2008: Yankee Stadium’s Final Year (you may have heard?)

Well, it had been a good run but I think we all know about Mr. Steinbrenner’s rules on facial hair so before my trip to the Bronx it was time to shave the beard. I went from mountain man to 10th grader in the span of fifteen minutes. Oh well, here’s one last relic (mountain men don’t smile).

Instead of spending an excruciatingly long day on the train as with my trip down for the Mets I turned the Yankees game into a weekend trip. I still took the train but it was so much more relaxing and less stressful. I even managed to book my Amtrak reservation for the right day! Go me, off to a good start.

Anmay and Jeremy were nice enough to let me stay with them for the weekend, which was awesome because we got to catch up a bit and hotel prices in New York fit nobody’s budget. Anmay even scored some primo tickets in the middle tier of Yankee Stadium and I got treated to my first game of the trip! Thanks a lot guys!!

Game Notes:

On the day of the game I left pretty early and took a sweet tram from Roosevelt Island over to Manhattan to catch the subway up to the Bronx. It was pretty early on a Saturday morning and the thing was packed. Otherwise, I would have been able to take some great pictures; the view from the tram was really incredible.

My biggest regret about Yankee Stadium was not making it to Monument Park. I know, that seems like a slam dunk and it was the first thing I wanted to do but there was a slight mishap with taking the subway to the stadium and by the time I got there (80 minutes prior to game time) I was told the line was full for the day. I guess you have to show up right when the gates open and get in line immediately. I suppose they’ll be taking everything over to the new stadium so if I make it to a game next summer I’ll let you all know how it is.

If it weren’t for the subway mishap though, I wouldn’t have this sweet picture to share with you all.

I met Bob Ryan!!! He's easily my favorite Globe columnist and I like the TV stuff he does too. When I boarded the subway in Manhattan he was sitting right in front of me reading the New York Times so I rudely interrupted and we ended up chatting about baseball stadiums all the way to Yankee Stadium! He had some great opinions and insights, especially with regard to putting parks into an historical context. Apparently the stadium where I saw the Yankees play was not “Yankee Stadium” with all the mystique and history of Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, etc. That one died with the 1973 renovation. Obviously I wasn’t around then but I can see how that would make sense for true students of the game.

After getting shut out of Monument Park I tried to take a lap around the rest of the stadium. I can say unequivocally that Yankee Stadium wins the award for “worst crowd flow in the country” by leaps and bounds. Yes, this game had a higher attendance than any other I attended but this place was TERRIBLE. Everything was cramped, from the outside of the stadium to the concession areas to the seats and aisles. Kansas City and Shea were the only other stadiums that could be in the running for the award but KC was undergoing renovations and the game was only about half full so it was manageable and Shea wasn’t packed either so that helped. It took forever to walk around Yankee Stadium but, bound and determined, I did it! For your enjoyment, I plan on sharing some of what I found.

The Yankees also win the award for “steepest outdoor upper deck.” After just handing out that honor to Shea I feel a little cheated, and frankly, so should you. Yankee Stadium’s upper deck definitely took the cake though. Speaking of which, when I was snapping some shots of the field a VERY large, VERY tattooed man asked me if I was wearing my Pawtucket hat. It was actually a green Phillies hat but it just has a “P” on it so I could see how he may have been confused. I informed him it was a Phillies hat and he explained to me that Pawtucket was the AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and he may not have been able to let that slide. Pawtucket, eh? You don’t say! (I’ll give him points for the knowledge though…)

Hopefully it won’t happen in my lifetime but if the Yankees are ever to win another World Series title they will have a LOT of repainting to do. Everywhere around the stadium (outside and inside the building) they have signs proclaiming their status as “26 Time World Champions.” That’s all well and good but a lot is going to have to change if they wind up with another title. Of course, that assumes the same overabundance will pervade the new stadium but I’m assuming it will.

I’m also assuming the Yankees will have some better food options in the new stadium. There was absolutely NOTHING special about the food at Yankee Stadium. It was all standard ball park food, though surprisingly moderately priced ($3.00 for a hot dog, $4.00 for a pretzel, $8.50 for a 16oz bottle and $9.50 for a 20oz draft). That’s really not bad considering I was in New York. The Nationals and Mets definitely have the highest prices in the country…until we get to Boston anyway. Also, like the Mets, the Yankees provide only ketchup and mustard for condiments. That fact lead to the funniest exchange of the day that I witnessed. An A’s fan in his late 30’s strolled up to the condiment platform with his elderly father and asked nobody in particular “where’s the kraut?” After discovering there was none to be had he grew increasingly frustrated and decided to take it out on his dad. He very snidely remarked “well, that’s Yankee Stadium for you” and started raising his voice at any question his silver-haired dad asked. Finally he finished off his tirade with a classic “LET’S GO TRY THE OTHER ONE!!” I almost lost it when I watched him walk 20 feet down the hallway only to encounter the exact same condiment selection.

One final point about the food at Yankee Stadium was the giant popcorn buckets they had. For $12 you could get a souvenir bucket like the one I got in Kansas City (for way cheaper) and I wanted to get a picture of them but the lady working the stand was not happy with this at all. She stared me down until I walked away. Kind of creepy if you ask me. Also of note is the payphone on the right. When was the last time you used one of those? I remember using one around late fall ’99.

The seats Anmay got for the game were in the shade which was the best news of the day. It was so hot and so sunny that day that I probably only would have lasted a few innings in most of the other seats in the park. As it was, we were relatively comfortable in our seats for all 12 innings. We also were pretty close to the action. I got to see first-hand what the highest payroll in baseball can buy you…

TWO HOSES!! The Yankees spared no expense, even for their grounds crew. They couldn’t put out a bucket of sour kraut to appease ornery A’s fans but they certainly were the only team in the majors to have TWO hoses to water the dirt before the game.

Some other pre-game notes before we move to the high and low points:

• There were no ushers anywhere. That’s an exaggeration but, like Fenway, I’m betting the Yankees assume fans will police themselves due to most every game selling out. If you needed an usher you could find one but they weren’t just hanging out ready to stop me from taking pictures in various sections of the park.

• The National Anthem and then God Bless America during the 7th inning were instrumental, recorded versions! EVERY other stadium has had live performances of those pieces (FYI - GBA wasn’t always performed but when it was, it was done live!). I was kind of surprised at this and I’m not really sure I understand the reasoning behind the decision.

• Tom Coughlin (head coach of the New York [football] Giants) threw out the first pitch. I still can’t believe Eli got out of that collapsed pocket, or the damn catch for that matter…

• Whenever I’ve seen Yankee games on TV in the background I always hear the “roll call.” This is when the fans in the bleachers chant the name of all of the starters for that days’ game. I was pretty interested to see how this worked, for instance, does someone lead the cheer or does it just kind of happen? Well, I couldn’t see it that well but it did appear that someone was coordinating the chanting out in the outfield. Also of note regarding the bleachers is that those fans are kept separate from the rest of the stadium and vice versa. I couldn’t walk out there or take any pictures because there is only one entrance and that’s from outside of the stadium. Finally, the bleachers are now alcohol free! I couldn’t believe that. I’ve heard so many war stories about the infamous bleacher crowds at Yankee Stadium. I wonder how it is now with no alcohol served.

• Only some of the Yankee batters had “intro music” as they came up to bat. I don’t know why they didn’t all have it.

High Points:

-Meeting Bob Ryan before the game was AWESOME!!

-I’ll give the Yankees fans this: they were some of the best in the country. They were totally into the game the entire time and the stadium was still about half-full even into the 12th inning. The scoreboard did some things to prompt cheers but it really was unnecessary, the New York fans created a great buzz with the constant chatter and cheering for things other than a home run.

-I thought this was great:

Almost every luxury box at the top of the screen behind home plate had a fishing net to grab foul balls that would roll up the netting. It was fun to watch the little 10 year olds who missed their chance get serenaded with a healthy chorus of boos.

-I mentioned the day was wicked hot. Boo the Yankees for charging $4.75 for a bottle of Poland Springs but kudos to them for providing multiple water stations on every level for fans to stay hydrated. They had workers constantly pouring free cups of ice water for anyone who wanted one. Good idea.

-The grounds crew performed a completely choreographed dance to the “YMCA” in between one of the innings.

-The DirectTV blimp patrolling the skies above the stadium had a legit TV on the side of it! That was pretty incredible. I made two separate notes about it on my sheet of paper so I guess it really made an impression on me! :-)

-Most of the parks around the country have flags with the other teams/cities on them. The Yankees, Reds and I think the Giants were the only other teams to put them in order of current divisional standing. I thought that was a nice, subtle touch.

-When Mariano Rivera trotted in from the bullpen I got to experience the “real” Enter Sandman.

-Speaking of Rivera, Jeremy brought his binoculars and showed me an ingenious strategy for getting great pictures. You just hold the camera up to one of the binocular eye pieces and it acts just like a telephoto lens! I got some great pictures, including Rivera:

And the days’ starter, Joba Chamberlain (who REALLY needs to stop throwing at Kevin Youkilis)

-The atmosphere and structural setup on River Ave. outside Yankee Stadium reminded me a lot of the old Causeway Street outside the Boston Garden. There are elevated train tracks, raucous fans and tons of bars, merchandise shops and sausage/food carts everywhere.

-Getting treated to a game with great seats was definitely a high point of the day.

Low Points:

-The biggest low point of Yankee Stadium was the cramped quarters. It was REALLY difficult to move around in the underbelly of the stadium because of all the people crammed into such a small area. In the seating areas I couldn’t move because there are railings separating every 4th seat so you can’t just cut across empty rows, you’re forced to use the very small aisles to try and navigate your way around the place.

-This was as close as I got to Monument Park:

Even Jeremy’s magic telephoto lens couldn’t get me special access…

-I think the above problem contributed to the absence, in my mind, of the “Yankee mystique.” I didn’t feel that special, indescribable feeling people talk about when they wax nostalgic about Yankee Stadium. Or maybe Mr. Ryan was right when he said that died with the 1973 renovation. Whatever it was, the stadium didn’t quite live up to the hype.

-On that note, did you hear this is Yankee Stadium’s last year?? Fercryinoutloud, enough already! We get it. It was special to have the All Star game played there in the stadium’s final year, great, now can we let it go and move on?

-Jorge Posada takes WAY too long to dig in and go through all his annoying pre-at-bat routines. Good thing he’s on the DL now and won’t be wasting any more of my time.

-On a related note, the fans that chanted “hip, hip…JOR-GE” during the entirety of each of his at-bats can go jump in a lake. Holy crap was that annoying.

-The final note about Posada doesn’t so much have to do with him but with the seven year old girls sitting behind us. I was pretty impressed with their knowledge of the players and the game but was horrified when they started talking about how funny it would be to see Posada hit a ball that ripped through a Red Sox outfielder’s head. And this was at a Yankees-Athletics game. Can you say rivalry?!

-The video and scoreboards at Yankee Stadium are truly outdated and I’m sure this will be remedied in the new park.-I wonder what I’ll think of this picture in 10 or 20 years…Bobby Abreu, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez:

-When he was warming up and stretching in the outfield prior to the game Alex Rodriguez couldn’t get enough of watching himself when the video board was showing highlights of the previous night’s game. What a prima donna. What? Madonna? No, no…prima donna.

-For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the grounds crew performing the “YMCA” they did a TERRIBLE job of grooming the field. They would walk around the field dragging the same nets that most other crews do but all of them had a bounce in their step and the field ended up with little “waves” of dirt that quite easily could have affected many a ground ball.

-The game went WAY too long.

-To top it off, I had to listen to “New York, New York” because of a hit-by-pitch that forced in the winning run. It wasn’t even like the Yankees deserved to win; the A’s definitely blew it. This was the most lackluster "walk off" celebration I've ever seen.

-We thought we’d let the subway crowd die down and stayed a bit late after the game to snap some pictures.

It didn’t help at all. For some reason the usual trains leaving the stadium were not running and we were trapped like sardines in the extremely hot, extremely cramped subway underground. That was terrible.

Overall Grade: B

Game Stats:

Teams: Yankees vs. Athletics
Final Score: 4-3 Yankees
Extra Innings: 3
WP: David Robertson
LP: Lenny DiNardo
Time: 4:45
Announced Attendance: 54,183
Ticket Price: $75.00 (but free thanks to Anmay and Jeremy! THANKS GUYS!!!)
Parking Price: N/A

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 21-8
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 10,702
Speeding Tickets: ZERO!
States Visited: 27
Countries Visited: 2
Districts of Columbia Visited: 1
Beds slept in: 33
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Boston Red Sox
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)

Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
Twins: B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+
Orioles: B
Phillies: A-
Nationals: B
Mets: C+
Yankees: B

Meet the M-E-T-S: The 19 Hour Odyssey

So I’m home…and I’m devastated. For all intents and purposes the “traveling” part of my trip is over. Having only the two New York stadiums and Boston left to go I took the train to Queens for a day trip and I plan on doing the same for a weekend trip to the Bronx. [See, Duke? I told you this trip was made up of “planes, trains and automobiles!”] The day trip to the Mets game was pretty intense though. I woke up at 4:30AM to catch my 6:05 train to New York City and didn’t return until after midnight. The day started out pretty rough when on the T to South Station I realized I had booked my ticket for the next day! I think I may be developing an allergy to online reservation systems. Some of you will remember the near disaster in Minneapolis that lead to a roller coaster ride at the Mall of America as well as the mishap in Milwaukee. It turned out not to be that big of a deal as, after spending an anxious 10 minutes or so in line, I was able to change my ticket to the correct day (for an extra $30) and board the train about 45 seconds before it pulled out of the station!

Taking the train was an interesting experience. I read a book for most of the trip down and generally enjoyed not stressing out about trying to beat everyone to New York. With all the stops though, I think it actually may have been faster to drive. Pros and Cons I guess...C’est la vie… Whatcha gonna do?... Win some lose some. OK, I’m done. When I got to Penn Station I was quite happy I had been to the city on a few other occasions for work. I think otherwise I would have been pretty overwhelmed. I found my way to the right subway pretty easily and headed out to Shea Stadium.

En el tren a Shea Stadium había anuncios completamente en espanol! Yo nunca he visto esto. Que magnifico, verdad?

Game Notes:

The first thing I saw upon exiting the train was Citi Field. The Mets’ new stadium is coming along quite nicely and should be ready for opening day 2009. I took a ton of pictures myself but I never seemed to get a great angle. This poster inside Shea gave me a much better perspective than my pictures.

Please note: light of God shining down on center field not included.

For reference, Shea Stadium is currently located in what will be a parking lot to the left. I said should be ready for opening day 2009 because the construction workers there were a bit suspect. I don’t know if this was break time or what but you can see guys on all three levels just kind of hanging out. They also spent most of the game in these areas just watching the action.

There are two things I’d like to point out about the next picture. First is above the ticket window there are pictures of the players in the Mets’ lineup that day (they hadn’t yet updated it from the previous night because Johan Santana is on the far right and he didn’t pitch in the game I saw). That was pretty cool though and the only other team to do something similar was the Cincinnati Reds, though theirs was on a much smaller scale. The second thing about this picture is the line at the ticket window. After I just get done bragging about my “park savvy” I used in Washington I can’t believe I didn’t try to find another ticket window in New York. This line took forever. It was senior citizen’s day at the ballpark and I have nothing against them as a group of people but it is a fact that sometimes they take longer to do things. And that’s all I have to say about that.

The last thing I want to mention about the outside of Shea Stadium is the dearth of scalpers. I did not see or hear one person openly trying to buy or sell tickets anywhere around the stadium. The Mets have signs posted next to the ticket windows admonishing patrons that they are not allowed to resell tickets for any price, but that is similar to most stadiums around the country. Maybe they actually enforce it in New York?

In stark contrast to places like Tampa or San Diego which were very family and kid friendly, Shea Stadium is a no-frills, all business, pure baseball stadium. The typical ballpark smells were the first thing that hit me when I walked in. The air was filled with the aromas of grilled sausages, popcorn, hot dogs and, unfortunately, hot people. The concession areas at the stadium were extremely cramped. Shea is a great test of my theory on “if you have the space, you can build it right.” Well, apparently 1964 didn’t get that memo. There is a tremendous amount of wasted space in the underbelly of the park and trying to move anywhere was a nightmare. The official attendance of the game I saw was 48,755 (85% capacity) but that had to include season ticket seats sold because the place looked maybe half full. I really would have hated to try and move around during an important game or one where they sold out. This picture is just one example and it was taken very early in the day. As game time approached I felt more and more like a sardine.

One side note about the picture above – on the far right you can kind of see the self-serve style the Mets used for some of their food stands. I didn’t find that very often around the rest of the country and it reminded me of Roy Rogers. We used to stop at the one on Rt. 95 north of Hartford, CT on the way back from Long Island. I miss it, I used to put SO many pickles on my burgers, it was awesome…but I digress.

Anyways, the Mets food options were kind of limited but a few things were worth mentioning. Much like the rest of the park, the condiment selection was absolutely no-frills.

That’s it, the Mets don’t mess around. No jalepenos, no sour kraut and certainly no “effin relish.” That also meant, though, that were was no yellow mustard, only the spicy kind; points for that one! There wasn’t anything close to a “Met Dog” (frankly, I don’t know what that would even mean...a slice of pizza served on a bagel with lox and cream cheese?) and the prices were right up there with or exceeded those at Nationals Stadium. The one unique thing the Mets did do was to list the calories of everything they served, even the beer ($8.00 16oz bottle and $9.50 24oz can). That was a little unexpected but kind of helpful. Check out those peanuts, huh?!

The seating area at Shea was MASSIVE. For those of you who didn’t do the math above, the capacity is 55,601 and, crowded though it may have been, I think it would have been really impressive to see the stadium filled to capacity. To top it off, they have that kind of capacity while only having room for a few hundred people in the outfield! Speaking of which, I think that was the worst part of Shea. The place really was a dump. I know it’s old and they’re moving into a new stadium soon but they’ve really let it go. The scoreboards are awkwardly disconnected and so small that Budweiser has a billboard add larger than both of them combined. Also, this must have been a time period phenomenon because Dodgers stadium was built in 1962 but the colors of the seats in Shea are totally random. Blue and orange make sense, but where do you get Red and Green from? I climbed up to the very top row of the upper deck in right field and took some shots from the seat furthest away from home plate.

Have a look at the stairway, I mean, that thing was STEEP! The upper deck at Shea was definitely the steepest outdoor upper deck in the country. Tampa and Arizona have it beat but those stadiums have roofs and I’m not sure why domes can be steeper but I’m not going to take the time to figure it out. Instead, how about we all get distracted by Flushing Meadows which was pretty much right next door. Did anyone see the Nadal/Federer match at Wimbledon this year? I say greatest match I’ve ever seen, many say greatest ever.

High Points:

-I settled into an upper deck seat behind home plate before the game and when the first Giants batter was announced he immediately was greeted with a bellowing “YOU SUCK!” from an already intoxicated Mets fan a section over from me. Fair stereotype or not, I thought this was quintessential New York fan and it definitely started the game off on the right foot.

-I liked this shot I took during the game.

-Another great thing I’m still not over yet about being back in the northeast is the palpable ballpark buzz at most of the stadiums. Shea was half full and yet it was no exception. The white noise/chatter was there, the scoreboard hardly had to do anything to get the fans involved in the game and I think it’s just SO much more enjoyable to watch a game in that kind of atmosphere.

-I’ve heard it a bunch in my lifetime but I was still excited to hear “Meet the M-E-T-S” (complete with bouncing-ball video montage!) blaring through the sound system prior to the game.

-The aforementioned spicy mustard packets were certainly a highlight of the day.

-The pretzel I purchased was exceptionally warm. Usually stadiums have heaters and serve pretzels warm but this thing was out of control…in a good way.

-I bought a grilled sausage inside the stadium and it was delicious.

-I may get in trouble for this next “high point” but I think it’s something that needs to be addressed. The men’s room at Shea was absurdly cramped and, like I said, I would hate to try to move around during a sold out game but it also had one of the most unique things I’ve seen not just at a ballpark but anywhere in the country. Ready? The toilet seat is on springs! The “home” position is up and, frankly, I think it’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever seen. Why isn’t this more prevalent across the country? What is bad about this idea? Of course, that leads to the larger point of women always yelling at guys to put the seat down but why shouldn’t ya’ll have to put it UP? It’s the same amount of effort that needs to be exerted by either party. I understand the consequences can be worse for those with the XX chromosome but I still don’t think the constant berating is fair. Instead of arguing though, why don’t we just put springs on all of our toilet seats?!

-I thought this was pretty funny. What’d I say about no frills, huh?

-There was a certain raw, undeniably New York quality to the ushers, fans, vendors and the actual stadium itself that, to me, screamed Mets. For better or worse, at least the stadium had some character.

-The last high point at Shea happened completely by coincidence. I went to the other side of the stadium to get some pictures of the scoreboard and all of a sudden my long lost little Jewish brother started sprinting up the stairs right towards me. It was funny, I couldn’t resist. Please don’t report me to any governmental agencies…he was sitting in the next section over, right across the aisle.

Low Points:

-I was reminded why I’m glad I did the bulk of this trip in April/May. Not only was it senior citizens day, I think it was also “every summer camp in New York City” day. Far too many unruly children were clogging things up all over the stadium. I would have taken more pictures but I don’t want people to start getting the wrong idea so I’ll just tell you that I’ve never seen so many blocks of colored tee shirts in my life. Every camp or group had matching shirts and I want to know what happens when two large groups wearing neon green pass each other in the concession area. Like I said, it’s really crowded and what if some kids get spun around and start following the wrong group of shirts?! I’m really curious as to what the contingency is in that situation.

-I was a little concerned by the passion these fans displayed towards Mr. Met. They were putty in his hands…I wonder what would happen if he ran for office? And for those of you wondering about the title of this picture, yes I did take 7 shots of Mr. Met. I’m a little concerned about that as well.

-I touched on this above but Shea did not use its space well at all. The shell of the stadium is really large and it seems like they had plenty of land to build on but really did waste a lot of what they had to work with. Inside the concession areas there were huge gaps of dead area between the ramps and where they served the food. Sitting in the outfield for a baseball game can be awesome. Only a few hundred fans per game get that privilege at Shea; that’s not right. Hopefully Citi Field will remedy these problems.

-I didn’t get pictures from all of the usual angles at Shea because the caste system reared its ugly head again. To recap, at Dodger Stadium you can only access your section or higher, at US Cellular Field if you have a ticket to the upper deck you can only access the upper deck and at Shea Stadium if you do not have a field level ticket you are not allowed into the lowest level of the seating bowl. We clear?

-This was one of the few stadiums around the country that charges a premium to buy food from vendors. Generally things only cost .25 more and I guess I agree with that principle but it still was a low point for the game.

-Some songs are synonymous with prominent closers. Trevor Hoffman runs into the game to “Hell’s Bells” in San Diego, Mariano Rivera comes in to “Enter Sandman” in the Bronx and Fenway has been pushing “Shippin’ Up to Boston” on Jonathan Paplebon. Billy Wagner has been one of the best closers in baseball for more than a decade and I was absolutely FLOORED when he came into the game to “Enter Sandman.” EVERYBODY knows that’s Rivera’s music…or so I thought. Originally I was outraged at this egregious offense but a simple Google search actually revealed that Wagner started using the song three years before Mariano did. Here’s a picture of the “offender”. Sorry Billy!

-There was a group of children sitting near me for the second half of the game who were die-hard Yankees fans (or, more probably, band wagon, don’t-know-any-better Yankees fans) who took great delight in trying to start a “Where is Joba?” chant. I really wished their chaperones had informed these brats that we were at a METS game. They then started all sorts of Yankees/Jeter/Joba related chants. That was a blast, really. I swear I didn’t move my seat shortly thereafter.

-I was severely underwhelmed by a certain usher’s ability to take a decent picture of me. This is what I ended up with.

-This had nothing to do with the game but I witnessed a fascinating sociological phenomenon at Penn Station before taking the train home. I walked in to a sea of fish-eyed people staring at the board where they list what track your train will be on. I really didn’t get it. Almost without exception, the track listing would be posted about 10 minutes before a train was supposed to depart. I found no point in standing there with everyone else staring at the board. I did a lap around the station, weaved in and out of people as they stood stoic, staring at the board. It was kind of like what happens on an elevator. Why stand facing the doors watching the numbers tick by? In college, my social psychology professor made us do an experiment where you get on an elevator and stand “backwards.” Try it, it’s fun :-)

Overall Grade: C+

Game Stats:

Teams: Mets vs. Giants
Final Score: 7-3 Mets
WP: Scott Schoeneweis
LP: Sergio Romo
Time: 3:10
Announced Attendance: 48,755
Ticket Price: $20.00
Parking Price: N/A

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 20-8
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 10702
Speeding Tickets: ZERO!
States Visited: 27
Countries Visited: 2
Districts of Columbia Visited: 1
Beds slept in: 32
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: New York Yankees
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)

Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
Twins: B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+
Orioles: B
Phillies: A-
Nationals: B
Mets: C+

EXXON = Global Warming…and Corporate Greed...and hunger in Africa...and SARS...and El Nino...and obese Americans...and the extinction of the dodo...

1.) Sandwiched in between my shuttle trips up to Philadelphia I managed to catch a Nationals game. Which was nice, you know, given that I stayed in the DC area for almost two weeks!

2.) Even though I went to the Nats game before the second Phillies game, I will ask those of you who pay attention to such details to refrain from asking me questions about how I calculated the “miles driven” stat below. It’s right, just trust me.

3.) I stayed with my cousin Lisa out in Herndon, VA and navigating the bus route to get me to the Metro to get me to the game actually proved more difficult than anticipated. It turns out I was waiting on the wrong side of the street for a bus and even though I left time for DC rush hour traffic I still did not make it to the game very early. As such, I walked in just as they were playing the anthem (which was very nice by the way…I have it as 5th best on the trip for those keeping score at home) so I won’t be able to post those exciting BP photos you all love. Apologies for that but I did manage to snap quite a few other interesting shots.

Game Notes:


WELCOME TO NATIONALS PARK, WHERE THEY EVEN LET THE BATBOY FEEL INCLUDED!!

For those of you who don’t know, Nationals Park is brand new this year. Can I take a second to point out the name? Nationals Park…has a nice ring to it, no? That’s right, even in the corporate climate that pervades Washington, DC, they did not sell off the naming rights to corporate sponsorship! I was pumped. DC is the one city I’ve encountered so far though where I would have been OK with this. They were able to get away with a lot (at least in my eyes) because I’m familiar with the culture and for some reason I allowed the typical “corporate sellout” type stuff (too much luxury space, annoying hosts, etc.) a longer leash there than at other parks. By the way, a simple Google search will inform you that the Nats are currently searching for a corporate sponsor to rename the park but it's nice while it lasts, huh?

The team itself even admits they don’t quite have the necessary parking/metro infrastructure in place to handle full crowds every night and that was rather apparent. I arrived on a completely packed Metro train and immediately upon heading up to the sidewalk I was met with this:


What did I say? The folks here are a different breed, I’ll tell you what. Only in DC could a baseball game turn into a protest. These guys wanted to boo Exxon during the 7th inning stretch because Exxon sponsors it. There were about a half dozen die-hards with signs greeting fans on the way into the park. I’m upset about the gas prices too (especially now that I’ve cracked 10K miles on this trip of mine) but there’s a line I’m not ready to jump over just yet.

I got to the centerfield gate and ticket window with about 20 minutes to game time and was greeted with a harsh reality.


At almost every other park I’ve been able to just walk up to the ticket window, wait a minute or two if at all, and purchase a ticket. This was a little different in that it was a Friday night, very close to game time and this was the gate that greets fans emptying out from the Metro. Also of note is that the line to get into the park at the center field gate, albeit more swiftly moving, was about double the length of the ticket line pictured above. I don’t know where I would have been without my newly found “park savvy.” Thinking quickly, I circled the stadium and headed over to the home plate entrance. Sure enough, my instincts were right!


I walked right up to a window after taking this picture and headed into the park in time for the anthem. Who’s a genius? It’s THIS GUY!!

Something the Nationals did very well inside the stadium was facilitating movement among the fans. Like Milwaukee, Philly, and a few other stadiums, when you have the room to build it right it can make all the difference in the world. Have a look at some of these shots:









You can really see some of the expansive concourse areas provided at the park. I never felt overcrowded or like I was being herded in with all of the other cattle; it was really nice. Also, this meant Nationals Park was yet another stadium with plenty of cool standing room areas. They didn’t have quite the amount of countertops and tables the Phillies provided but the vantages were still pretty great. That also had to do with the shape of the stadium. It’s hard for me to describe but there is something very unique about the physical structure of Nationals Park. From the upper deck behind home plate the field doesn’t look that different from most others in the country, but when you walk around underneath and in the outfield of the stadium it definitely is different. Some of that is the wide open spaces and some of that is, how do you say, je ne sais pas?

Let’s do food next, who doesn’t like food, right?

Again, not to repeat myself but I’m definitely back on the east coast. I have yet to make it to New York or Boston but the Nationals have the highest food prices in the country. $4.50 for a hot dog, $7.00 for a sausage, $6.00 for a pretzel in the shape of a cursive W?! Everything seemed to be at least .50 higher than at other parks.

The beer was rather intriguing though. So, I know I’ve ranted a bunch about people paying more and getting less for canned or bottled beer. Well, I can’t be 100% certain but I think the Nationals are the first team to charge the same amount for a beer whether it came from a draught or in a bottle (16oz of each). Also, their “premium” drafts (i.e. Amstel Light, Heineken, Sam, etc.) cost the same amount as Miller or Bud products!! That is DEFINITELY a first and I can’t imagine it will be long before they change those prices. Either way, everything was $7.50 for 16oz and that’s pretty high for the light stuff but actually a decent deal for the darker beers.

Pat and Diana told me about Ben’s Chili Bowl and it’s a good thing they did because I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to enjoy this gem:


This was called the “Ben’s all the way” and actually was nowhere near as bad as it looks. If I hadn’t got the heads up I probably would have skipped it but I guess Ben’s is local and famous so, according to my rules, I had to try it. This was very comparable in ingredients to the thing I had in Cincinnati (chili, onions, cheese, hot dog and mustard) but the Nationals version, or more correctly, Ben’s version, was WAY better. Even though it tasted good I’m getting pretty tired of the baseball food group. How about a “Washington’s Apple” or some “Lincoln’s Lettuce” fercryinoutloud?!

I have to share just a couple of other notes about the fare at Nationals Park. Most of the concession stands played up the DC theme with names like “Senators Sausages” and “Capitol Candy.” At every park there usually is one place to get mixed drinks. The Nationals have at least FOUR and drink prices reached up to $13.00. I’m not sure what that means exactly, but it’s worth mentioning. The beer and food vendors walking around the stands could not have been more disinterested in their jobs. They were meek, barely audible and did not even wear price buttons so you didn’t know if you were getting the screw job or not. I certainly did not give them any of my business. Finally, they had this in San Fran too and I really cannot believe a sign like this is warranted anywhere, in any situation. Note the background though…points for spicy mustard!!


Before we get to the high and low points of the stadium we need to talk about the luxury space. I’ve got three separate notes about it being far too much and I think, in the end, it was. Take a look at this picture:


First, you should notice the cursive “W” in the outfield grass. That’s really impressive no matter who you are. Dad saw this on TV and told me to check it out. Most teams haven’t been doing too much with their lawn designs but the Nationals took it to a new level. No block letters for our nation's capitol, this is the big leagues! More important though is comparing the seating area directly behind home plate to its surrounding areas. You can see maybe 50% empty blue seats behind the plate and otherwise the stadium is pretty full, right? I guess this has been an area of controversy in DC lately. The amount of luxury space in the stadium is just absurd but you’d think with all the politicians, law firms, lobbyists, etc. the city would be able to support it but many games look like this one or worse (and this was a Friday night!). I bet they can support it and that those seats may even have been paid for, but when you don’t put a winning product on the field nobody “important” is going to show up and that's really too bad for baseball. For virtually every pitch of the game this is what viewers on TV are going to see. They’ll be looking at seats that are 50% full and that’s not going to make anyone want to come to the game. I wasn't as bothered in DC as I've been elsewhere about the amount of luxury space in the stadium, it was the fact that nobody USED those seats that really pissed me off.

High Points:

-The ushers all around Nationals Park went out of their way to be friendly and helpful and I was allowed to take pictures from wherever I wanted. They’re right up there with the top ushers in the country. One guy even left his post to offer to take my picture when he saw me snapping away. Here’s me. GO CELTICS!!!


-I definitely covered this above but the amount of space around the park really opened things up and lead to a positive experience. Also, there was a whole area dedicated to video games at the park. There had to be 30 machines and they were all free to play. I didn’t end up playing but it looked like a good time for the kids who were.

-In the lower seating bowl there were more TVs than at any other park. San Diego also had the flat screens but nothing like what Washington provided for fans. From any seat angle in the lower deck you had a TV to look at.


-Arizona is another one that stands out in my mind but I think the Nationals have taken over as “best video board” in the country. Look at how much information is on here in terms of statistics. Plus, the video portion is in HD and it’s huge. Also, very few areas of the park cannot see the board which is always a concern as well.


-There is a bar in left center field called the “Red Porch.” I didn’t hang out very long there but it’s a great place to catch the game. Pretty much every stadium has a pub or bar to order drinks and watch the game but what made the Nationals version unique was its location. It has seating areas below but the actual bar is set high enough that when you’re standing in line to order a drink you can turn around and still watch the game. Usually these bars are set back behind the seating areas or down with the concessions and you can only see the game on TV. This bar was under an overhang but otherwise you had an unobstructed view of the action. Good place to catch the game.

-The “President’s Race” the Nationals had was pretty sweet. Instead of using typical condiments, participants were dressed up in the oversized heads of former presidents.


Abe Lincoln won when I was there but it was a handicapped event in that Teddy Roosevelt never stepped foot on the field! Instead, poor Teddy was shown in a video montage during the race being…let’s say… “distracted”



Low Points:

-The prices at Nationals Park were a thorn in my side the entire night. I know things generally were only about .50 more but that just seemed magnified when you consider how high the prices are in the first place.

-I mentioned this briefly but the Nationals have a host. This wasn’t an egregious offense like it is in the other stadiums because, for some reason, I almost expected it in DC what with the prevailing “corporate” atmosphere found all over the park.

-The Nationals were selling a foam claw hand like the Tigers do. First, the Tigers version is way more scary, it has all five digits and it actually makes sense because their mascot is…a TIGER! I have no idea why the Nationals were doing this or why it had 3 fingers/claws and it absolutely was a low point of the stadium.


-The Nats know this, but they really need to fix the transportation issues.

-The fan distribution (other than the luxury boxes behind home plate) reminded me of being back in LA. Fans showed up incredibly late (2nd-3rd) inning and left by the 7th-8th. I will admit though, yours truly didn’t stick it out for all 14 innings…I had a bus to catch back to VA before they shut down for the night!

Overall Grade: B

Game Stats:

Teams: Nationals vs. Rangers
Final Score: 4-3 Nationals
Extra Innings: 5
WP: Joel Hanrahan
LP: Jamey Wright
Time: 4:10
Announced Attendance: 30,359
Ticket Price: $18.00
Parking Price: N/A

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 19-8
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 10193
States Visited: 25
Countries Visited: 2
Districts of Columbia Visited: 1
Beds slept in: 30
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: New York Mets
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)

Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
Twins: B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+
Orioles: B
Phillies: A-
Nationals: B