Take Me Out To The Ball Game

(Image swiped from the WaPo)

Catesby Leigh, writing in OpinionJournal today, lays into the proposed design for the Nats' new stadium (the announcement of which I missed when I was out of town):

The design goes from banal to pretentious at the ballpark's south end, where a triangular volume derived from I.M. Pei's National Gallery East Building is awkwardly appended to emphasize, and indeed exaggerate, the nonperpendicular intersection of South Capitol Street and Potomac Avenue. Hey guys, this is a ballpark.

Sigh.....Here we are in what I thought was supposed to be a period of architectural renaissance for ballparks and these bozos are invoking I.M. Farookin' Pei, who if you think I haven't yet forgiving for befouling the Louvre with his goddam glass n' steel pyramids, you're jolly well right. This is Dee Cee, people! Surely any architect worth his salt can figure out a way to combine the retro sweetness of, say, Camden Yards with the feel of Constitution Avenue! Leigh's suggestions regarding the example of Soldier Field are a step in the right direction and certainly a helluva lot better than the blah glass n' concrete lump currently proposed.

Leigh well understands what a ballpark is supposed to be about:

But the first indispensable step is for the Nationals' new owners to realize that for the ballpark to be the success this city and their franchise require, a merely serviceable facility will not do. This place must be loved.

From what I'm reading and seeing, somebody has forgotten this.