PNC Park

PNC Park is a baseball stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It opened in 2001, shortly after the controlled implosion of Three Rivers Stadium. PNC Park is home to the Pirates, Pittsburgh's Major League Baseball team, and is named after PNC Bank, which bought the naming rights.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The stadium was built with public money after a long political debate. Mayor Tom Murphy originally proposed a sales tax increase to fund building of PNC Park and Heinz Field, but this proposal was rejected in a referendum. Mayor Murphy changed the funding plan, called it "Plan B", and put it into effect.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PNC Park was the smallest of the new major league baseball stadiums to be built in recent years. It was the first permanent facility to be built for a major league baseball team that hosted fewer than 40,000 since Milwaukee County Stadium, which was later expanded. It was also the first to be built with two decks rather than three - most of the club seats are actually located within the upper deck - since County Stadium. PNC Park also has the smallest capacity of any stadium in the National League, only slightly smaller than Wrigley Field (Fenway Park is a few thousand seats smaller). The stadium includes 2,800 club seats, 69 luxury suites, and 4 party suites.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The stadium is often noted for its physical beauty, with the Allegheny River and the Roberto Clemente Bridge - named for Roberto Clemente, the Pirates right fielder from 1955-1972 - beyond right field. (Another nod to the late Hall of Famer is in right field, where the outfield fence reaches a height of 21 feet—Clemente wore number 21, which the Pirates have retired.) The right field view also offers a wide view of the downtown Pittsburgh skyline across the river. An ESPN study recently named PNC Park "the best stadium in baseball." The stadium will also host the 2006 All-Star Game.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PNC Park is just up the Allegheny River from the sites of two of the Pirates' previous ballparks, Three Rivers Stadium and Exposition Park. The latter also afforded its spectators a broad view of downtown Pittsburgh, such as it was in the early 1900s.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Baseball: Baseball is a team sport, a bat-and-ball game, in which a hard, fist-sized ball is thrown by a defensive player called a pitcher, and an offensive player called a batter attempts to hit it with a tapered, cylindrical, smooth stick called a bat. The ball itself is also called a baseball. Scoring is a...

Stadium: A modern stadium (plural stadiums, Latin plural stadia) is a place, or venue, for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts or other events, consisting of a field or stage partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event....

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: (This article is about the city. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" is also the name of a song written in 1952; there are also several US cities named Pittsburg.)...

PNC Park related Images and Photos (experimental)

PNC Park Pittsburgh	PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pennsylvania	Park	Park Row
Park Avenue	Dog Park (DVD)	Park Fountain	Ray Park
Dog Park	Park Row Leeds	Hyde Park	Love Park