Hunley: P-Nats have earned fixes to clubhouse

In my world, we’re kinda still in basketball season, especially when my Boston Celtics are playing well.

But it’s also spring training for baseball, and talk around here has turned to our Potomac Nationals.

Specifically, the team’s clubhouse at Pfitzner Stadium needs a facelift.

The offices there are cramped and there’s only one toilet, two urinals and four showerheads for players and management to use on game day, as my colleague Robert Daski first reported earlier this month.

That’s bad for those who use them every day, but it’s not good for the rest of us, either, because Major League Baseball got involved, suggesting that the P-Nats wouldn’t be able to play at the Pfitz anymore if conditions weren’t addressed.

Things should be fine now, though, because $210,000 has been identified to pay for refurbishing the P-Nats’ digs.

The team’s kicking in $70,000, the Board of County Supervisors has allocated another 70K, and the final third will come from the county Park Authority, which leases the stadium to the club.

The supervisors voted to approve their expense Feb. 8 with basically no discussion.

So, you may be thinking, that’s not much of a story.

But it’s worth examining, if for no other reason than a couple of faithful readers of this newspaper have questioned the expense.

Longtime fishwrap follower Shirley Collins wrote us a letter to the editor correctly pointing out that, if you think about it, we taxpayers are footing two-thirds of this renovation because the Board of County Supervisors and Park Authority are both governmental entities.

However, one can argue that that’s fine, seeing as how the county owns Pfitzner.

But I don’t even need logic for this one.

As I’ve written many times, that minor-league team provides seemingly endless entertainment for county residents.

A regular person can take his or her family to the games and actually not have to spend an arm and a leg, and ... you don’t have to hoof it to D.C. for the experience.

So, I say, whatever the P-Nats want, give it to them. We’re lucky to have them.

After all, they’re not the Redskins. They actually win: two championships in the past three years.

And if you think the team makes for a frivolous expense, or that helping a ballclub isn’t a core function of government, maybe you’re right.

But maybe you also haven’t checked out all the other “unnecessary” things that eat up your tax dollars every year.

Jonathan Hunley is a staff writer at the News & Messenger. Contact him at 703-369-5738, or at jhunley@insidenova.com.