national league

I’m starting to really like sitting in the upper deck at MLB stadiums.

For one, it’s much cheaper. For two, you get a good view of the stadium. Is it perfect for photos? Not a chance. But you can get wonderful views for wide-angle photos.

On top of that, you can often get some shade on hot days!

The upper deck is a good spot to watch a game.

That brings me to one of the latest MLB stadiums I’ve visited – Nationals Park in Washington D.C. I had the chance to visit the park a couple of weeks ago for an afternoon game.

Note – it gets hot in D.C.!

Anyway, we got there a tad early and had the chance to walk around the park. It’s really a unique and cool little park. It’s compact, which is nice as it didn’t seem like there were many bad seats in the stadium. We were in the upper deck behind the plate, and it was really nice.

The lower concourse is nice and there are plenty of options when it comes to food and other concessions. I liked the outfield concourse as it had a neat little setup where you get to explore a little bit. We came in via center field and it’s really cool as it opens up a little bit so you can get a view of the field.

The team store is nice and has a lot of options at decent prices. The Passport stamp was easy to locate and use, which was nice. I will say that the shirts and hats they offered were good and, if I was a Nationals Fan, I would have walked away with something. Instead, I just decided to do a baseball grab bag and took a chance – though I only got two game-used balls, no autographs. Story of my life!

Sight lines are solid, which is good. One thing, though. If you are there for an afternoon game, there are not a ton of shade areas, so be ready to fight the sun. The day we were there had more than 35,000 people there, so a lot of people came to watch. Thankfully, we had shade.

Prices for food and drinks seemed on par with other MLB stadiums. I, of course, grabbed a hot dog and it was pretty solid. I enjoyed it. The only other thing I had that day was a gelato, which was fully excellent. There were plenty of options, though. As we walked around before the game, you could see the choices were plentiful and, as noted earlier, the prices were on par to other MLB stadiums.

The ambiance was very friendly. Despite me wearing a Phillies hat, I didn’t feel like there was any hostility (in fact, one of the vendors had fun taking a few jabs toward me, all in good fun), which is always a good thing. The people I talked to were accommodating, which is a good thing. Lines to get in (when we went in) weren’t bad, so that was nice, too.

One of the baseball-themed outside the ballpark.

As for parking, we opted to go south of D.C. and park at a metro station (free on weekends) and take a train up. The train let us off about a block away, which was fully fine. It was perfect and the round trip cost us about 8 bucks or so. It was really nice to do this (as did in Pittsburgh last year) and makes life a whole lot easier and cheaper.

Ticket prices weren’t bad, and with not many bad seats, it’s worth getting a cheaper seat and enjoying the game.

This is definitely one of the better MLB stadiums I’ve been to. Though, to be fair, I haven’t been to too many bad MLB stadiums. That being said, I’d like to hit another Nationals game, especially if it’s at night. It’s not a bad trip to get to for me, so I can see a trip down again this summer, if all goes well that is.

Park Notes:

Nationals Park
Washington D.C.
Home of the Washington Nationals
Visited on: June 11, 2016
Opponent: Philadelphia Phillies

Ratings (out of 10)

Stadium: 9.5/10
Concessions: 8/10
Parking: N/A
Ambiance: 8/10
Friendliness: 9/10

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Note: I am finishing my 2015 Summer of Baseball stadium reviews over the next month or so. I have four left, including the one below. With a few other baseball posts, this should take us into March and closer to the start of the 2016 season!

PNC Park in Pittsburgh has been around since 2001 – and it took me a long time to finally get to a game there.

It’s always been one of those places I wanted to get to, but just never made the trip. I should have taken advantage of being closer when I went to school in Lock Haven. Alas, it never happened.

Stamped in!

It’s OK, though. I finally made it.

A weekend baseball trip to hit Pittsburgh and Altoona gave me the chance to see PNC Park for the first time. It’s definitely a great place to catch a game. We had seats behind home plate, just off a little bit. But they were high up, allowing us to see us the whole park.

It’s a great view, with the Allegheny River beyond the outfield wall. The yellow bridges are easily seen, too, which made for a cool look. The field was great and the seating wasn’t bad.

Walking around the park is nice as well. There’s a spot before the game with some live music and other things going on. Though you can walk around the whole park, you will lose sight of the game in certain parts, such as beyond the right-field wall. Still, it’s a unique setup how things are done. I liked that aspect.

I watched a half-inning or so from the left-field side, where there’s a winding walkway to bring you from the bottom sections to the top. Very cool part of the park.

While they had many modern amenities, it also had a slight old-school feel, which I liked.

It’s a busy area around the park.

Sight lines were excellent from our seats. Some of the ones down the line probably could have been a little tricky, depending on where you are.

Food choices were excellent, of course. Most parks have their signature dishes and Pittsburgh wasn’t any different as it offered Primanti’s, which was pretty cool. Alas, I knew I was going there the next day, so I didn’t get it that night. I did have a couple of hot dogs, as normal, and they were solid. There is a lot of excellent beer choices in certain parts of the stadium, but Iron City is readily available, though I stayed away.

What is really nice is the city’s light rail offers free rides to the stadium if you park on a more outskirt area, which is what we did. It was nice, too, as we were steps away from the light rail where we parked and were whisked away to the stadium, which is in a crowded area. The parking, that we saw, wasn’t great. So I’m glad we didn’t try and get close to the stadium. I think parking cost us $5 if I remember right, so much better than the $20 or $25 to be close to the stadium. And we were in and out fast.

The ambiance was strong. Pittsburgh is a pretty solid sports city, so they definitely were into the game. It helped that it was a pretty solid game, too, with the Pirates beating the Rockies, 5-3. After the game, we strolled around the park a little, and then on the outside, before taking the rail back to the car.

Overall, it was a solid experience. Tickets were highly affordable and the trip wasn’t too bad. In the end, a great place to watch baseball and well worth the trip if you are looking for a cool stadium.

Park Notes:

PNC Park
Pittsburgh, PA
Home of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Visited on: August 28, 2015
Opponent: Colorado Rockies

Ratings (out of 10)

Stadium: 9/10
Concessions: 8/10
Parking (stadium): 5/10
Parking (elsewhere/take light rail): 8/10
Ambiance: 9/10
Friendliness: 9/10

I am continuing the Summer of Baseball from 2014 and hope to blog about each new stadium I visit in 2015. Ones visited in the past can be viewed linked up in the 2014 version.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!