WASHINGTON -- The media got a peek yesterday at Washington's nearly completed baseball stadium. The steel, glass and concrete home of the Washington Nationals is more bland than Camden Yards but more intimate, with an open-air feel and views of the U.S. Capitol dome from portions of the upper deck.
Nationals Park, which debuts with a March 29 exhibition against the Orioles, is among a new generation of stadiums built smaller than its predecessors. Camden Yards seats about 48,000, but the stadium in Southeast Washington - about 36 miles from Baltimore - will seat about 41,000. It will be in line with its recent contemporaries such as Pittsburgh's PNC Park, which seats about 38,000, and Houston's Minute Maid Park, which holds just fewer than 41,000.
The intimacy is evident in the views from beyond center field. Even in those seats, home plate doesn't appear distant. "This is not just outfield upper deck," Nationals president Stan Kasten said yesterday as he shepherded two dozen media members around the park. "This is in the ballgame."
The Capitol is easily seen from many, though not all, of the seats in the upper level.
The stadium's modest size is among its most striking features. The first row of the lower bowl is 16 feet closer to the field than its counterpart at roomy, 46-year-old RFK Stadium, the last major league stadium to open in the District of Columbia. RFK was the home of the Nationals for three seasons while the new, $611 million facility was being constructed.
Everything about the stadium seems smaller than RFK - particularly the power alleys, which are 377 and 370 feet, respectively, from home plate.
"I'm confident it's going to play smaller than RFK," said Kasten, a New Jersey-raised lawyer who served as president of three teams simultaneously when he worked for Ted Turner's Atlanta-based sports empire before resigning in 2003.
Kasten said there are too many variables to accurately predict whether Nationals Park - its name until naming rights are sold - will be more of a hitters' park or a pitchers' park.
One variable is wind. Beyond the outfield are two parking garages with a 200-foot gap in between. "I don't know if that'll be a wind tunnel," Kasten said.
Players are certain to like the amenities.
The home clubhouse, featuring dark-cherry wood, appears to be four to five times larger than the locker room at RFK. Instead of a square or rectangle, the new clubhouse is oval-shaped.
There are two reasons. One is that the designers figured a clubhouse without corners meant that players wouldn't be able to hide and might congregate more. Another is to evoke the symbolism of the Oval Office, the most famous room in the White House.
Adjoining the clubhouse is a tiled players' room with two giant tubs and step-in pool featuring an underwater treadmill.
The first regular-season game will be against the Atlanta Braves on March 30.
Parking could be a problem for that game and others early in the season.
The team hopes fans make heavy use of the expanded Washington Navy Yard Metro station. It also is planning to have fans park at RFK Stadium lots and shuttle them to the new facility on buses.
"I think it will work itself out," Nationals vice president of communications Chartese Burnett said.
The stadium is funded through a combination of sources, including a tax on large businesses and stadium concessions. The ownership group, headed by Washington developer Theodore N. Lerner, is adding about $50 million of its own money to pay for flourishes intended to add character, Kasten said.
"When we got the design, I thought it was kind of bland," Kasten said. He said the franchise is adding "fun stuff, fan stuff" on an expansive plaza beyond the outfield.
Those features are to include cherry blossoms and statues of former Washington Senators greats Walter Johnson and Frank Howard and former Negro leagues slugger Josh Gibson. There will be pitching machines, batting machines and kids' concessions.
The team has sold out its club seats but still has $300-per-ticket premium seats remaining. The price includes dinner and parking. Single-game tickets go on sale this week.
jeff.barker@baltsun.com