Where Was I: Nationals Park, Washington, DC (May 12th, 2013)

Stadium Count:
- Trip: 3rd.
- Active MLB: 15.
- Overall MLB: 23.

Seat: Section 112 Row N Seat 5, on the third base side, about 40 per cent of the way up the LF foul line.

Score: Cubs eke out single runs in the tops of the 8th and 9th innings to defeat the Nationals 2-1.

For about a block or so next to the alleyway leading up to the park, there is basically a street party, at 'Half-Street', with beer counters, food, games and live music, both before and after the game.

The main entrance to the Park leads to a terrace behind centre field; by memory, the only other ballpark to which I have been that has the same lay-out is Target Field in Minneapolis. Statues of Walter Johnson, Frank Howard and Josh Gibson, who spent the bulk of his career with the Homestead Greys, grace the front entrance.

Left of the CF terrace and one level above, there is a restaurant area in right field, which features Blue Smoke BBQ, a fancy fry place, a shake place and a taqueria. Ben's Chili Bowl, a DC institution, has a concession in the Level 100 concourse. I had their half-smoke, 'all-up', which evidently means onions, cheese and chili.

To recognise baseball history in DC, as well as the past of the franchise, there is a sort of a ring of honour above the 200 level, which lists Hall of Famers who played for the Washington Senators, the Homestead Greys and the Expos (Carter and Dawson). Yeah, Expos! It is the only acknowledgement I saw of the Nats' years as the Expos.

The crowd was large (38,000+), vocal... and very, very white. I only saw two Black fans, a mother and her young daughter (I am assuming). The fan of the game was also Black, but that is about it, as far as I could tell. I wonder if this is a MLB-wide issue, a DC issue, or a MLB one that is exacerbated in DC. I will pay a bit more attention to the crowd make-up from now on.

Random comments:

- The more stadiums I hit, the more I am thinking of how I would rank them and on what basis. Some of the key elements I am thinking of might include overall 'feel' of the ballpark (yup, kind of undefined), concessions, accessibility by public transit, neighbourhood, history or acknowledgement of history and whether it is domed. Suggestions welcome.

- Teddy won the Presidents' race!

- They have cheerleaders, the NatPack, who try to get the crowd cheering and chanting. That is a minor league move, which is just bad form at a MLB baseball game.

- After the 3rd inning, the crowd does a 'cap wave', in that everybody waves their Nationals' caps in the air.

- The Nats' Gio Gonzalez was perfect through five innings.

- Given it was Mother's Day, the Nats showed a very sweet video montage of scenes from movies and television featuring mothers.

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