Today marked the end of an era. It was a short era ... and some may say "error" instead. But the three year era of the Nationals calling RFK Stadium home has ended with Sunday's 5-3 victory over the Phillies. You'll forgive the Nats for not being overwhelmed with grief.
The fans sure turned out Sunday to say goodbye for the season to the Washington Nationals and goodbye forever - when it comes to baseball, at least - to RFK Stadium, with an attendance of 40,519 making it the team's largest crowd of 2007.Just getting that place to have real baseball dimensions was a victory in itself. RFK used to host exhibition games where the left field line was 290 feet away and Sid Fernandez would hit opposite field home runs. For the last three seasons, RFK was actually a pitchers heaven ... albeit with paint chipping off the seats clearly visible on television. But hey, we've all lived in cramped, leaking apartments for a little while before being able to afford that big new house with the white picket fence and the cherry trees, right?
And when D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, backed by a group of city council members, called for a pregame round of applause for the stadium, the spectators obliged, loudly. The players, however, did not. They're thrilled to be going from a leaking, creaking place that opened in 1961 to a new stadium slated to open in 2008.
"I'm not going to say we're going to miss it, because we won't," third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said before Washington beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 in the Nationals' last home game of the season. "But it's been a great place for baseball to come back to. They did a great job with what they had here to make it, I guess, as good as they could for three years."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-24-2007 @ 11:35AM
smills said...
RFK Stadium always brings back such good memories for me. Summer afternoons when I'd go with my grandfather to pick my grandmother up from where she worked at DC General Hospital. The stadium sat just across the street bigger than life. We'd watch the Redskins practice at the practice field right behing the hospital. I remember going to watch the Redskins play when I got older, or the Washington Senators play baseball until they moved to Texas. And now, just like both of my grandparents, it's time for it's demise also. Goes to show you, nothing lasts forever, except good memories. It might be old an wore out now, but ohh the memories and the good times had by all who have ever been to a game there. You served us all well RFK Stadium. Thank you.
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