National Guard Welcomes Nationals to New Stadium

[wackychick]

WASHINGTON - Baseball, hot dogs and the National Guard.

Such was the scene for the inaugural game at the new $611-million Nationals Park in Washington March 30 as Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen from the D.C. National Guard unfurled two American flags in the outfield, each 150-feet by 65-feet. The D.C. Air National Guard's 121st Fighter Squadron provided an F-16 Fighting Falcon flyover. The commander in chief, a former Air Guardsman himself, threw out the first ball.

For 33 seasons, from the Senators' final game in 1971 to the Nationals' first in 2005, the nation's capital was without major league baseball. It returned to the 43-year-old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 2005. On March 30, the Washington Nationals came home to a brand new stadium on South Capitol Street in the Capitol Riverfront District.

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