Stanley Cup Final postcard: Pittsburgh
NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price enjoys sights, sounds of PNC Park
by Bill Price @BillPriceNHL / NHL.com Editor-in-Chief
PITTSBURGH -- Most of my NHL.com colleagues have sent postcards about the various meals they have eaten on the road during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but I have decided to focus on baseball.
In the past 12 months, I have made three trips to Pittsburgh for NHL.com and each time left without seeing a game at PNC Park, the home of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates.
PNC Park is unquestionably my favorite new ballpark and third behind Wrigley Field and Fenway Park on the all-time list. I couldn't wait to get back there for the first time in about six years.
So when I saw the Pirates were home against my beloved New York Mets on Sunday night, I had to go.
I felt some regret about not getting back here soon for a game but felt better when Dave Stubbs, our NHL.com Columnist from Montreal, told me the last baseball game he attended involved the Montreal Expos.
Still, it had been a long time coming and I remembered how special the park is on the way there. Coming from downtown, you cross the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which spans the Allegheny River. That walk is an experience in itself. As you get closer to the park, you hear the buzz of the crowd and get a whiff of the great food cooking inside.
NHL.com Senior Writer Dan Rosen was able to get seats 25 rows or so behind home plate, giving us the spectacular view of the Pittsburgh skyline and the Clemente Bridge. That view alone is worth the price of admission.
Throw in a pierogi race -- Bacon Bert won for the third time this season -- a great, courteous crowd, three solid innings from the Mets bullpen in a win and it added up to a great night out.
If you ever get to Pittsburgh, go to PNC Park.