PNC Park hits a home run with fans
Pirates’ home turf ranked as best ballpark in the country
All season long, the Pirates — as well as they’ve been playing — have had the hardest time gaining on the first-place St. Louis Cardinals.
But the ballpark that the Pirates call home is second to none.
That accolade, which the fans and the team have long claimed, was confirmed again Monday by 91,000 voters responding to a survey conducted by Ballpark Digest, a Madison, Wis.-based website that has been covering ballparks and the business of baseball for 11 years.
“We had done our own ranking going into this, and we had PNC Park seeded third behind AT&T Park [in San Francisco] and Fenway Park [in Boston],” said Kevin Reichard, founder and publisher of Ballpark Digest, which serves more than 200,000 readers a month. The others in the top five were Wrigley Field in Chicago and Target Field in Minneapolis.
“Of the top five, if you talk to people who love ballparks and follow the industry, you could argue any of them,” Mr. Reichard said. “And there was a lot of nostalgia for Oriole Park [in Baltimore] and, of course, Dodger Stadium [in Los
Angeles] got a lot of votes.”
O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., finished at the bottom of the list.
Mr. Reichard said his publication’s marketing/user research shows “that a third of our readers work in the baseball industry, so we’re tapping into that collective expertise. And we know from our research that a third of our readers sell to the baseball industry, so that expertise will be valuable as well. The remaining third is fans, media and government.”
The most interesting part of the poll, Mr. Reichard said, was the way PNC Park routed the competition.
“It was by a 65-to-35 percent margin,” said Mr. Reichard, who has been to PNC Park several times. “It surprised the heck out of me, quite honestly. The margin surprised me, but not the ballpark itself. I always rank it in my top two or three ballparks. I think it’s just a wonderful gem of a ballpark.”
Frank Coonelly, Pirates president, issued a statement saying how proud the team is of the designation.
“This honor is a testament to the vision of all those who played a part in the design and construction of PNC Park, and to the men and women of the Pirates staff who work tirelessly to make certain the guest experience in PNC Park matches the brilliance of the ballpark itself,” he said. “It is important for the Pirates, as well as for the city of Pittsburgh, that PNC Park continues to be recognized as one of Major League Baseball’s iconic ballparks for generations to come.”
PNC Park, which opened along the shore of the Allegheny River in the spring of 2001, replaced cavernous Three Rivers Stadium, a multipurpose facility that the baseball team shared with the Steelers. The old stadium seated about 48,000 baseball fans, and PNC Park is a cozy place for 38,362.
Three Rivers Stadium had artificial turf. PNC Park has grass and a signature view of the city’s skyline.
Larry Wagner, 66, of Fox Chapel was at the PNC Park ticket window Monday because his wife, Patricia, wanted to go to a Pirates game on her birthday next month.
“I’ve been to New York and Philly and LA, and I just think the scenery here is spectacular. What more could you want?” Mr. Wagner said. “The food’s not bad and parking can be a problem, but those are things you deal with. [The park] is not too big, not too small. I think it’s perfect. You feel like you’re home here at PNC Park.”
P.J. Nichols, 38, was at PNC Park on Monday with a group of young baseball players participating in the annual Mayor’s Cup championship games. He’s an assistant coach with the Carnegie team and attends about 15 Pirates games a year.
“I love it. I think it’s the best ballpark in the country,” he said of PNC Park. “I think when you compare it to Three Rivers Stadium, it’s a totally different atmosphere. Here, you’re right on top of the plays. The skyline of the city, the fireworks. It all comes together and it’s just perfect.
“Being from Pittsburgh, you live here all your life, and you experience the revitalization of the city. And the ballpark brings that much more recognition of us.”
Bobby Walsh, 34, of Mt. Lebanon, is a bar manager at The Beer Market, right across the street from PNC Park. He hears the praise for the park every time the Pirates play a home game.
“It’s fantastic. I 100 percent agree,” he said of the survey results. “In here, the nice thing is that we get to talk to a lot of folks from out of town who are staying at the surrounding hotels. I deal with a ton of fans, and they talk about PNC Park, and how it’s awesome. People rave about it, still, and what is it — 15 years old now? They still go crazy about this park. This long after it opened, I’m still talking to people who say they traveled to Pittsburgh just to see this ballpark.
“Our business has been phenomenal. Game days are getting better and better, with all the new development around here. North Shore is kind of becoming a destination rather than just an event spot. And now the weather is better and the team is winning. It’s all coming together.”