PNC Park

PNC is one of my favorite parks. The design is nice, there are good views of the field from the seats, and there’s a great view of downtown. There are shrubs in the outfield that are trimmed to the word “Pirates.” The stadium has Permani Brothers sandwiches – which are the ones where they put the fries inside the sandwich (very tasty). I have only seen one game here so far. It was during my 2006 Memorial Day road trip with The Gue. We had just come from the day game in Cleveland and made it to PNC about 30-45 minutes before game time – just enough to find parking, grab a Permani Brothers, and get settled in our seats. We were on the first base side, lower level. We entered the stadium from the home plate entrance, right behind the Honus Wagner statue. It was a nice position for a nice statue.

We saw a terrible Pirates team – who finished one game above the Cubs to stay out of last place and have the second worst record in the NL that year. They had Jason Bay, Jeromy Burnitz, and Jack Wilson on offense and Zach Duke, Oliver Perez, and Ian Snell in the starting rotation. Matt Capps was in the bullpen but not the closer yet. They also had Nate McClouth and Ryan Doumit in their second season in the majors. Unrealized potential. They were playing a mediocre Milwaukee Brewers team that had Prince Fielder, Carlos Lee, JJ Hardy, Bill Hall, and Rickie Weeks. The Brewers had minimal pitching that year.

 

The game was a blow-out win for the Pirates. During the game, Prince Fielder hit a monster shot that landed in the Allegheny. During the game one of the vendors walking the stands would yell “Lemonade!” – but they he said it sounded more like “Limmy!” in the same voice as “Timmy!” from south park. I doubt this was intentional which made it that much funnier. One more thing about this particular trip. The Gue didn’t take any time off from work. Our plan was to see the game and drive back to Philadelphia so he could teach the next day. Since it was a blow-out, Gue wanted to leave early. As a matter of principle I don’t like to leave games early. Gue says, “We’re leaving at 10:00pm sharp – no matter what the score is.” At 9:59 – it’s the top of the 9th with two outs and the Pirates clearly in control. Gue gets up at 10:00 and leaves. I decide to walk a little slower and watch the game as I exit. Sure enough, the game is over and I walk out the exit right in front of the Roberto Clemente statue. I said to myself, “Cool! It’s the Clemente statue!...But didn’t I come in at the Honus Wagner statue?” The Gue was not happy. I made my way back to the home plate entrance and got the silent treatment as Gue drove 85+mph the whole way back to Philadelphia.