Photo by afagen

While fans at today’s Nationals game might bump into D.C. Mayor Vince Gray, who will be cheering on the the team as they attempt to win Game 3 of the National League Division Series over the St. Louis Cardinals, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson will be watching on TV, if he watches at all.

Mendelson turned down the Nationals’ offer of a complementary pair of tickets to every home playoff game, his chief of staff told WTOP. “Given the value of each ticket, he decided he better not take them,” Denise Toliver said. It’s unclear in which part of Nationals Park the tickets would have placed Mendelson in, but field level seats in the NLDS ranged from $55 for the outfield corners to $425 behind home plate.

The mayor, meanwhile, will be in attendance, using tickets provided by the Nationals and processed by the District government as a gift to the city. Sitting next to Gray will be 99-year-old Bertram Abramson, who watched the Washington Senators play in the 1924 World Series, the only time a baseball team from D.C. conquered the sport.