Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, December 23, 2005, Washington Post

The Score
Visions of Triples Dance in His Head

Like most kids these days, I'm thinking about what present I want for the holidays. I'm not talking about a bicycle or a PlayStation console. I'm thinking really big this year.

I want a baseball stadium. I want a brand new, shiny baseball stadium that the Washington Nationals can play in for years. And as long as I am dreaming big, here's what I want in the stadium:

First, I would love to see a deep center field fence -- 440 or even 450 feet from home plate. That way, if a ball is hit over the center fielder's head, the batter has to sprint around the bases. Watching a triple or an inside-the-park home run on a long drive to center is much more exciting than seeing someone jog around the bases after he's hit one over the fence.

Some old ballparks had huge center fields. The center field fence in the Polo Grounds where the old New York Giants and New York Mets played was, at times, more than 500 feet from home plate. Center field in Yankee Stadium used to be more than 460 feet and had monuments to some Yankees' legends right on the field. So why not a big center field for the new Nationals' ballpark?

I also want most of the outfield fences to be only eight or nine feet high. Why? Because one of the most exciting plays in baseball is when the outfielder leaps up, reaches over the fence and robs the batter of a home run.

And the fences shouldn't be a perfect curve like they are at RFK Stadium, the Nats' current home. The walls should have some weird angles that make the ball take crazy, exciting hops.

Part of the outfield fence should be big enough for a scoreboard that shows all of that day's other baseball scores. I've got to know how my Boston Red Sox are doing. And lots of Nats' fans follow other teams.

Of course, any new stadium will have luxury box seats for rich people. But I hope the stadium designers don't forget the not-so-rich and the kids. There should be some cheap seats in the outfield and at least one family section where drinking and bad language aren't allowed. Maybe there should be a rule in the family section that big folks can't sit right in front of kids and block their view.

I know a baseball stadium is really expensive -- they say it will cost at least $500,000,000 -- and tough to wrap, but that's what I want this year.

Is that too much to ask for the holidays?