Ballpark Tour: Pirates

With the 2024 World Series in full swing, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we head to the steel city of Pittsburgh for a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with PNC Park.

Stadium Name: PNC Park

Years in Service: 2001 – Present

Visits: 1

After 30 1/2 seasons at Three Rivers Stadium, the Pittsburgh Pirates moved into their new home for the 2001 season, starting with an 8-2 loss against the Reds on April 9th. Since then, the stadium has placed at or near the top of most rankings, with the only drawback being the woeful state of its main occupant.

I made my one trip to PNC Park on May 15, 2005 to see the Cubs defeat the Pirates 3-2. Southwest Airlines was introducing service from Chicago to Pittsburgh and was offering fares for $30 each way, so plans were made for a daytrip out to Pittsburgh. We arrived in town and took a bus from the airport to the stadium, where we ate a pregame meal of ribs at the in-stadium Outback Steakhouse. Yeah, you read that right. There was an Outback Steakhouse in the stadium. After the game, there was another bus trip back to the airport for the flight back to Chicago, which seemed to be made up strictly of people who were at the game, as a rousing rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame broke out mid-flight.

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