My first expirence at PNC Park

Last Friday, a few friends and I drove up to Pittsburg to catch the Pirates vs. Reds game at PNC Park.

One of my friends, from Cincinnati, had been wanted to see them on the road for some time, so we planned the trip. Being a Red Sox fan, I had only previously been to games at Fenway Park. With that being said, I was excited to visit a different stadium.

I had been to Pittsburg a couple of times before but only for brief stops. I had never been to PNC Park or near that part of the city. When we first arrived, driving by the stadium I had some mixed feelings about the environment. We went on a cold, rainy day so I was not too surprised about the lack of people.

I also must admit, I definitely had some Fenway bias since I was so used to it

Nonetheless, after we parked the car and started actually walking toward the stadium I definitely felt more of a “ballpark experience”. The bigger crowd, restaurants and other vendors meant you could smell the hot dogs and excitement in the air.

As we got to the ballpark, we were able to see the statues of the historic Pirates’ players as well as some of the other features. One thing that I found to be very unique about PNC was its location. The park is located in Pittsburg’s Northshore and sits along the Allegany river.

The Roberto Clemente Bridge is located outside the stadium. The bridge, which is usually closed off for traffic on game days, was not but still had a sidewalk. I walked part way up the bridge and was quite impressed with how you can see right into center field.

When we first entered, the layout and size of the ballpark caught my attention

The park is about the same size as Fenway park but to me, had a smaller feeling partly due to its dimensions. PNC is designed like a classic ballpark and not like a large. Stadium. I enjoyed this sine that is what Fenway is.

The nice part about going to a rainy game in early April is that the lack of crowd allowed us to get up close during batting practice. We stood in the first row, down the first base line to watch the Reds warm up.

As the game started, the stadium remained empty, so instead of sitting in left field where are tickets were supposed to be, we sat about 20 rows up along the first base line.

One deal the pirates had going that night was $1 hot dogs. Being able to get a couple of those and not pay the full ballpark price was nice.

As the game went on, I did do some walking and found the layout of the stadium to be quite fascinating. PNC had a section in the corner of the front of the stadium that had a full-service bar and some table seating that overlooked the stadium. I thought this was quite unique and provided some good additional entertainment for

fans.

In this area as well as others they also had fire lantern heaters for warming up. This was a nice touch as it got pretty cold toward the end of the game.

Overall, my first experience in PNC Park was a good one. Despite the cold weather I enjoyed it. I would definitely like to go back sometime for a summer game as I believe a bigger crowd could provide a better environment. I would definitely recommend PNC for anybody who wants to experience a different baseball stadium.