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| - My favorite ballpark! Situated on the North Shore across the Allegheny River from Downtown Pittsburgh, it is your basic modern retro-style ballpark, meaning that it's design and layout is unique from other ballparks. The dimensions are small, which gives it a cozy and intimate feel. It also means that there is not a bad seat in the house, even at the 300 level. The views of the city from the ballpark are absolutely breathtaking! The skyline serves as the backdrop as you look out onto the field from home plate. If you are sitting higher up, you get great views of the river, as well as the Gateway Clipper Fleet, and many other boats floating along. A number of the beautiful bridges that span the river are highlighted, as well.
In addition to being visually stunning and ascetically pleasing, the ballpark offers the best in convenience. Unlike most ballparks, no matter where your seats are, you are always close to the bathrooms, concessions, and merchandise. In most ballparks, especially if you are sitting in the upper decks, you might have a long walk to use the bathroom, or get food or beer. This place has them all over the place, so, even in the 300 level, they are not far away. And with so many of them, you never seem to have a long wait in line for food or bathroom.
As far as the concessions go, this place is second to none. For both food and beer, there is a plethora of options, anywhere from the typical ballpark fare to some local favorites. When it comes to beer, you can enjoy a variety of craft beers, the standard products from Anheuser-Busch or Miller, or the local favorite, Iron City. Food options, too, include the typical hot dogs and soft pretzels. But the highlight of the concessions are the many local favorites, including Primanti Brothers for giant sandwiches with meat, cheese, fries, cole slaw, and tomato all on Italian bread, Quaker Steak and Lube for wings and things, and my favorite, the Potato Patch, which, as anyone who has been to Kennywood Park knows, has the greatest fries in the world. My favorite are the Chili Cheese Fries, but the Buffalo Chicken Finger Fries seemed to be the top seller.
Another plus about PNC Park is that right now, the Pirates are pretty good. So, the actual product, baseball, that is on the field, is really enjoyable, as well. It is always great fun for fans to come root, root, root for the Pirates! And since they are doing well, there is usually a good crowd on hand, if not a sellout crowd. And when this place is full, it absolutely rocks! They say that when you play against Pittsburgh, you play against the whole city, and that is 100% true. Last year (2013), the Buccos made the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, and the first time since PNC Park opened in 2001. Every seat in the house was filled for the playoffs, and 5,000 people watched and cheered on the Bucs from the Roberto Clemente Bridge!
As with any ballpark in a major city, while a location near Downtown provides plenty to do around the ballpark and breathtaking views, it does create challenges with parking and getting to and from the game. While this can be a challenge in any city, Pittsburgh offers a wide variety of options for parking and getting to and from games. You can try and park on the Northside, closest to the ballpark. You can park Downtown and take a shuttle, or on a nice day, walk, to the game. My personal favorite is to park at Station Square on the Southside, across the Monongahela River from Downtown, and take the Gateway Clipper Fleet, which offers a river cruise ferry/shuttle service to the ballpark, starting two hours before the game up until game time, and from the ballpark starting at the top of the 8th inning until 30 minutes after the game ends.
PNC Park offers a wonderful, fun-filled day of watching great baseball, eating great food, and just having a great time with family and/or friends, in a great city. Whether you are a Pirates fan or not, or even if you're not a baseball fan, go check out a game. Tickets are very reasonable (I got one in the 300 level for $6 off of Stub Hub). You will be glad that you did!
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