Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia)

This was another of the dual-purpose concrete donuts devoid of any charm. If I had a blackout during a game in the Vet and woke up in Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, it would have taken me a while to notice based on the architecture. I attended one game at the Vet before it closed: opening day 2002 against the Marlins. This was easily the coldest game I have ever attended. It snowed in Philadelphia that morning and temperatures were in the 30’s. I went with my friends Joe and Marc. I had ordered tickets online and we needed to pick them up at will call. We arrived at the stadium about 20 minutes before game time. Will call was underneath this walkway and the line was massive. We stood in line for over an hour before we got our tickets. The crowd was unruly (shocking for a Philadelphia crowd) and when we got to the ticket window Marc says, “We’re here for InSync tickets.”


The Phillies looked good on paper coming into the season with Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, Doug Glanville, Scott Rolen, and closer Jose Mesa. The Marlins were a year away from their second world series title and had Luis Castillo, Cliff Floyd, and three young pitchers in Brad Penny, AJ Burnett, and Ryan Dempster. By the time we got to our upper deck seats (3rd base foul pole) it was the 4th inning. By this time all we had missed was a 3-1 Phillies lead including an Abreu home run and Rollins SB. In the bottom of the 4th, Philadelphia scored three more runs which ended starter Julian Tavarez’s day. During the game I was freezing and went to use the men’s room. The bathroom was packed…and warm. As I washed my hands I thought for a moment, “it’s warm in here…but do I really want to hang out in the men’s room at the Stadium?” I promptly returned to my seat and continued my journey to hypothermia. In the ninth inning it’s a 6-2 Phillies lead. Florida put Vladimir Nunez [the 6th Marlin pitcher of the day] on the mound where he gives up two hits after getting two outs. Marlins Manager Jeff Torborg comes out to talk with Nunez while the bullpen gets loose. By this time I had lost feeling from the waist down and I remember yelling, “It’s two outs! Leave him in!” Unfortunately Torborg was unable to hear me from our seats in the adjacent zip code to the field but he did leave Nunez in for the last out.


We made the slow walk back to the car. We drove to Jim’s to get a cheese steak. After the drive out of the parking lot with post-game traffic, going through downtown, finding a parking spot, walking to Jim’s, and waiting in line to order, by the time we sat down I could finally feel my feet again.

One final note on the will call experience. To the Phillies credit, they knew they screwed up and made amends. I had ordered the tickets in advance using my credit card. A few weeks later I received a letter of apology for the excessive wait along with coupons for three tickets, three hot dogs, and three soft drinks. Unfortunately I lived in San Diego at that time and had no plans to return the Philadelphia area. I ended up giving them to a friend who was going to visit family there and he used them.