Given 'Snub' of RFK, Nats Even Struggling In Hollywood Circles

New Show Opts to Shoot Scene in Baltimore

Geena Davis prepares to throw out a first pitch last month at Camden Yards for a scene in her show. Some questioned why the scene was not shot at the Nationals' ballpark. (By Joe Giza -- Reuters)

Baseball's return to Washington after a 34-year absence has been trumpeted internationally by the media this season.

But, it could appear, word has not reached planet Hollywood.

Last Sunday, producers of the new ABC series "Commander in Chief" filmed a scene in which star Geena Davis, playing the president of the United States, throws out the first pitch . . . at Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

To some, that was akin to shooting a stock market scene in Newark.

"Unless the show is a period piece, shouldn't they have reflected the new reality that baseball has returned to D.C.?" wondered Michael Epstein, a District resident who was at the Orioles game.

On the list of Washington snubs -- no representation in Congress; the constitutional banning of a commuter tax; the initial decision by cable station ESPN to bypass the District during its recent tour of the country's 50 states -- the TV taping might not rank particularly high.

But some fans at Sunday's game wondered why the television crew was not shooting the scene 35 miles south at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, where the Nationals were playing the St. Louis Cardinals.

"My question is," Epstein said, "why was this scene being filmed in Camden Yards when the appropriate place for such a scene would now be RFK Stadium, home of the Washington Nationals?"

A D.C. morning radio show was so outraged that the deejays unsuccessfully attempted to track down James Spies, a producer of "Commander in Chief," which premieres late this month.

Spies said he wants to set the record straight. The Baltimore staging was not intended to slight the District, he said, and, no, "Commander in Chief" did not shoot at Oriole Park because the show thought that ballpark was more beautiful than RFK.

The fact is, Spies said, one of the show's writers wanted to use RFK when the script was being written a few months ago. The production schedule, however, called for shooting during a week in mid-August when the Nationals were on a 13-day road trip.

So the producers, negotiating for stadium access with Major League Baseball, requested Oriole Park. When the production schedule was delayed by two weeks, the stadium shot was rescheduled for a day when both the Orioles and Nationals played at home. But by then, it was too late to change the preparations, Spies said.