One thing I've found very interesting is how the Eastern big cities are "tucked in" to the land around them. It's very different from the Midwestern "urban sprawl." There's not a need for a flat-land city like Kansas City or Minneapolis to concentrate its population. Therefore, you feel like you're in the city for hours as you drive in, thinking "Why the heck am I not there yet??" Chicago felt that way a few days ago.
Pittsburgh, however, is the most extreme example I've yet seen of a tucked-in city. Pittsburgh set up its shop on the rivers, deep in a ravine surrounded by rolling hills. While driving in, I kept checking Greased Lightning's odometer; thinking I must be coming up on the city any minute now. The mile markers and exits kept ticking down, when finally I spotted a bit of city over the trees:
I then made one turn, the ravine unfolded, and Pittsburgh revealed itself to me.
I have to say, it's a cool looking city. The bridges, the buildings, the hills, it all makes for quite a sight. It didn't hurt that it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I've been considerably blessed by weather on this trip, and Pittsburgh was no exception.
This road lead me to PNC Park. It's a simple exit right off the highway to get to the stadium. PNC Park and Heinz Field (Where the Steelers play) were built into their own little complex right on the river, but boy oh BOY did PNC get the location. Jutted right up against the river, you look out over the outfield fences and they've put nothing in to obstruct the gorgeous view of downtown.
Picture taken from the walkway behind center field.
I thought I was going to be just in time for the game, so I was happy to find out it didn't start until 12:35. I took the extra time to walk around the concourses. The stadium is designed so that you can leisurely walk around the entire thing, and very seldom are there places where you can't see the whole field. I grabbed a dog, a local brew (I've forgotten the name, but it was delicious) and some cheese and onion perogies for lunch. The dog was very good, the perogies were.. um... filling.
This stadium has everything, and I do mean everything. In addition to the view and the baseball field itself, it's got restaurants, upper deck picnic terraces (where you can sit at an umbrella'ed table and still see the entire game), a nightclub-style bar, Pirates history museum, statues of former Pirates greats, even a place to go sing "PNC Idol" and try to be good enough to get on the big screen later in the game. There was so much to see, it wasn't until 5 minutes before the game that I realized I hadn't even tried to find my seats yet.
I entered through this gate, where PNC honors the Negro leagues.
The statue is of Josh Gibson.
I had reserved a general admission bleacher seat, the cheapest ticket in the house. I was in a similar position to my view in Cleveland, but there really is no bad seat in PNC. The sun was high to our left, and I paid for the innings I sat there with a bit of a burn on my left arm and neck. Still, though, it felt great. Even as I thought to myself, "yep, this is going to burn a little bit," I closed my eyes, took a deep breath of river air and thought of the Metrodome. Have heart, Twins fans! Your day in the sun is coming!
I stayed in my bleacher for a few innings, and then walked around. The best part of the ballpark, in my opinion, is that no matter where you are in the concourses you can see the game. I walked around the "good seats", leaned on a railing or a table, and scored from there for a while. I caught three innings of the game, all while wandering. It's a wonderful design, keeping you close enough to the game so you don't feel like you're missing it, but also allowing you to take in the other attractions.
Views from my bleacher.
The worst part about Pittsburgh's baseball situation is that the team stinks. There were a few thousand people at the ballpark for the day game, most of them were screaming obnoxious kids on fieldtrips. I also caught a couple of shirt-and-tie wearing execs running up the bleachers to catch an hour of baseball during their lunch. I don't blame anyone from Pittsburgh for coming out to a day game on a gorgeous day like this, but it's not for the team. The Pirates are poised to finish last in the NL Central, again, probably over 30 games behind the 1st place Cubs. Their last championship was in 1979* and they've fielded some pretty awful teams for years now. Pittsburgh is a great sports town, and the thought that kept popping into my head while looking around at the gorgeous stadium was, "These fans in this stadium deserve better."
* I didn't realize until I was at the stadium which team won the world series the year I was born. I felt a little kinship with the Pirates in that moment.
Manny being Manny.
My well-traveled and beat-up scorebook with the three games... so far.
The game itself was actually pretty great. Paul Maholm of the Pirates went 7 innings, giving up three runs, and did very well holding the Dodgers down. The game was still tied after 9 innings, when I unfortunately needed to leave in order to get to Baltimore at a reasonable hour. I found out later that the Dodgers' bullpen outlasted the Pirates bullpen in 12 innings, no shock there.
Random PNC Notes:
- The couple sitting in front of me for the first few innings were great. I asked them about their Negro Leagues shirts and whether they had been to the museum in Kansas City (they had not). The woman had obviously not been to many baseball games before, but was enjoying it thoroughly. The woman asked me what I was doing with my scorebook, and I showed her a few pages. This prompted the conversation about my trip, and that this was the third baseball game I had seen in a row. I got a good laugh when the woman asked, "Are you a groupie?" No, I assured her. Just a nerd.
- With all the Pirates history abound, there is one former Pirates great who is conspicuously invisible at PNC Park... I won't mention names, but it rhymes with Garry Ponds.
- I bought a Pirates hat to deal with the sun. But also because through all the years, bad teams, new ballparks, etc.; there are few more badass designs than that yellow "P" on the black hat. Classic.
- My last note has to with the radio broadcast. Since I left the game early, I tried to flip it on in the UHaul, only to find no game broadcast on any band. How could Pittsburgh not be broadcasting the game? Oddly enough, they did have the radio broadcast in the bathrooms of the stadium, and the announcers sounded pretty bad. A paraphrased exchange by the play-by-play and color guy for the Pirates:
Guy 1: How about (Name of Player from Dodgers)?
Guy 2: (Pause) Uhhhh...
Guy 1: Why don't you turn to page one of your media guide there.
(shuffling of papers, interminable pause)
Dad listens to a lot of XM radio baseball, and apparently all their games are like this. Maybe I didn't miss much.
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