Special to The Roanoke Times

Before Greg Maddux dug in to throw another pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning of a major league baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals on an overcast May Sunday, he summoned an umpire.

The mound, Maddux said, was too choppy and muddy and the Cubs' veteran right-hander kept slipping on it. Surrounding Maddux, thousands of fans were waiting in long lines to buy large, greasy hot dogs, while others struggled to elude the lines to return to their seats.

Welcome to a Washington Nationals game, circa 2005. The team, the city and the name are new to modern pro baseball, but the stadium is as old and classic as the Rolling Stones.

So, therefore, is the experience of attending a game.

When Major League Baseball finally officially moved the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C., in January, it left the city little time to prepare for the 2005 season. The Nats agreed to play at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, which underwent brisk renovations in time for the season.

The result is a nostalgic trip for longtime fans and a new experience for many younger fans, one you can't get at most modern major league ballparks.

The Nationals began play in mid-April and were scheduled to play 81 home games between then and early October at RFK, which sits in the southeast corner of the District, about 240 miles from Roanoke.

As of mid-May the Nats were in third place in the National League East with a respectable record above .500. They are led by power hitters Jose Guillen and Vinny Castilla, slick fielders Cristian Guzman and Jose Vidro and pitchers Livan Hernandez and Chad Cordero.

Few who don't compete in a fantasy baseball league have actually heard of all of those guys. The Nats' biggest draws are actually their manager, 70-year-old Frank Robinson (a Hall of Fame outfielder in the 1960s and '70s), and their ballpark, 44-year-old RFK - which opened one year after the Stones got together. (Like RFK, the Stones are back in prominent action this summer.)

RFK opened to host the Washington Senators, a major league team that moved to Texas after the 1971 season, and the Washington Redskins, an NFL team that moved into a new stadium in Landover, Md., a few miles outside the District, in 1997.

Since the Redskins moved out to that soulless, colossal bowl covered in Federal Express ads, RFK has mostly been used to host concerts and minor league soccer.

Yet it's kept its charm and, for the next three seasons, including this one, RFK hosts the Nats. Attending a Nats game will take anyone who used to go to Senators or Redskins games at RFK back.

Vendors still line the street between the Metro exit and the stadium, upperdeck seats are still painted Redskins red and yellow, and entire sections still sway up and down during rallies like a bridge during an earthquake.

RFK novices will appreciate other aspects, such as legroom (which has been stripped away at modern ballparks), cheap tickets (including some that cost a Salem Avalanche-like $7) and the sightlines: There is truly not a bad seat in the stadium; even the top upperdeck seats provide fine views of the field.

For all its pluses, though, going to a major league game at RFK has its drawbacks. The stadium is easily accessible by Metro, but, with an average of more than 30,000 fans attending weekend games, Metro does not efficiently transport passengers after those popular games. (After the May 15 game, for example, I waited a half-hour just to board a train.)

RFK also falls short of most modern stadiums because it has too few concessions stands, causing long lines; serves nothing more than traditional ballpark fare (forget about the crab cakes you can get at Camden Yards in Baltimore; you'll be lucky to find a chicken sandwich); and has a thin concourse: While walking to our seats in the upper deck, we had to push through several lines to get there.

In addition, the team's new mascot, Screech, looks like an obese eagle strung out on laughing gas. (If the team insisted on naming its mascot after a "Saved by the Bell" character, why did it choose the dorky one?)

But overall, baseball at RFK, which can hold more than 40,000 people for Nats games, is like an old pair of boxer shorts: not too pretty to look at, holes everywhere, but somehow it feels right.

RFK sits close to Baltimore's Camden Yards, often regaled as the crown jewel and prototype of modern baseball stadiums, and the Orioles and Nats host games on the same weekend four times this season.

But, if you can only manage to attend one game, the advantages of going to watch the Nats over the Orioles are numerous:

• You can see national league baseball at RFK, where games move an average of 10 to 15 minutes quicker.

• The Nats' sluggers have not been heavily accused of taking steroids.

• Camden Yards has some seats that extend into the stratosphere, unlike RFK.

• There's a whole lot more to do in a weekend in Washington, D.C., than in Baltimore. (Just ask my friends who drive down from Baltimore almost every weekend.)

• Most of the seats are filled by legit baseball fans, not rich businessmen or other self-important people.

• That said, you can spot some local celebrities at RFK. Already, politicians such as Joe Lieberman and John McCain have been seen there, along with "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert and political strategist James Carville.

• Because of its size, RFK is the hardest NL stadium for hitters to homer in. The result is more baseball the way it was meant to be played.

• They actually play "Take Me out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch at RFK. No "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" or the even more dreadful "Cotton Eye Joe."

• And, RFK is 40 miles closer to Roanoke.

But the best reason to go to a Nats game at RFK is because, despite its newness, you're already running out of time. The Nats are expected to move into a new stadium in the District south of RFK by 2008, where ticket prices promise to be higher, legroom smaller and snobby amenities like luxury boxes and suites everywhere.

So let the umpires and players worry about problems like a poor pitching mound and outfield walls that don't give. Just sit back and enjoy 1970s-style baseball while its return to the District lasts.If you go ...

The Washington Nationals play at RFK Stadium this season through Sunday, Oct. 2. To view their schedule and buy tickets, visit http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=was. You may also buy tickets by visiting Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com) or by calling (202)675-NATS. The team's box office is open from noon-5 p.m. daily.

RFK is located on East Capitol Street in Washington, D.C. It is easily accessible via the D.C. Metro, a short walk from the Stadium-Armory stop on both the Blue and Orange lines (for a Metro map and information, visit Metro's site at www.wmata.com/). Your best bet is to take I-81 north from Roanoke to Route 66 east. Get off at Exit 69 (Fairfax Drive) and get onto Washington Boulevard. Go one-half mile and make a right onto North Sycamore Street. The East Falls Church Metro station is at 1950 N. Sycamore St. Park in the station's lot and take the Orange line east to the Stadium-Armory stop.

If you are driving straight from Roanoke to RFK, visit http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/was/ballpark/directions.jsp for directions. Parking is available at the stadium.

(C)2005 The Roanoke Times