Read Ultimate Baseball Road Trip Online
Authors: Josh Pahigian,Kevin O’Connell
Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (67 page)
Though the hanging luxury boxes and the press box attached to the roof clearly draw from the beauty of Wrigley Field, the influence of Forbes Field on the design of PNC cannot be overstated. Fans of the old park will quickly recognize the seven vertical steel light towers of blue painted steel surrounding the park, and the choice of blue seats, all heavily influenced by Forbes. But there are a few others we’d like to point out that might not be so obvious, unless you visited Forbes back in its glory day. (We didn’t.)
Along the Riverwalk on PNC Park’s exterior, stone arches are reminiscent of those at street level along old Forbes Field’s exterior.
The right-field wall is twenty-one feet high. Why? If you can’t guess this one you haven’t been paying attention. Number 21 patrolled right field for the Pirates for more than eighteen seasons. Fans loved him, his teammates and the world respected him. It seems fitting that the Pirates honor him in this wonderfully understated, but ever-present fashion.
Not only does the old-fashioned electric scoreboard on the right-field wall provide the scores of all the games, it also tells what inning the game is in, how many outs there are, and how many runners are on base, with a cool retro-lighted diamond system, just like they used to have at Forbes Field. Our only suggestion for improvement: Give us the number of who is pitching for each team so we’ll know how our fantasy teams are doing.
When a ball hits this scoreboard a tinny clanking sound rings out, so we’re not too sure what it’s made of, but it’s one of several surfaces that a ball could hit, including chain-link and exposed concrete. Right fielders have to deal with the ball bouncing differently depending on where it hits this scoreboard. In case you’re wondering, the team slates are manual, but the rest is updated electronically over the wire.
The nook in left-center is reminiscent of the deep left-center of Forbes, which was 457 feet from the plate and helped Owen “Chief” Wilson set the Major League record for triples with thirty-six in 1912. The bullpens extend out to the right of the nook at PNC, which gives the field’s odd protrusion a bit more of a naturally occurring feel than the similar oddities at other ballparks recently built.
This memorial that used to be in play in center field at Forbes was moved first to Three Rivers and now sits inside the home plate entrance to PNC. It honors Barney Dreyfuss, the Pirates owner who built Forbes Field. At the time, the public sentiment was that Dreyfuss was building the park too far from downtown. Thus, many people referred to Forbes as Dreyfuss’s Folly in its early days. But the ballpark survived to outlive many of its detractors.
Behind left field is a nice little picnic area, a place to scarf down some food, and a kids’ play area, complete with a small jungle gym. There is also a tiny replica of the ballpark—complete with the limestone that adorns PNC’s exterior.
Josh:
So, there was a jungle gym at Forbes Field too, I take it.
Kevin:
Um, no.
We noticed that the Pirates dugout is on the third-base line, visitors on the first. Perhaps even the team wants to take in the beautiful view of downtown while its players wait to take the field. If you’re interested in ambience, sitting along the left-field bend is best, because in right you lose the view of downtown a bit with the outfield bleachers above the high right-field wall. And the downtown view is one of the best in baseball: the skyline, Clemente Bridge, and the boats
sailing past. There is no ballpark view better in all of Major League Baseball, except perhaps the view over the Bay at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
In straightaway center is the batter’s eye—a large green blockade of the river and downtown area that prevents the distraction of the hitters. At the base of the batter’s eye, sculpted into the grassy knoll 399 feet away, beyond the center-field fence, are low shrubs that spell out “Pirates” in surprisingly distinctive script.
Kevin:
If only they took care of their infield this well.
Josh:
Do you mean the field, or the players?
While Three Rivers had a sound system located in center field that often was inaudible, PNC has a top-notch system that can be heard everywhere in the park. The JumboTron at PNC cost $2.1 million, more than the entire cost to build Forbes Field. It includes a full entertainment package that features the Pirate Parrot, a scurvy-ridden pirate, and an opening sequence of Pirate ships sailing into the Three Rivers that is worthy of a Johnny Depp movie. Beneath the scoreboard is a small closed-captioned scoreboard for the hearing impaired that provides a print version of everything the public address announcer says. Also, beneath the scoreboards that run along the baselines, is another scoreboard that gives the speed of each pitch.
Kevin:
Pretty easy to tell the curve balls from the fastballs judging by the pitch speed alone.
Josh:
Not for the home town team.
Kevin:
“Ouch.”
If the game is dull and you’ve already bought and read the newspaper, look across the river into the city and you should be able to make out what looks like a movie screen mounted atop one of the buildings. It’s actually a plasma screen courtesy of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. The screen projects different colored shapes and designs for your own interpretation.
The Pirates clubhouse inside PNC is eighteen thousand square feet, as opposed to the four-thousand-square-foot room the team used at Three Rivers. It too has much steel in the design, as well as old-style wooden lockers. Next to the clubhouse is a warm-up mound and batting cages so players can stay loose during rain delays. The floor of the cages is covered with artificial turf from Three Rivers.
There’s a lot to try in Pittsburgh, and much of it is tough to find in other cities’ ballparks, so dig in. We found some of the best and most unique food in baseball in this park.
This is a pretty good dog and it’s affordably priced. We’ve had Kahn’s franks in other parks, and this dog is fairly typical of Kahn’s. We recommend instead getting the Hebrew National dog at the Federal Street Grille (inside the park).
These little Eastern European pasta ravioli are stuffed with potatoes, cheese, onions or garlic. You sure as heck aren’t going to find them anywhere else, so eat up. We suggest butter, salt, and pepper to top them off, and watch out, they’re steaming hot!
Chicken on the Hill
Team announcer Bob Prince is primarily responsible for coining this phrase. Once when Willie belted a homerun, Prince began shouting “Chicken on the Hill!” having claimed earlier that the chicken restaurant Stargell owned in the Hill District was going to give out free chicken if he homered. Of course they weren’t, but the phrase “Chicken on the Hill” became a trademark Prince used whenever Pops went deep.
While Josh was partial to the pierogies, Kevin fell in love with this Pittsburgh treat so we decided to award two trademark foods. Primanti Brothers is located behind Section 310. These sandwiches are served piled with your choice of meat and with french fries and coleslaw tossed right on. There are no special orders at the Primanti Brothers stand until after the sixth inning. The sandwiches are good if you get them early, being that they’re premade. But they fade in quality as the game goes on and they cost a buck and a quarter more inside the park than at the shops in town. So if you’re heading toward one of their locations, we recommend getting your sandwich from the source. Or wait until after the sixth inning and ask for a sandwich sans the slaw, which will be made fresh for you on the spot.
Super Fries stands offer cheese fries, garlic fries, and chili fries. They’re tasty and greasy and deep-fat fried—just how we like ’em. Since there’s no Major League ballpark in Buffalo, we also recommend getting some hot wings from Quaker Steak and Lube. Their large bucket isn’t cheap, but “dere’s like forty wings in dere.”
Sports in the City
Pittsburgh’s Old Ballparks
Since the Pirates have had so many ballparks, why not visit them all? Or what’s left of them. The closest, Exposition Park, was located in the parking lots in between PNC Park and Heinz Field. Look for the historic marker because that’s all that’s left.
Recreation Park was located in the historic Allegheny West District, near Allegheny and Pennsylvania Avenues. There is nothing left to even indicate that a ballpark stood there.
The remains of Forbes Field on the University of Pittsburgh campus offer the most to see of the former Pirates homes. The outfield wall still has ivy growing over the brick, and the flagpole that was “in play” is perhaps the most fitting remnant of an old park we’ve found yet. The numbers marking the distances are still painted on the brick in white (457 feet to the flagpole in left-center, 436 to right-center). Follow the brick outline of the ballpark wall that runs across the street, marking the location of the left-field fence, until you reach the plaque dedicated to Bill Mazeroski. Die-hard fans gather here once a year on October 14th to listen to the radio broadcast of the 1960 World Series when “Maz’s” shot sailed over these very walls and brought another championship to the Pirates.
Inside the lobby of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business building across from the wall you will find Forbes’ home plate. Walk around looking at the ground and you’ll see it resting peacefully under Plexiglas in its original location. The skyscraper across the street is Pitt University’s Cathedral of Learning. While an impressive blend of Gothic and modern architecture, the cathedral also provided a view right down into Forbes Field, and during the World Series (and other crowded games) held the honor of being the highest bleacher seats in baseball history.
For fans of the Negro Leagues, Pittsburgh is a veritable Mecca. Though the historical marker at 2217 Bedford Ave. is all that remains of Ammon Field, it is a nice tribute to Josh Gibson. There is a field still on the location, in Ammon Park, behind the Macedonia Baptist Church. Greenlee Field was just a few blocks down Bedford, along the 2500 block. There is very little remaining of the ballpark that was once the pride of the Negro Leagues, but a ball field has been built on the site to remind folks of the proud heritage of the Negro Leagues.
The Crawford Grill at 2141 Wylie Ave. was closed down and moved to the Station Square area of the city. It was an enormous loss to the Hill District community when the Grill closed, a veritable Mecca for the area, so Franco Harris has led a group of investors to buy the Crawford Grill and restore it. We wish the group well, because the place has such a wonderful baseball and jazz history that it should be preserved just as it was, a place where all could come and enjoy a great atmosphere and great food. Plus, John Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, and Pittsburgh’s own Art Blakey and Earl “Fatha” Hines once performed there.
A drive across the Homestead Grays Bridge (formerly the Hi-Level Bridge) will take you across the “Mon” River from Pittsburgh and into Homestead, opening up a plethora of sights to fans of the Negro Leagues. The bridge itself has been adorned with large metal placards depicting heroes of the Grays and Crawfords. Fittingly, there are nine for each team, facing off against one another just as the teams did so many years ago. Heading toward Homestead, the Grays are depicted on these large metal signs shaped a bit like elongated home plates, accented in Prussian blue, and bearing photographs. Heading back over the bridge into Pittsburgh, the Crawford greats are honored, accented in cranberry Crawford red. Dino Gaurino, a local sports painter, got the commission on these, and he did a fine job.
Once you’re in Homestead, look for the marker dedicated to the Grays that stands on Amity Street, near Fifth Avenue, detailing just a slice of the team’s accomplishments. Very close by, at the corner of 6th and Amity once stood the Sky Rocket Lounge, the owner of which owned the Grays for a time.
But the crown jewel of the Negro League historic nostalgia has got to be West Field, located in the town of Munhall, along Main Street between 19th and Orchard and behind the Munhall Borough Building. Huge rusted metal light stanchions and ornate masonry surround this decaying ballpark, letting visitors know what a grand baseball palace once stood on the grounds. The seating bowl is still in use, and the field, though a tad shabby, gives the feeling that great deeds were accomplished there. We sat in the ragged dugouts where Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell used to sit, and it gave us shivers.
Unlike Ammon Field and Greenlee Park, West Field remains in use, though now it is primarily a place where high school teams practice. Though it is in disrepair, it’s not too far gone to be saved. Behind the park, the old entrance is used as a storage and salvage grounds.
Any account of the mighty Homestead Grays will tell you that this ballpark was once a jewel. With as much of the ballpark still intact as there is we could not figure out why it is not registered as a National Historical Site, as it should be. With a bit of effort, money, and political will, the surrounding cities of Munhall, Homestead, and West Homestead (or one of our readers) could put forth the effort to restore this hallowed ground and return it to its former glory.
Why should this ballpark be restored? Because of the nine players immortalized in bronze on the miniature field at the Negro League Museum (considered the greatest nine to have played in the Negro Leagues) five played a majority of their career with Pittsburgh teams, and four were Homestead Grays: Gibson, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, and Bell. Three more players who played a while with the Homestead Grays (Smokey Joe Williams, Bill Foster, and Martin Dihigo) are immortalized in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. If you include two more Hall of Famers, Pittsburgh Crawford Oscar Charleston and the great Satchel Paige who spent time in a Crawford uniform, it’s clear that this area of the country has fielded some of the greatest talents in the history of the game. Surely, the legacy of these great players is worthy of the restoration of West Field. We implore interested parties to invest some money in this piece of living history.