to play ball.
Left-hander Patrick Corbin took the mound for the Nationals, while relief pitcher Jake Bird made the start for the Rockies. Neither side could muster much early on. Apart from a leadoff double in the first by Washington shortstop C.J. Abrams, the teams went hitless in the first three innings.
I took a walk around the concourse and ran into Nationals mascot Screech, a bald eagle who has been with the current incarnation of the Nationals team from the beginning.
In the top of the fourth, Corbin gave up a leadoff walk, followed by a single. Rockies designated hitter Randall Grichuk then rapped a first-pitch fastball to center field for a double, scoring both runners. Right fielder Nolan Jones singled on the next pitch, but Grichuk was thrown out at home, ending the threat. The Rockies led 2-0.
The highlight of the between-inning entertainment on the night was of course the Racing Presidents, when costumed characters with giant heads representing George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt race across the warning track. On this night, TJ and Abe got out to an early lead, but two costumed sharks suddenly appeared and bodied them, making it a two-way race between George and Teddy. They rounded the corner in right field and motored down the first-base side, with George taking the win in the town named for him. (See the race in the video below.)
Colorado scored two more runs in the sixth — despite having another runner thrown out at home — while Washington managed just two hits against Bird and Karl Kauffmann, who had an 8.72 ERA at the time. The small crowd had little to celebrate. Colorado added two more runs in the seventh to push the score to 6-0.
The Nats put together a walk and a couple of hits for their first run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Rockies countered with two runs in the eighth to make it 8-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, the remaining fans were given a spark of hope when a walk and a hit batter set the table for Washington third baseman Jeimer Candelario, who hit a towering homer to right to bring the score a little closer at 8-4.
Once again, the hopes of Nationals fans were quickly squashed, as the Rockies put up two more runs in the ninth, finishing the game with two runs in each of the last four innings. The home team also scored two in the bottom half, but you might say it was two little, two late.
The final score was 10-6 Rockies, with Colorado collecting 16 hits while Washington managed just seven. Two last-place teams on a lightly attended Monday night had generated so much offense yet so little drama.