Ballparks - 9 - Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.

Nationals Park (7 July 2011)

7 July 2011

I started drafting this right after the 2017 World Series. I was hoping to see our Nats, winners of their division last year (again) and loaded with good bats and arms, go deeper into the playoffs. Instead, they followed a now-hallowed Washington sports tradition of rolling over when it counts in the post-season. (Guess I can’t say that anymore now that the hockey Capitols have won the Stanley Cup. Congratulations to them.)

Along with the O’s in Camden Yards (posted 10/12/16), the Washington Nationals is my other ‘home’ team. Baseball has been played in the nation’s capital for as long as there have been professional teams. The Senators were one of the original American League teams when the league was formed in 1901. They played in ancient Griffith Stadium until they moved away.

Nationals Park (7 July 2011)

I feel like one should wear a harness to see a game from these 

upper deck chairs in left field…suspended in space as they are.

Every year, when our current Nats clinch another playoff spot, there are references to the only World Series win the city celebrated…in 1924. In the decades since, the Senators were the picture of futility.

“Washington -- first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.”
Charles Dryden

“For the Washington Senators, the worst time of the year is the baseball season.”
Roger Kahn

Remember that fantasy tale about a fan who makes a deal with the devil to become the star that leads his woebegone team to victory. What other team would the author use for a book that became the Broadway musical ‘Damn Yankees’ but the pitiful Senators?

Presidents Race, Nationals Park (7 July 2011)

Like the sausages in Milwaukee and the 

pierogis in Pittsburgh, the Nats race their president 

mascots in the middle of the fourth inning.

After the 1960 season, the Senators left for greener pastures and became the Minnesota Twins who made it to the World Series five years later. They were immediately replaced with an expansion team that lasted until 1971 before moving to Dallas as the Texas Rangers. There was no major league ball in town for 33 years until the National League Montreal Expos relocated here. They played three seasons in the old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium before their new park opened in 2008.

Statue of Walter Johnson, Nationals Park (7 July 2011)

One of the best pitchers ever and an original 

Hall of Famer, he was the ace on the last 

Washington team to win the World Series in 1924.

The 2011 date above is a link to the box score and game information. The Nats broke it open against the Chicago Cubs with a 7-run third inning but wound up losing 10-9. The Nats finished in third place that year with an 80-81 record…21½ games behind the Phillies. The Cubbies were no better, finishing fourth in their division with a 71-91 record.

Nationals Park (7 July 2011)

View from the left field bleachers

The new stadium is full of modern features and conveniences and that post-Camden Yards quirkiness.

During this past season, the Washington Post published capsule reviews of all thirty major league ballparks. The overall rating for Nationals Park was 15th, with a specific gripe about NOT being able to see any recognizable views of the Nation’s Capital beyond the fences. I believe the criticism is inappropriate because the capitol and the Washington Monument are in foul territory and too far away from the ballpark to appreciate. I suspect any remaining views will soon be obliterated by the ever-growing number of buildings under construction.

View from the Upper Deck, Nationals Park (7 July 2011)

Not only is the Capitol in the far distance but no one below 

the upper decks would see it even if the stadium faced that way

Another reason the stadium footprint might be positioned as it is has to do with the path of the sun. The lesson I learned this day was - don’t sit on the right field side on a stinky hot summer afternoon. The sun beats down on you much longer than it does on fans on the third base side. The setting sun goes behind the stadium much sooner for them so they got shade long before we did. If the park were positioned so more people could face downtown, many more of them would have sun in their faces. No thanks.

Finally, I mentioned RFK Stadium earlier. That one will be added to the LIFE LIST later. It’s another Major League ballpark that you beginning ‘collectors’ can no longer get.

BWA-HA-HA-HA.

Italy – Day 3b – Santa Croce

After the Uffizi, we had a fine taverna lunch and headed to one more Renaissance jewel. If you know me, you understand I HAD to visit the Basilica di Santa Croce, ‘The Westminster of Florence.’ Less than a kilometer from the famous Duomo, it is the final resting place of Italians who have made an impact on the country and the world. There you will find the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli and monuments to many others. Has this been a great day or what?

Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence (18 February 2018)

Begun in 1294 and completed in 1385, it is considered a minor basilica within the church hierarchy. However, it has been decorated by many of the heralded artists and sculptors of the Renaissance.

Dante at Santa Croce, Florence (18 February 2018)

Not everyone acknowledged in the Basilica actually resides in Santa Croce. Cenotaphs (empty tombs for someone whose remains are elsewhere) are here for Dante (buried in Ravenna, Italy) and nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi (buried in Chicago).

Apart from the main church sanctuary, there are other chapels and galleries with more art and craftwork.

Deposition from the Cross by Francesco Salviati

Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence (18 February 2018)

Painted in 1547, the huge canvas appeared rather bright and fresh. It was then we saw that many artworks were badly damaged or destroyed in the flood of 1966. It was the worst flooding of the Arno River since 1557. There is a marker near the doorway to the gallery where this painting now hangs. It is about four feet above the floor…the second floor of the building. It took years to restore thousands of artworks, books and records.

Another of the notable residents of Santa Croce is Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), who created the amazing bronze relief panels that adorn the doors to the Baptistery next to the Duomo. He was only 23 when he won the competition to create the gilded bronze doors which were so impressive, Michelangelo called them the ‘Gates of Paradise.’ The sponsors of the work were so impressed, they moved the doors to the most prominent entrance…facing the cathedral. The Kahn Academy has an interesting and illustrative video on the work.

The light was fading when I went to the Baptistery to have one last look at Ghiberti’s masterpiece. I was able to get shots of a couple of the door’s ten panels.

Joshua Panel, Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti,

Baptistery, Florence (18 February 2018)

I couldn’t get close enough to feel any vibes from Galileo Galilei. He’s been interred in Santa Croce since his death in 1642 and the great scientist’s essence might have faded a bit. Actually, he has not been here all that long. Since his discoveries so upset the ruling theocracy that was the Vatican, he was brought before the Inquisition. Of course, he was found guilty because his belief that the earth revolved around the sun was “foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture."

Galileo’s Tomb, Santa Croce, Florence (18 February 2018)

Four hundred years later, science and the church are still at odds. At least now, for the most part, the law has sided with provable fact and the scientific method over religious dogma. But back in those days, the church was in charge and for suggesting that the earth was NOT the center of the universe, Galileo was shunned and under house arrest for the rest of his life. When he died, the church said he needed to be interred in a more remote and insignificant part of the church because, after all, he was judged “vehemently suspect of heresy.”

In 1737, the church softened their position since science had in fact proven Galileo correct. He was moved out of the broom closet to his deserved place in the church proper. Interestingly, for reasons I cannot find or fathom, three fingers from his right hand (and a tooth) were removed and saved. You can now see his middle finger in the Galileo Museum in Florence. It is in a fine glass and engraved marble display.

Of all the digits to preserve and display, I find it wonderfully, appropriately ironic that one was chosen.

End of the Day, Florence (18 February 2018)

One of the few bright spots in the day happened at a distance and soon before sundown. Taken from the Ponte Vecchio, there was a part of the area that was actually, briefly, in the sun. Throw in a hint of a rainbow and we finally had some color outside of the museums.

Ciao, Firenze.