Bill's Journal Entry #20

PNC Park

Date: August 29, 2002

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Opponent: Atlanta Braves

Travel companion: My dad, Marv Verkuilen

Link to my photos

Game Result: Tom Glavine gave up only two runs in six innings, but they were enough to get him the loss, as the Braves bats could do little against Bronson Arroyo and the Pirates' pen. Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the eighth to secure the 4-1 win for the Pirates.

Stadium Summary: When both PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Miller Park in Milwaukee were opening in the same season, there were a lot of discussions about which of these two was better. Well, I hate to have to say it, having grown up in Wisconsin and gone to college in Milwaukee, but this contest isn't even close. PNC is not only a far more beautiful park than Miller, but it's near the top of all stadiums in the league.

One of the best parts about this stadium is how much PNC is integrated with its surroundings. With most stadiums, the park stands alone, built independently from its surroundings. But here, you don't just visit the ballpark-you also visit the downtown area, the bridges, the rivers, the neighborhood surrounding the park, and even Heinz Field, the new home of the Steelers. They all form one seamless entity. PNC Park has great colors-the cream-colored exterior wall reflects the building colors of the downtown area, while the nearly-black seats and support structure, when combined with the yellow bridges over the Allegheny, display the team colors like no other stadium in the country. (The designers of the stadiums and bridges did a great job of taking advantage of the fact that the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins all have the same black-and-yellow color scheme.) The stadium is aligned perfectly to allow views of the Allegheny River, the bridges crossing it (particularly the Roberto Clemente Bridge), the downtown area of Pittsburgh, and the hills in the distance.

Other features include the statues of Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, and Willie Stargell that guard various entrances around the park, the rotunda-style ramps to the upper decks (one of which provides great views from the left field corner as you walk to your seats, or as you pause to watch the action), and the Riverwalk area between the park and the Allegheny. I also like that the press box is at the top of the upper deck, rather than between the two decks-it gives the junction between the two levels of the stadium (yes-only two!) a much cleaner look.

Another neat thing about PNC is the abundance of options available for getting to the stadium. Yes, there's parking adjacent to the stadium-it's shared by PNC and Heinz Field. (On some days, including the day we were there, that parking was shared by the Pirates and Steelers simultaneously, as the Steelers had a pre-season game that night.) But you can also easily park across the river in the downtown parking garages, and walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge to the game-an option that provides a superb view of the stadium as you walk across. However, this is a better option for night and weekend games-the businesspeople tie up most of the downtown parking during weekday afternoon games. And yet another option is the riverboats that will carry you to the game from various points on the rivers-several with meals or other amenities during the cruise.

Forget Miller Park ... there is only one place that this stadium can be directly compared to, and that is San Francisco's Pac Bell Park, which was the nicest park I had seen on my trip at the time I arrived in Pittsburgh. And between those two ... well, this might be too close to call.

Best Electronic Out-Of-Town Scoreboard: First, let's be perfectly clear-NOTHING will ever beat the hand-operated scoreboards like those in Wrigley and Fenway. But if you have to have an electronic scoreboard, this is the way to do it. So many of these boards in other stadiums simply show the score and the inning. Some also have a light indicating the team at bat, and/or will show the jersey number of each team's current pitcher. The board at PNC doesn't show the pitcher information-Let's face it, how many fans in any stadium know the Devil Rays' pitching staff by uniform number?-but instead, it shows how many runners are on which bases, and how many outs are in the inning. This is done quite simply, with a diagram of a baseball diamond with lights on the three bases, and two lights in the middle to light for outs. It's both attractive and informative.

Ball #4: Yet another ball! And this one was a foul ball from the game, not batting practice! In the bottom of the sixth, Craig Wilson of the Pirates hit a foul down the third base line. It was fielded by Marcus Giles, the Braves third baseman. He looked to the stands, and tossed it right to me in my second row seat. It doesn't get much easier than that. (Well, actually, yes it does-See my write-up on Veterans Stadium.) I was thinking of giving it away to the only kid that was sitting in the vicinity, but I was also remembering my dad's decision to give the ball he got in Cleveland to my nephew. It would be great to give this one to my niece Angela, and it might help keep down the brother-sister fights. A couple innings later, as I'm still trying to decide, one of the Pirates players gave a ball to the girl I was considering giving it to, and my decision was made: I had a Christmas present for Angela.

Most Commonly Overheard Question: "What the @#$% is a 'pierogi'?" I even heard some natives ask this, while mascot-like pierogis were racing around the infield. So I had to try one. To the best I can tell, it's basically an overgrown ravioli, but filled with things that aren't typical for raviolis, such as mashed potatoes. Interesting, but I won't be placing orders to have them special shipped to me from Pennsylvania.

Stadium grade: A+  An absolute treat of a park.

Overall grade of my experience at the game: A-  Perfect weather, an outstanding stadium, and a foul ball. If only it hadn't been tainted by the concerns that a strike may start less than 24 hours later...