#20: Nationals Park

RANK: #20 of 22, #14 of 15 current parks
NAME: Nationals Park
A/K/A: Walgreen's Field
MLB TEAM: Washington Nationals
YEARS IN OPERATION: 2008-Present
CAPACITY: 41,222

• TRADITION: 1 - Although the ballpark rests in one of the most historic and tradition-laden cities in America, absolutely nothing about the venue nor the team earns any points here. In fact, even if one added in the history of the Nationals' precursor, the Montreal Expos, it would be tough to rank this any higher.
  
• AMENITIES: 4 - Parking is more or less non-existent, but the proximity to a Metro station mitigates somewhat. The walk down a long, unattractive (perhaps unfinished?) outdoor corridor to get to the park from the Metro was very rough on crutches. Inside, this place has everything you'd expect in a new ballpark. Plenty of concession and souvenir stands ring the seating areas, and the restrooms are adequate. Ironically, this park, like many new sporting venues, created problems by overcompensating for previous issues with long lines for women's rooms. I do not recall any lines of women, but men's restroom lines often spilled well into the concourse.
  
• COMFORT: 5 - I have absolutely nothing remarkable to say on this topic. Sight lines were pretty clean, and the seats were average in terms of comfort. I was disappointed that my calculations on seating choice did not result in the view of the Capitol, about which so many rave. Perhaps finding those seats would have moved this score up a few notches.
  
• FANS: 1 - It must be tough to be a true fan of a team with no history, no marketable stars, and no real shot at a winning season. The crowd was very tame, and the weak performance of the team didn't inspire many great moments. Perhaps the addition of crowd-pleasing Adam Dunn will help a bit, but there's a long way to go.
  
• TEAM: 1 - If this score surprises you, odds are that the Nationals' players are so anonymous that you have no clue how bad they are overall. When the best player in your team's (admittedly brief) history is Ryan Zimmerman and no starting pitcher had more than 10 wins, a winning record, or more than 120 K's in 2008, it's probably safe to make vacation plans for October. See 2009 Nationals starting rotation hopefuls: Here, Here, Here, and Here
  
• FUN: 6 - I'm a sucker for a fun mascot race, and the Presidents Race fits the bill. Poor Teddy never wins, which is ironic, considering he was in better physical condition than a vast majority of U.S. Presidents.
  
• FOOD: 4 - The food was very, very ordinary. The 2-for-$1 hot dogs at 7/11 are just as good as anything we got here.
  
• PRICES: 6 - For a new park, the prices were pretty reasonable. It helps that we took the Metro instead of paying for parking, and the food was no more expensive than one would find at a Toledo Mud Hens game. The tickets were not horribly expensive, but when you consider the quality of play, probably not the greatest value.
  
• OVERALL FEEL: 3 - The place wasn't a dump, but it did not have the feel of a real ballpark. The best adjective I can think of is "sterile." The giant Walgreen's script W logo was distracting, too. Couldn't they have gone for something more original? I didn't get the chance to see a game at RFK, and I'm sure the new park is better, but this was the most disappointing stop on my two most recent baseball vacations.
  

TOTAL SCORE: 34