Nats want to keep Phils fans away
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Nats want to keep Phils fans away
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Apparently the Washington Nationals do not want your business.
According to a Washington Post blog posted Friday morning, the Nationals plan on doing all they can to prevent Nationals Park from being invaded by Phillies fans this season.
"Frankly I was tired of seeing it," Nats COO Andy Feffer told the Post. "Forget you Philly. This is our park, this is our town, these are our fans, and it's our time right now."
The Nats' plan to prevent Phillies fans from invading the ballpark during the first series between the teams in Washington was actually implemented Friday morning. Single-game tickets for the May 4-6 three-game series at Nationals Park went on sale Friday. They are the only single-game tickets being sold by the Nationals right now and for the next month they will only be sold to people with credit cards from Maryland and Washington D.C.
Feffer really seems irked by Phillies fans, because "Forget, you Philly" wasn't enough.
"We've heard it enough, we've seen it enough and I don't like it any more than anyone else," he said. "We're trying to build a team here and nothing irks me personally or the people here more than to see another team's fans -- particularly Philly fans -- in our ballpark, holding up signs. That's not the way it should be. And I think we've got an opportunity here to do something different."
The "something different" even has a name. It's called "Take Back the Park."
Of course, the Phillies and the fans know the best way to take back a ballpark is by winning. That's why you don't see or hear nearly as many Mets fans as you used to at Citizens Bank Park. And you have to search really hard to find even a single Nats' fan at Citizens Bank Park.
Hey I live in MD AND AM FROM pHILLY... Im proud to say Im one of those fans they are talking about.. we get special offers because I work for the DoD.. Anyone need more info.. hit me at nixman104@yahoo.com— nixman101- No problem with me. My sister lives in Maryland.— EL Zorro
- That's funny. Usually in the summertime I try to keep the gnats away.— TVGuy22
- Ticket gimmicks and slogans don't fill ballparks. Winning fills ballparks. Ours is full now because we've been excellent for 5-6 straight years. I remember going to the Vet in the late 1980s, when the Mets were very good, and it was full of New York fans. It was awful. That is, until Von Hayes hit a three-run, walkoff homer to win the game. The smelly New Yorkers couldn't have been quieter.— eman
- Yeah, that must have been like that game last season when Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals hit a walkoff grand slam to beat the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth. "The smelly" Philadelphians "couldn't have been quieter." — TheVirginian
- Not sure, but isn't that illegal to limit sales to strictly certain zip codes? Wouldn't that violate the limited Anti Trust exemption MLB has? Time to grow up Nat's. If you'd sell out like CBP, you wouldn't have to whine in the press or limit ticket sales to only Virginia/Maryland/D.C. residents.— drhoffman
Comment removed.- cheap. this seems illegal?— psualum
- This is hilarious, news flash National's if you don't sell tickets to phillies fans the stadium will be less than half full as usual. Im sure the local businesses just love this idea.— mdb20
- well you know what they say, jealousy is the best form of flattery....I guess not only are the Nats fans, if there is ever such a thing, got so consumed by they're jealousy, it's affecting managment..... Interesting.....— ICEInvestigator55
- I think it's just an effort to tick off Phillies fans so that they will actually be more motivated to waste a day in DC. You know that the Nats ownership's bottom line is just dollars and cents, even if their protestations make no sense...— phillyaztec
- This sounds like a campaign to have more empty seats at Nats stadium. But I don't blame them for trying. It is embarrassing to have more Phils fans than Nats fans at home games.— tomB
- That's a far cry from the Nationals actually advertising ticket sales in the Philly market two years ago. They should be grateful that Phillies fans have given them many of their best draws over the last handful of seasons, and some of their very few sellouts. It sucked when the Vet was half-full of Met fans, but Brookover is right: you don't change the culture by mouthing off, but by implementing a winning tradition. They've been making strides in that direction in Washington, but there's a long way to go before fans there can view their team with as much pride and passion as the 'invaders' do.— RickSchuBlues
- I used to pity the Gnats. Now I just strongly dislike them.— dasher
- Hey, African-American Phillies fans! This ban is targeted at YOU! Get yourselves a lawyer and bankrupt the Nats!— 5280philly
