PNC Park

Surface: Natural Grass
Capacity: 38,496
Dimensions: Left 325 ft.  Center 399 ft. Right  320 ft.
Stadium Opened: April 9, 2001

Review is based on my visit on: July 7, 2005

Getting to the Park and Parking: Getting to PNC Park can be a little tricky, from what I have heard. There are so many bridges that take you to different areas of the city that it can become very confusing.  One wrong turn could be costly.  Good Luck. When I visited PNC Park, I opted to take the ferry (Gateway Clipper Fleet) over to the stadium. If you do chose to drive, here is a link to parking options provided by the Pirates website.

The Rotunda: Fans who enter the park through the main entrance walk through the rotunda area and up an escalator.

The Riverwalk: The walkway behind the outfield seats that runs along the Allegheny River is known as the Riverwalk. There are many concession stands located along the Riverwalk, along with great views of downtown Pittsburgh.

Time to Eat: PNC Park has a wide variety of tasty treats for fans. The most well known concession stand is the Primanti Brothers stand. A primanti Brothers sandwich consists of meat (Turkey, shown below) with lettuce, tomato, cole slaw, and french fries on Italian Bread. Yum!

Other favorites include Manny's Bar-B-Q, located along the riverwalk. Manny's features beef and pork sandwiches and platters. JD's Olde Fashioned Kettle Korn stand along the riverwalk is worth checking out. Even if you don't buy any Kettle Korn, it is very neat to watch it being cooked. There is also a Quaker Steak and Lube stand in the ballpark which has tasty wings.

Manny's Bar-B-Q

Kettle Korn

Pierogies: PNC Park's trademark race, is the Pierogie Race (similar to the Subway Race at New York City ballparks). This is a fan favorite! Here's a link to a video of the Pierogie Race.

It's all about the view: PNC Park features one of baseball's best skylines. If you sit on the 3rd base side, you have the best view of the 3 bridges near the park and the downtown skyline.  It’s amazing! The Press Box is above all the fans, which gives the fans (the ones who are paying to see the game) a closer view of the field. All seats feel relatively close to the field (upper deck is one of the lowest at only 88 feet from the field), but some do contain obstructed views from the staircases that are located in the front of the seating area, rather than the back. The highest seat is only 88 feet from the field.The Pirates chose to have their dugout located on the 3rd base side rather than the traditional 1st base side so that they could enjoy the views of the city. In case you get bored (which shouldn't happen), look across the river into the city and you should be able to see a movie screen mounted atop one of the buildings.  A local art institute projects different colored shapes and designs for you to see.

The Famous Yellow Bridges: PNC Park's backdrop has three yellow bridges. The Roberto Clemente bridge and street is closed off around game time so fans can walk across the bridge and enjoy the festivities and street venders.

The closest bridge shown is the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the bridge behind it is the Andy Warhol Bridge.

Fort Duquesne Bridge

Roberto Clemente: The outfield wall rises up to 21 feet behind right field (in honor of the Pirates legendary right fielder #21, Roberto Clemente) and drops down to just six feet in front of the left field bleachers.

Limestone and Steel: The ballpark's exterior is made of a yellowish limestone called Kasota Limestone. I think it looks more tan than yellow, but I see that most people online are callling it "yellow limestone". I don't have a good close up of the exterior of the stadium since I lost some of my photos for this park. Kasota Limestone was also used to build Target Field in Minnesota. Steel was also used throughout PNC park.

Overall Rating: 8

Questions? Comments? E-Mail me:amanda@baseballstadiumreviews.com