Nats' Park very much Washington

Saturday, March 29, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

There was a debate about what material should be used in the construction of the Nationals' new park, and whether it should be built in a style similar to the distinctive architecture you see throughout the city. Stan Kasten, the team's president, thought that issue would be mostly irrelevant in creating a fans' impression of a ballpark.

What do you remember most about Fenway Park, he would ask fans, and the natural response, of course, would be the Green Monster, the triangle in center field. OK, he would continue, when you think of Wrigley Field, what comes to mind? And the natural answer is the outfield walls in the summer, the ivy and the baskets and the bleachers and the blowing flags above the center field scoreboard.

 
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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