Pittsburgh's PNC Park Hits Home Run With Visiting New Yorker
Pittsburgh's PNC Park Hits Home Run With Visiting New Yorker
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans.
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Good news and bad news in L.A.: the Dodgers will lose Dustin May for 4-6 weeks now but get Walker Buehler back after Labor Day . . .
With eight homers and 17 steals through his team’s first 40 games, Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña, Jr. is on pace for 30 homers and 60 steals — a parlay approached previously only by Eric Davis, with 37 homers and 50 steals for Cincinnati in 1987, and Barry Bonds, with 33 homers and 52 steals for Pittsburgh three years later . . .
Acuña is also on pace for 365 total bases. The only players in history with at least 350 total bases and 50 steals were Hall of Famer Ty Cobb with the 1911 Tigers and Hanley Ramirez with the 2007 Marlins.
Compact Red Sox rookie Masataka Yoshida, signed as a free agent for $90 million over five years, is already emerging as a favorite for AL Rookie of the Year honors . . .
Miami’s Luis Arraez may be the toughest out in the majors . . .
Look for the Chicago White Sox to trade erstwhile ace starter Lucas Giolito . . .
Don’t look now but Willson Contreras was only banished from catching for one week by the struggling St. Louis Cardinals . . .
Brother William Contreras, on the other hand, has played like an All-Star for the Brewers, trailing only the Braves’ Sean Murphy by fWAR in the NL, excelling with his glove and pads, with a majors-best nine Defensive Runs Saved, according to the Fielding Bible . . .
Cody Bellinger averaged 37 homers a year over his first three seasons with the Dodgers and is showing signs of regaining his former form with the Cubs . . .
Eric Hosmer, who never did, has been designated for assignment by Chicago . . .
The Chicago White Sox payroll of $183 million ranked 12th in the majors on Opening Day but that was before the team lost 21 of first 29 — forcing management to consider slicing payroll by paring veterans.
Leading Off
Here's To Pittsburgh!
By Paul Semendinger, Ed.D.
On May 6 and 7, 2023, my son and I were in Pittsburgh to run the Pittsburgh Marathon (it was a great race, and I did well enough for a 54-year-old guy with a time of 3:34:17.) Of course, while we were there, in addition to seeing many beautiful sites, we took in a ballgame at the wonderful PNC Park.
It's no secret that I am a Yankees fan. I have now published two books about the Yankees, I run a Yankees website, and I have two Yankees podcasts. I enjoy going to Yankee Stadium, where my team plays, of course. But Yankee Stadium, I feel, fails in comparison to so many other ballparks.
I have previously been to Citi Field, Camden Yards, and Fenway Park. Each, for their own reasons, I think, are superior to Yankee Stadium. I can now add PNC Park to the list of great ballparks I have attended.
It too provides an atmosphere superior to the big stadium in the Bronx. In fact, PNC is one of the nicest stadiums I have ever attended to watch a baseball game.
There is so much about PNC Park that makes it special that it is difficult to list everything, but I'll provide a short list of the aspects of this baseball palace that rank as the biggest reasons why I loved it so much.
The stadium and the sight lines are beautiful. We sat in the upper deck in left field. We were far away from the action, but we didn't feel far away. The stadium has an intimate feel. The venue itself is gorgeous. Just over the outfield wall is the river, the Roberto Clemente Bridge, and the city of Pittsburgh's tall skyscrapers. This provides an absolutely picturesque setting in which to watch a baseball game. The stadium, of course, has advertisements on the walls, but the walls aren't plastered with ads. It makes a big difference when one looks at a ball field and not a conglomerate of corporate logos of every shape and size on seemingly every inch of available space.
Statues. There are three statues to great players from Pirates history outside the stadium. The first statue we saw was of Willie Stargell. Also there are statues of Honus Wagner and (although I don't appreciate the moment depicted) Bill Mazeroski circling the bases after defeating the Yankees in the 1960 World Series. I love when teams promote their history. Along with this, the Pirates Hall of Fame is visibly and accessible to all fans on a prominent wall near an entrance to the ballpark. These all allow the attendee to feel connected to Pirates history.
Respect and Happiness. The Toronto Blue Jays were in town to play the Pirates that weekend. For whatever reason, there were hosts of Blue Jays fans present. They were everywhere. Not once did I hear a fan of the Pirates say that the Blue Jays stink (or worse) nor did I see any fan humiliated for rooting for the "wrong" team. In fact, there was a true sense of mutual respect. "You root for your team, I'll root for mine." To me, that's how it should be.
There was no extra noise at the game. There were times at the game where the only sounds were the sounds from the fans and the action on the field. The Pirates don't have an overabundance of sound effects. There weren't strange noises each time a pitcher got two strikes on a batter. There weren't loud games on the scoreboard between every inning. I went to a Yankees game last summer and couldn't hear my cousin, who was sitting right next to me. The stadium was that loud. In Pittsburgh, I caried on a conversation with my son throughout the entire game. The focus was on the game of baseball, not loud noises and their sense that the fans need to be entertained by the scoreboard every second something wasn't happening on the field. That established a calm, peaceful ballpark experience. It was great.
One criticism I had of the park were the long lines at the concession stands. The people sitting behind us went for some food and missed 40 minutes of the game. Earlier I had tried to simply get a hot dog, but saw the long lines and didn't want to wait that long for ballpark food. While there were these long lines that blocked the entire concourse (I walked from end to end of the second deck looking for a place to get a quick hot dog), there were also some of the kiosks that were never opened. The Pirates have to do a better job there. Fans should not have to choose between a 40-minute wait or watching the game they came to see.
Pittsburgh is a beautiful city. PNC Park is a great stadium
The Pittsburgh Marathon is also great, but... man were some of those hills are killers. I am certain the hill at Mile 12 was higher than Mount Everest.
I had never been to Pittsburgh before, but I'll be sure to go back again!
Dr. Paul Semendinger runs the Yankees site Start Spreading the News. Paul is the author of From Compton to the Bronx, The Least Among Them, and Scattering the Ashes. You can find Paul on Twitter @DrPaulRSem. Paul has now completed 24 marathons (and New York City is still his favorite).
Cleaning Up
Navy Commissions Warship That is Also Floating Baseball Museum
By Dan Schlossberg
So much happened on Saturday morning, May 6 that it’s hard to believe two weeks have passed since.
For King Charles, it was Coronation Day. For millions of horse-racing enthusiasts, it was the running of the Kentucky Derby — called the most exciting two minutes in sports for good reason.
For Willie Mays, for the State of Israel, and for me, it was a birthday celebration.
And for the United States Navy, it was prime time to unveil the USS Cooperstown, a warship named for the 70 Baseball Hall of Famers — including 27 Navy veterans — who served in combat during the Second World War or Korea.
Under sunny skies at Pier 88 in New York Harbor, a band played Anchors Aweigh and The Marine Hymn while crewmen and officers dressed in white performed well-choreographed dedication ceremonies.
Speakers included Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark and president Josh Rawitch plus Hall of Famer members Joe Torre and Johnny Bench, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, among others.
Bench’s father Ted served in North Africa and Italy during World War II while Torre’s older brother Rocco served in the Navy.
Hall of Fame legends Ted Williams, Bob Feller, and Gil Hodges also served in the Navy during wartime, with Feller winning eight battle stars as a tailgunner aboard the USS Alabama.
A floating “Field of Dreams,” the sleek warship — the first to be named Cooperstown — carries a crew of 98 and staterooms outfitted with replica plaques from the Hall of Fame gallery, as well as other baseball memorabilia. Several medallions and a baseball were placed into the base of the ship’s mast last fall as good luck symbols.
The ship is the newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), designed for close-to-shore battle with adversaries.
Its home port will be in Florida.
Here’s The Pitch Weekend Editor Dan Schlossberg is a veteran too, serving as a broadcast specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve for five years. He’s now a veteran of writing baseball books. E.mail him at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“The players don’t know their own history and that’s too bad. They should look at what the Players Association has done for them over the years. In fact, they should kiss the ground that Curt Flood and Andy Messersmith walked on. Player paychecks should have a picture of Marvin Miller on them. If it weren’t for him, these guys would be making peanuts compared to what they’re now paid.”
— Ron Blomberg, the first DH
The World Series trophy, given to the winning team since 1967, was renamed the Commissioner’s Trophy in 1985 . . .
Hank Aaron was quite an athlete outside of baseball, playing tennis and racquetball in addition to golf and even taking up skiing relatively late in life . . .
In the wake of 40-year-old Justin Verlander’s disastrous home debut for the Mets, it’s worth noting that 43-year-old Warren Spahn went from 23-7 to 6-13 from 1963 to 1964, almost certainly costing the Milwaukee Braves the NL pennant . . .
That team, which existed only 13 years, remains the only one in baseball history that never had a losing season.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.