Touch 'Em All

PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was ballpark #3 for us. Following is the list of all active ballparks that we’ve visited at the time of this writing:

1 — Baltimore Orioles (1992; date unknown)
2 — Philadelphia Phillies (2004; date unknown)
3 — Pittsburgh Pirates (July 30, 2022)

After visiting PNC Park, we can confirm that the rumors are true. This place is absolutely stunning!

We decided to plan a long weekend in Pittsburgh around seeing the Phillies play the Pirates. We’ve never visited this city before, so we booked a hotel downtown and visited some tourist destinations like the Duquesne Incline, Pointe State Park, and the Strip District. We were impressed with the downtown area. It was clean, picturesque, walkable, and had lots of beautiful architecture.

A few hours before gametime, we began our walk to the ballpark. Since we were staying downtown, we got to cross the Allegheny River on the Roberto Clemente Bridge. This bridge, and several others along the river are painted bright yellow, and really make a dramatic impression. It is such a cool experience crossing this bridge along with throngs of other fans, and having the ballpark begin to reveal itself to you as you get closer.

The center field gate is located right at the end of the bridge. It is marked by a larger-then-life bronze statue of Roberto Clemente.

We chose not to enter the ballpark yet, opting instead to explore the ballpark’s exterior first. The exterior facade uses a handsome combination of limestone and navy-blue painted steel to achieve a traditional ballpark aesthetic.