Nationals prepare final farewell for RFK

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VIERA, Fla. -- Workers are painting, drilling and sanding all over Space Coast Stadium, trying to finally make it seem like the spring training home ballpark for the Washington Nationals. It is a rebirth of sorts, with the teal seats of the old tenants, the Florida Marlins, being replaced with Nationals blue.

And while the Nationals prepare for their first non-orphan season at Space Coast Stadium, they also are preparing to say goodbye to baseball's District home for 45 years -- with a 34-year hiatus in between -- in what is expected to be the last season of baseball at RFK Stadium.

Nationals fans can expect the franchise to spend this season recognizing the historic significance of the final season at RFK, team president Stan Kasten said. And those celebrations won't be limited to honoring baseball at RFK, but baseball in Washington as well.

"The promotions people are working on those things," Kasten said in his first spring training with the Nationals. "During the year, we have talked about celebrating different things which may have happened historically."

Those festivities will culminate in the final home series of the season, a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies from Sept. 20 to 23.

"The last weekend is going to be a big deal," Kasten said. "We will have so much going on Opening Day that I don't think we will have any special memorial things on Opening Day. But everyone does realize the significance of this year. Remember, this is the last Opening Day ever at RFK. I hope people turn out for no other reason than for that."

The new Southeast ballpark is supposed to open in time for the 2008 season, and the way it is progressing, everyone seems confident that is going to happen.

"I do really feel like it is going to be the last year, if you've seen the new stadium," Kasten said. "Have you driven by it recently? They are moving fast."

Yes, they are. But, as they say, stuff happens.

Still, it's smart for Kasten and the Lerner family to both commemorate and capitalize on the last season of baseball at RFK. There may have been a generation of baseball fans in the District who grew up without the game, and their nostalgia, if any, may rest north in Baltimore.