But as for the park and the city, I really enjoyed them. I suspected that PNC Park might remind me of the place where the Cincinnati Reds play and I was right. A fella from Cincy told me that the only difference is the color of the bricks.
Well, that and the fact that Cincinnati doesn't have the Roberto Clemente Bridge (and statue of namesake late Pirates outfielder) standing guard.
I have to say, though, that either Clemente was a freak of nature or the artist has a problem with scale because the statue's hands are the same length as his entire forearm!
Our first baseman, Derrek Lee, is 6-feet-5 inches tall and swings a mean bat. I know he's that tall because he was standing next to me at the hotel front desk and he was checking out (okay, I was checking out too...checking out HIM!)
Anyway, I was talking to the desk clerk and telling her that I ran into Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster on the Clemente bridge on the way back from Saturday night's game. I told her that I passed him again that night on the way into the Westin bar and I hoped he didn't think I was stalking him. (It was then I noticed Derrek Lee turn and glance in my direction), so I quickly added. "but I've met him a bunch of times so I'm sure he knew it was fine."
Not sure what PNC stands for, but I do recognize the fellow in this statue. It's Honus Wagner, the subject of the world's most valuable baseball card. No, I never saw him play. Wagner's baseball card was made at a time when the cards were included in cigarette packets, not with bubble gum like they are now. Oh how times have changed!
Milwaukee's Miller Park has its fifth-inning sausage races. The Nats Park in Washington DC has its Presidents races, so of course, PNC must have...wait for it...the pierogi races! I don't eat Polish food that often, so I'm not sure what the letters on the hats stand for. Onion? Sausage?
Since the Sunday game was played on a beautiful afternoon and I desperately wanted to be in the sun, I upgraded my ticket not once, but twice! to get this great homeplate view! Worth every penny!
Here's a sign that you will never EVER see at Wrigley Field! Free is a four-letter word to the Cubs' owners (especially the new owner, billionaire Sam Zell.)
After having woken up at 3:15 AM for the first flight to Pittsburgh, I really wasn't very coherent when I arrived at the Pittsburgh Westin. (Normally, I can't afford a Westin. Gotta love Priceline!!!) Anyway, I assumed my room wouldn't be ready since it was not even noon (but it was!) and I also assumed I wouldn't get a great room since I didn't pay so much for it. But the desk clerk - wonderful woman that she was - learned that I was a first-time visitor to Pittsburgh and came in for the Cubs/Pirates games and gave me this second-to-top floor room with this view.
Some days you are the windshield and some days you are the bug. On that day, Ted Lilly was a gnat. Good picture, though, you gotta admit. I even got the ball in the shot!
Although the Nats park boasts the largest hi-definition scoreboard in all of baseball, they have nothing on the Pirates' use of promotional animations. Sorry if the picture isn't too clear but it's one of the action shots of the Pirates' and Cubs' schooners doing battle the old-fashioned way, sort of. The Pirates, however, made use of heat-seeking missiles and a robotic octopus to finally put away the Cubs' fleet. Pirates of the Carribbean beware of the Pirates of the Central Division!
Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are the two oldest baseball parks still in use. If they can't actually HAVE the history, at least the newer ballparks can celebrate baseball's past among all the newfangled bells and whistles. The statues inside the concourse at PNC are of the historic players of the Negro league teams including "Cool Papa" Bell, Satchel Paige, 'Smokey' Joe Williams and 'Buck' Leonard. Very cool!
Let's go Cubs!
