Sunday, August 22, 2010
New York Mets lose to Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1
Built in 2001
Seating Capacity 38,362
Location
PNC Park is located across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh. The stadium has amazing views of the city, it almost looks fake. Given how bad the team is, we easily found parking downtown and walked across one of the yellow bridges. Beware of the tunnels if you are coming into town from the east for a game. People in Pittsburgh have tunnelphobia and it takes forever to get through.
Overall Look and Feel
From the Pirates website...PNC Park is a classic-style ballpark, an intimate facility that embraces the progressiveness of Pittsburgh while saluting the spirit of early ballpark originals such as Forbes Field, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates since their inception in 1887.
The views are what make this stadium great. As you cross the bridge walking from the city you get an overall view of the inside of the park. Once inside the stadium you will see the "scenic vistas of the downtown skyline and riverfront". It is very well done. As you approach the entrance of the stadium, there is a large statue of Roberto Clemente. The stadium has a few bars and restaurants built into the outside of the ballpark, where you can grab a bite or a drink before heading into the game. There is seating outside. This stadium has a similar layout as the previous two with the open main concourse with the view of the field all around. It felt updated and modern. There isn't really anywhere to stand and watch the game from the outfield with the river walk. There was a steel crisscross staircase in left field where you could hang out. We came across a covered area in the outfield with limited seating behind a fence that almost felt VIP. The area might have been for handicap seating. There was this tiny old lady hanging out in this area with all her good luck charms rootin' for the home team.
Food
Primanti Brothers, a Pittsburgh specialty, didn't live up to the hype, though were told it's much better in the restaurants outside the stadium. We got a hot dog and it was yummy, one of the top ones tasted so far. It was juicy, a little sweet, and had a good crunch to it! Maybe it's because the Heinz ketchup was as fresh as it gets from the factory! They had canned beer which was pretty cool - plastic bottles can get warm so fast, the cans were interesting to see. They even had Yuengling, which was the drink of choice throughout the weekend. Some of the concessions had a unique theme to them and there was even a food court, Pop's Plaza. My brother got some chicken fingers and fries from the food court. I can see why we should have avoided the food in that area - chicken wasn't that good and the fries were soggy.
WOW Factor
The views are the wow factor in this stadium - both of the ballpark and of the city. Another cool touch are the bushes in the outfield that spell out Pirates.
Scoreboard and Entertainment
The scoreboard is out in left field and is average size compared to what we are used to at Great American. The light towers on both sides add an old time baseball park feel. This is the first scoreboard that we noticed a special section that had closed captioning. The introduction for the Pirate's line-up had a pirate theme where the players were in an old pirate town and swords clanged together - it was clever.
Overall Experience
Rating 3.5
After a long night of partying at my cousin Jackie's wedding, my brothers, Steph, Tim and me decided to go to the game for just a bit. We got to the stadium very early and left right after the 1st inning. I think we will probably go back to stay for a whole game when the Pirates play the Reds next year. This is one of the first stadiums we have seen that isn't all that kid friendly, there isn't a large play area like we have seen in other parks. We were impressed with the stadium and the views and got to enjoy both for a bit from some good seats we had no problem commandeering!
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