ADVERTISE! | Ballpark Digest | The Baseball Directory | NWLfan | College Baseball Digest | Ballpark Digest Tickets
Spring Training Online | Arena Digest | Football Stadium Digest | August Publications
Search | League Histories | Bookshelf | Forums | Endangered Ballparks | Ballparks of the Past | About | Newsletter | Contact

PNC Park - Buy Pittsburgh Pirates tickets for PNC Park at TickCo.com!

PNC Park / Pittsburgh Pirates

(click on the image for a larger photo)
 

Year Opened	2001
Capacity	38,496
Architect	Architect: L.D. Astorino; Design Architect: HOK Sport+Venue+Event
Dimensions	325L, 389LC, 410CLC, 399C, 375RC, 320R
Playing Surface	Grass
Last Visit	2005
Web Site	mlb.com
Online Broadcasts	Yes
Online Ticket Sales	Yes
Phone	877/374-2784
Ticket Prices (2006)	Home Plate Club, $160-$210; Pittsburgh Baseball Club, $47-$52; Dugout Box, $35; Infield Box, $27; Baseline Box, $26; L/R Field Box, $24; OF Box, $20; OF Reserved, $17; Pirates Cove, $16; Grandstand, $16; Bleacher Reserved, $14; Deck Seating, $12; L/R Grandstand, $9; Bleacher - GA, $9
League	National League
Parking	There's plenty of relatively cheap parking ramps within a few blocks of the ballpark.
Address/Directions	115 Federal Street, Pittsburgh. If you are coming from away from downtown or the North Shore, it is strongly advised to map your route ahead of time because signage directing you to PNC Park is minimal. If coming by car, you will want to find parking on the North Shore if you’re coming from the North. If you are arriving from the South, East or West, parking downtown is preferable; cross the river on the Roberto Clemente Bridge which is restricted to pedestrians on game days. Parking is generally considered a pretty good deal in Pittsburgh, especially if you locate a garage a few blocks away from the ballpark.
Written by:	Jim Robins
Rating

What happens when a small market MLB baseball team decides to build a ballpark requiring an especially tight budget, an unusually short timetable, and yet demanding copious façade materials mined from halfway across the continent -- all drawn together into unique design specifications?

In the case of the Pittsburgh Pirates, you reach your goals on time and within budget while achieving widespread acclaim and enhanced community support. In fact, baseball insiders universally agree that PNC Park is now the model for any small-market team in need of a new ballpark.

Several political careers were cut short when city and county officials opted for “Plan B” public financing after voters in 11 counties decisively turned down a massive $800 million-plus proposal to construct two new stadiums to replace Three Rivers Stadium and expand Pittsburgh’s convention center. Oddly enough, the most visible proponent of the Plan B’s diversion of county sales tax dollars, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, survived for one more four-year term in 2001; the national acclaim accorded PNC Park that year most certainly boosted his political fortunes. (Murphy wisely chose not to run in 2005 after the Pittsburgh financial outlook sunk to junk-bond status.)

(click on the image for a larger photo)

The first model of PNC Park was unveiled in August of 1998 and demolition to prepare the site began the next month. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on April 7, 1999, and the first (exhibition) game was played a week shy of two years later. Despite relying on a fast-track design-build approach, the ballpark was remarkably prepared to impress the baseball world in time for the first pitch of the 2001 season. The process was smooth. All 23 labor unions involved in the construction signed a no-strike pact. Despite unusual conditions that required Steelworkers’ manipulation of uniquely formulated steel beams and scuba divers who modified the 1,100 foot Allegheny River bulkhead wall, no workers sustained a serious injury throughout the expedited construction process. Much of the streamlined process was accomplished by feeding plans through special fabricating computers -- sometimes operating 24 hours a day.

"Intimate" is the word most often used to describe this ballpark. With a capacity under 38,500, this ballpark is even smaller than Wrigley Field. In fact, PNC Park has the stingiest seating capacity in the National League; only Fenway is slightly smaller among all Major League venues.

For fans who have a fear of heights or vertigo, the number 88 has special meaning at PNC Park: the highest seats are located only 88 feet above the playing field. To give you an idea just how low that is – if you extended the distance from home plate to second base straight up – you’d still have to look upward 39 feet to see the base from your lofty perch. As the only modern MLB ballpark limited to two decks, some ingenious engineering and design ideas were essential to accomplishing this task. PNC's Upper Concourse contains the luxury suite level, club level seats and upper-level seating. The 69 luxury boxes are tucked under the club level but are contiguous with it in the upper tier. All the upper-level pre-cast components rest on massive steel frames. This emerging design-build process using pre-cast single, double, and triple risers largely explains how the two-deck layout was accomplished, as well as achieving remarkable timetable and materials cost efficiencies.

By employing engineering and sizing efficiencies, the project gained leeway to spend more on distinctive, quality finishing materials. The PNC Park look is anything but cheap. While the vast majority of newer ballparks feature some sort of firebrick appearance, PNC Park’s facade is distinguished by the generous use of golden Kasota limestone shipped from a Minnesota river valley. The massive steel beams and ballpark seats are painted a lustrously deep blue in strikingly handsome contrast with the brightly toned limestone. Typically the reaction to this color combination from first-time PNC Park visitors is nothing short of awe and admiration.

From an urban planner’s perspective, by all accounts PNC Park hit a home run. The ballpark is consistently praised for fitting in perfectly with the North Shore street grid and blending in well with existing architecture. In a smaller market, you can achieve a sense of human scale, and PNC Park accomplishes this feat in many ways. Perhaps the most stunning example of this is the excellent framing of the city skyline across the Allegheny from so many seating perspectives; it gives you a sense that you’re in a city substantially larger than it truly is.

Given that Pittsburgh has hosted baseball since 1876 you would expect a new millennium ballpark to reflect heavily on Pirates history. This goal is accomplished in subtle and pleasing ways, thankfully avoiding the temptation to inundate fans with an overly heavy dose of reminiscence. The stadium itself only subtly hearkens to the Forbes Field era -- 61 years encompassing the early and mid-20th century. The nostalgic touch recalling Forbes is seen in the exterior masonry, archways and engaging decorative terra cotta pilasters. Still, PNC Park does not shout retro park first and foremost, and most baseball aficionados rightfully view this reality as refreshing.

(click on the image for a larger photo)

Another subtle touch is the silent tribute to Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who roamed right field in Pittsburgh for 18 seasons, winning 12 Gold Gloves. In his honor the right field fence at PNC Park is 21 feet high, matching his retired #21. Clemente batted .317 for his career, claiming four National League batting crowns and winning the 1971 World Series MVP with a .414 batting average. In the twilight of his playing career, Clemente died in his native Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve, 1972 in an airplane crash. The disaster-relief flight was headed with supplies for earthquake-stricken Nicaragua.

Others Hall of Fame players honored with retired Pirates numbers are Ralph Kiner (4), Willie Stargell (8), Bill Mazeroski (9), Pie Traynor (20) and Honus Wagner (33). The numbers of managers Bill Meyer (1) and Danny Murtaugh (40) are also retired. In Pittsburgh, Hall of Fame credentials don’t necessarily get your number retired. The other Pirate players who have reached the hallowed Hall without getting their numbers retired are Max Carey, Fred Clarke, Kiki Cuyler, Joe “Arky” Vaughn, and brothers Paul “Big Poison” Waner and Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner.

Of the three exquisite statues erected outside of PNC, the ultimate place of honor was reserved for Honus Wagner near the home plate main gate. With a plaque simply stating that he was “the greatest shortstop in baseball history,” Wagner was one of five original Hall of Fame inductees in 1936 – named on the exact same number of ballots as Babe Ruth. The life-size statue mounted atop a marble stand honoring “The Flying Dutchman” is well traveled -- placed originally at Forbes Field with an intermediate stop at Three Rivers Stadium. "Hans" Wagner was born in Carnegie, Penn., only a short distance from Pittsburgh. He remained active with the Pirates as a coach until 1951 – more than a half century after he came to the team as a player.

The Roberto Clemente statute traveled the short distance from Three Rivers Stadium to the gateway area between the Roberto Clemente Bridge (formerly known as the Sixth Street Bridge) and the center-field entrance. Only two days before his death and the first regular season game at PNC, the Willie Stargell statue was unveiled in front of the left field gate. Taken together, these three statues rate among the finest baseball sculptures you are likely to find. Once again at PNC, you find quality over quantity.

The two rotundas that link the Main Concourse to Grandstand Level are compact and easy to navigate. The large Pittsburgh Post-Gazette display lining the home plate rotunda chronicles many of the greatest Steel City sports moments in history – although it can be a little frustrating to get close to portions of the display while navigating the spiral path.

It is possible to go overboard with praise for this ballpark, and gloss over its faults. In fact, several characteristics of PNC Park will clearly remind you that this facility was built on a tight budget. Intimate describes both favorable and disappointing facets of the place. Other than the Riverwalk area beyond the right-field stands, the concourses are somewhat cozy for a modern ballpark and that presents a problem when attendance swells past 25,000. This wasn’t a concern on our late-season visit for two games – the Pirates had already unluckily clinched their 13th straight losing season in 2005.

So you can imagine that a large share of the visitors might be pretty interested in the other Major League games on any given evening. The Pirates are very accommodating. Along the tall wall in right field you’ll see a comprehensive real-time listing of not only the score and inning, but also number of outs and runners-on-base visuals.

While most every vantage point at PNC Park gives you a sense of harmony with your surroundings, this is less so in the left field stands where you might feel somewhat isolated from the rest of the ballpark. One of the more expansive standing areas where you can watch the game is located in left field, but the overall design is somewhat uninviting with very limited space to place your food and beverage. Most of the concourses away from field views are attractive and feature spectacular views. However, you would think a few more of the 645 television monitors in the ballpark could have been placed in these locations away from the field. The three restaurants/bars serving Club Seats patrons are a bit cramped. Perhaps the single most disappointing aspect of PNC Park is the Spartan bathrooms. Absolutely none of the features – from the faucets to flushing fixtures and the towel dispensers – are of the modern automatic variety found in most newer, large public facilities. While the bathrooms are large enough, the doors to them are inexplicably small.

Of course, these problems are what you should expect from a ballpark built on an austere budget. The niggles are minor, and the important decisions on how to make PNC as pleasant as possible for fans primarily interested in watching the baseball game were right on the mark.