Ballpark Changes in the Majors

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New park for 2008

THE NATIONALS  completion: it was indeed in 2008

During the early part of the first decade of the new millenium, we had to change our write-up on where the Montreal Expos would end up playing many, many times.  The bottom line is that on December 29, 2004, the mayor of Washington signed a measure ensuring that the Expos would be playing in Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium in 2005, and that a new stadium would be completed for them by 2008. This followed a roller-coaster three-month period where the deal to move the team to D.C. was on again, off again, and back on again. On September 29, 2005, Major League Baseball had informed the city of Washington, D.C. that the Expos would indeed move to that city for the 2005 season, only to have MLB announce that move was off on December 22 after the D.C. Council placed requirements for private financing on the construction of the new facility. Within a week, the Council reversed itself, and the deal was back on.

RFK Stadium was the home of the vagabond Expos, which changed its name to the Washington Nationals, for three seasons while the new park was constructed.

The team, now called the Washington Nationals of course, played three seasons in a spruced-up RFK Stadium while the new facility was being designed and built. The new park, which was designed by a team headed by HOK and D.C.-based Devrouax & Purnell, was constructed near the intersection of South Capitol Street and Potomac Avenue, quite near the Anacostia River. BASEBALLPARKS.COM was there on Opening Day of this new park on March 30th (see the first pitch in the new park below). Our complete review of this new landmark is now available for your reading pleasure ... plus it features 30 photos!

On March 30, 2008, Washington's new ballpark finally made its debut. Here was the first pitch on Opening Night.

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