The MLB Commissioner spoke to the media on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Wochit

Washington Nationals president mascots race between innings of the game between the Nationals and the Houston Astros at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The park officially opened on Tuesday.(Photo: JASEN VINLOVE/USA TODAY SPORTS)

WEST PALM BEACH Washington Nationals fan Wally Reed immediately was struck by the openlayout of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches as soon as he stepped into the stadium on Tuesday morning.

The baseball field is the baseball field, but it has huge concourses, said Reed, who made the trip to West Palm Beach from Purcellville, Virginia, approximately an hour from Washington D.C. I like the access all around the outfield, its really a wide-open kind of stadium.

Id been to Viera (the Nationals previous spring home). This is a tremendous ballpark compared to Viera. Viera was an older stadium kind of like the analogy between the RFK (Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium) and the new Nats park. Its a beautiful stadium here. Viera was kind of compact and you feel youre almost trapped inside. Here, youre out there.

The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches had its official opening Tuesday as the Nationals hosted the Houston Astros the team it shares the spring training facility with. It was the first Grapefruit League game in West Palm Beach since the Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos left the area after the spring of 1997.

Nationals outfielder Michael Taylor hit a walk-off home run to give Washington a 4-3 win, putting an exclamation point on Tuesdays debut, which included a ribbon cutting and a flyover by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter during the national anthem.

A crowd of 5,987 was announced, as the stadium has 6,500 fixed seats.

Less than 15 months after breaking ground, the new stadium was met with great approval from officials, players and fans. Nationals manager Dusty Baker said Tuesday it felt like he was moving into a new house.

Its absolutely beautiful, said Joe Russo of Westford, Massachusetts. Im amazed. Its a great facility that theyve put together here and its perfect for Palm Beach. I just love the scenery, the background, the openness and its clean as a whistle. Its perfect.

"You can tell its day one, opening day for the ballpark.

With a wide, open concourse that goes all the way around the field, the Ballpark of the Palm Beach offers fans good views of the field no matter where they are. Fans can stand above both bullpens in the outfieldand watch pitchers warm up or sit on one of the two large, grass berms on either side of the batters eye in center field.

The spring training facilities just seem to get better and better and you see little features, for example of great facilities we have in Arizona, that the Astros and Nationals have incorporated into the facility here, said Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, who made his first trip to the stadium since its ground breaking in November, 2015. The stadium bowl itself is absolutely first rate, but I think the backfields and practice areas are amazing.

The facility still is working out some of the kinks and finishing touches. The team store and concession stands had very long lines with Russo saying he was told it would be a 30-minute wait for a hot dog.

But the primary purpose of the facility giving the Astros and Nationals a place to prepare for the season and cut down on their previous travel times for road games was accomplished.

The New York Mets (Port St. Lucie), Miami Marlins (Jupiter), St. Louis Cardinals (Jupiter), Astros and Nationals now all are within an hour drive. Last year when the Astros trained in Kissimmee, they had only two opponents the Atlanta Braves (Lake Buena Vista) and Detroit Tigers (Lakeland) less than 60 minutes away.

There's a buzz to being the first to play in the new stadium, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. How nice it is and how convenient it is. The ease of it for us to play a road game and only have to walk out of our clubhouse and onto our field is pretty unique.

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Ballpark of the Palm Beaches has a successful debut - TCPalm