Reuniting with PNC Park (Post 2 in series of 30)

For our 2 year anniversary, Cait and I spent a weekend in the lovely city of Pittsburgh. My beautiful wife even agreed to go to a Pirates game while in town. She is awesome. (If you ever read this, I love you!)

On to the PNC Park Experience...

Philadelphia Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates (June 4th, 2011)

Field: What's not to love? The breath-taking skyline? The majestic yellow bridges? The Allegheny River full of kayaks, boats and the Gateway Clipper Fleet? The stadium is intimate without a bad seat in the house. PNC was one of the first parks to have the first level concourse open to the field. Also, the design of the field is unique. There is the "Notch" in left-center field which is a great place to hit a triple. The short porch in right field is named after Pirates legend Roberto Clemente and appropriately stands 21 ft high. Transportation to the stadium is diverse and includes walking along the riverwalk, walking over the Clemente bridge, or taking your boat down the Allegheny. I have yet to see a flaw in PNC Park. 15/15
Fans: Various news outlets estimated a 60:40 ratio of Phillies to Pirates fans. The worst part of the game was being surrounded by Phillies fans. My "Lets! Go! Bucs! Lets! Go! Bucs!" chant was a solo effort in my section. Also, I found the task of trying to defend the city of Pittsburgh by myself overwhelming. The "Lets-Go, Phil-lies" chant was hard to drown out. Fortunately the Pirates did the work for me, silencing the Phillies' fans. There was no heckling present because the home fans were out numbered. Pretty embarrassing. 4/10

Food: The World Famous Primanti Bros is the place to eat at PNC Park. I recommend the Capicola Sandwich, which includes coleslaw and french fries all on two slices of hearty bread. The sandwich is awesome but stay away from Iron City Beer, it sucks(-.5). Also, don't get the P-Bros cheesesteak sandwich. After living in Philly for 2 years, the real cheesesteaks are in Philly. 4.5/5
Overall: 23.5/30

Currently the weakness at PNC is the lack of fan support. I am confident that in less than 5 years the fans of Pittsburgh will develop and grow much like the Phillies fan base grew during the past decade.

Next Ballpark: Nationals Park in D.C.

Saturday Nights at PNC = Fireworks = Legit

The Citi Never Sleeps, Better Slip You an Ambien (post #1 in a series of 30)

On Memorial Day, I was able to spend a day in New York City with friend of the blog, CJ Neral. Our epic day in the city was topped off with a beautiful evening at Citi Field to watch the Pirates take on the Mets. As discussed in an earlier post, I will rank all 30 Major League stadiums on a 30 point scale.

Field – The two year old park is majestic. It has a beautiful oversized and open bricked entrance. The whole park has arches everywhere (including the formation of the lights). Cait pointed out that it may be a play off of the Citi logo. Clever. The playing field itself is beautiful. The outfield is enormous and large enough for about 50 head of cattle to graze. The stadium is located in Queens and right next to La Guardia Airport. Which is good for transportation but the sound of airplanes landing every five minutes is annoying. One thing that bothered me was the “batter’s eye” in center field. It was just black. No trees or shrubs or grass. It was an eye sore on such a new stadium. Also, they were tons of advertisements, a little too many in my opinion. They did have a “Big Apple” that apparently rises after a home run which is nearly impossible to hit with the dimensions of Citi Field. Overall 11.5/15.

Fans – A Memorial Day crowd filled most of the stadium. We had a group of chuckle buckets who would start various chants for their favorite players. They were actually creative and entertaining. I received a friendly “Good luck tonight” while in line at the Shake Shack and heckle of “SIT DOWN!” after the Pirates hit an early two run home run. Also, the Wave was also present during the Mets late inning rally. Overall, the Mets fans were surprising and received a score of 8/10.

Food – The Shake Shack was recommended by multiple sources. The line itself also gave it a glowing recommendation. It took us 25 minutes until it was our turn to order, which got us to our seats just in time to see Jose Tabata lead off the game. The Shake Shack is known for its mayo-infused burgers, crinkle fries, and shakes of course. The crinkle fries were bangin’! Crispy and lightly salted. Mmmm. But, no Heinz ketchup? C’mon! The burger was good and equipped with lettuce, tomato, and more mayo. It wasn’t mind blowing but solid. As a farm boy, I’m hard to impress with a standard burger. I think "mayo-infused" just stands for "greaser." I made a financial decision not to order the $6 shake, but I am currently regretting that. Overall score of 3.5/5.

Total: 23/30 for Citi Field

A Lifelong Goal

A couple years ago, I had an idea of trying to watch the Pirates play in every Major League city. Part of it is my love for traveling and seeing new places/cities. Most of it is my love for baseball and watching a professional baseball game in person.

In addition, I want to see how the stadiums around the nation compare to one another and to the “Gold Standard” that is PNC Park. I have developed a scoring system in an effort to objectify the various ballparks. The three categories that comprise the scoring system are Field, Fans, and Food. Each category is weighted differently.

Field (15pts) – The architecture of the stadium. The backdrop of the stadium. How well the playing field is groomed. Additional amenities and attractions. Transportation to the stadium. Location of the field in respect to the city. All of these factors and others will be considered under the scoring of the “Field” category.

Fans (10pts) – The main scoring will be based mostly on the fans’ passion for their team and the game. Were there chants for individual players? Any standing ovations? The Wave? Also, this category includes treatment of opposing fans (myself). Casual conversation during pregame/between innings = + pts. Friendly heckling = + pts. Death threats = - pts.

Food (5pts) – Every ballpark has a signature sandwich, BBQ, or burger that could cost you several innings while waiting in line. But the question is if the food was worth the wait? This category will discuss the best eats at every stadium.

Field + Fans + Food = #/30

Easy enough. Let the journey begin!