Mik’s Food Scrapbook: PNC Park

Mik was looking forward to the Pirates game at PNC Park since the beginning of the trip. It was partially because it was his birthday, but mostly because he heard that they served pierogies at the park. He was not disappointed, as in fact they do still serve them. However, it was a little disappointing to find out they were just Mrs. T’s pierogies. At least they boiled them, which is how we like to make them and they are still good pierogies. Also, they are served with sour cream, which I liked, but Mik does not like unless it is with cinnamon and sugar. It definitely beats the normal ballpark fare.

The pierogies were not filling enough and Mik also ended up trying a hot dog. He rated it about middle compared to the other hot dogs he has had at the various ballparks.

Game 19: Philadelphia Phillies 10 @ Toronto Blue Jays 0

I really thought the Dodger Stadium would continue to stand out as the worst ballpark other than perhaps one of the New York ones, which we go into with bad taste due to the ticketing experience. However, I was totally disgusted with the handicap seating situation at Rogers Centre. Now it is not exactly a horrible ballpark and it is not the worst if you are part of the general public going to the game, but boy are they the worst by far when it comes to accessible seating to the point it is hard to believe this is among the modern generation of ballparks. Maybe, it is just the culture of Canada, but I doubt that is it because the campground has better accessible facilities than most we have stayed at in the United States and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday was even accessible despite being in an old house. Let’s just leave it at do not go to the actual park if you are in a wheelchair and I will go into more depth on it and the possible alternate accessible ways to see a game at Rogers Centre when I get around to the Accessibility Review for this park.

The seating situation kind of left me majorly negative about the park from the start, but it did not turn out horrible just not worth the extra $120 Canadian (sure its Canadian, but it is still a big non-planed expense in US$) to upgrade to where Mik could actually see the game. I was also not impressed with the concourse feel of the park. It just seemed cluttered with a bunch of concession carts rather than built in concession stands. It really got bad as the game began because the lines got pretty bad, especially when you notice that there were not that many people at the game. Boy would it totally stink to try to get concessions during a sold out game if that ever happens here.

The game itself did not improve the ballpark experience at all unless you were a Phillies fan, which there were probably more of than Blue Jays fans today or at least close to the same. The Philies totally dominated beating the Blue Jays 10 to 0. I really wanted to the Blue Jays to win since the Phillies are on top of the Nats division, but that hope was soon gone with them scoring 4 in the top of the first with 2 two-run homers.

The Blue Jays never really even had a chance with only four innings getting four men up to bat and that is the most they had up to bat in any inning. They had a few singles, but only one guy even got to second and that was on a double in the sixth. After that double the last 10 batters of the game were retired in order. The only interesting thing was the Blue Jays pitcher having a three up three down 2nd inning in which he struck out all three batters faced.

Overall second worst ballpark experience of the trip. Dodger Stadium is still the worst because the atmosphere ruined what could have been a good game and the seats were not cheap and were horrible. At least the more expensive seats we ended up upgrading to turned out to be almost worth the extra paid for them. We loved the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday, but we are ready to go back to the States as far as baseball road tripping is concerned. Sure there are some great things worth doing in Canada (i.e. Fishing!!!), but getting out of here as fast as we can on a baseball road trip is a must. I realy wish I had planned for us to drive to Cooperstown after today’s afternoon game and not tomorrow morning.

Update 6/28/09: Now have added photos from the game. Also, forgot to mention about the FedEx delivering the game balls to center field with the mascot signing before the game. Photos of that below. Might seem trivial, but Dad missed it and did not believe it happened because it was not like he left his seat. So, here is the photo proof.

Day 35: Forbes Field

On June 23, 2009, we went to the site of the former Forbes Field after seeing the Homestead Gray’s West Field. Forbes Field is significant in general baseball history because it was the first all steel and concrete ballpark. Pittsburgh sports history wise is it significant for being the site of four World Series (1909, 1925, 1927, and 1960) including a Game 7 game winning homer by Bill Mazeroski on October 13, 1960. During its use from 1909 to 1972 Forbes Field was not only used by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also the Negro Leagues Homestead Grays, the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Pitt Panthers.

What is left of Forbes Field is on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. The main thing left is part of the outfield wall. Part of it up on a small hill is intact as it would have been when Forbes Field was used including a few spots with the distance markers on them (note one section with the distance number is at the Pirates current park, PNC Park). The rest of the outfield wall can be followed via a brick line in the sidewalk and brick benches along were the wall once stood. Behind the wall that still stands there is a replica of the original Forbes Field entrance.

There is also supposed to be the original home plate from the final game played at Forbes Field located inside a nearby building about where it once was, but I did not feel trying to locate it and wanted to get to the game early to try to find the historic marker for Three Rivers Stadium, which in the end we did not locate because of where we ended up parking and arriving close to when the gates opened for the game.

Day 37: Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Late this morning/early this afternoon we went to the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site. I thought it would be interesting to see the old house he was inaugurated inside of, but I was actually quite disappointed, especially since this is what they have after reopening last week from remodeling. It is not horrible, but I really expected to get more out of the experience.

The museum is part of the National Park service and we ended up all getting in free with Mik’s Golden Access Pass, which was an awesome deal since the normal price is $10 per adult and $5 for kids up to age 17. Usually at per person sites only Mik gets in free and others have to pay, but I am glad we saved the $20 here because it certainly was not worth that amount of money.

The tour starts with you being able to look around this small room of artifacts and info mostly about the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York. When the guided tour part begins they show a movie in this room that puts you back in time as if you are actually at the Exposition. After this movie you go into the dining room area of the house where the guide gives a little scripted thing about how Vice President Theodore Roosevelt stayed here after President McKinley was shot and then when he came back after McKinley died.

After the dining room you go into this little room with a bench and watch an interesting presentation about the time period and the issues Theodore Roosevelt was probably thinking about before he took the oath to become President of the United States. It is actually a pretty cool presentation as different images are lit up as the talk goes on, but it is not all that informative about this particular site and basically leaves you feeling like you got all the general history of 1901, but practically nothing about why this is a historic site.

After the movie you go into the room where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office. A tape plays making it seem like you are actually at the swearing in, but it is rather odd with the room being empty besides the period décor. You then go on to the room he used as an office while at the Wilcox residence.

The tour ends with you going to the second floor, which is the self-guided part with an interactive desk in the recreation of Theodore Roosevelt’s office at the White House. This is kind of cool because you sign or veto bills he had to decide on, but is kind of a little far fetched in its relation to this historic house. However, not as far fetched as the art gallery that takes up two of the rooms and has nothing to do with the house or Theodore Roosevelt besides part of the profits of selling the art probably goes to the historic site.

Overall I left very disappointed besides actually getting my National Park Passport stamped. There must be some good history to this house and I am sure it is even known, but it is not told about at all on the tour. Dad said they had a little display in the first room, but it was easily overlooked by me when I was instead looking at the Pan-American exhibit. I have been on house tours like this in the D.C. area that really tell about the house’s history beyond just what it is most famous for and I really expected that from this site as well. Basically everything they said I had read about before and mostly in a book called Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Worst part was that even if I had wanted to ask about the house the tour guide knew nothing about the site except what was in the word for word tour script stuff he said. Also, sad is that only three of the rooms are restored to period look and the second floor is wasted with nothing restored to the period décor and the only plans for it is to add more unrelated interactive stuff.

Day 36: Niagara Falls at Night

Yesterday we got to the KOA in the Niagara Falls area around 5pm. Mik and I then tried to use the Internet while Dad set up camp, but we found it to be pretty slow. While eating dinner we looked at the pamphlets of things to do in the area to try to decide what to do today. We found out that they light the falls up from 9pm to midnight, so we decided to go to Niagara Falls last night, since the plan of using the Internet was just going to be frustrating.

Going at night turned out to be the best way to see the Falls or at least we assume. We got there around 8pm and it was still light, so we did at least get a day time view from the American side. Plus, parking at the falls was free on both the American and Canadian side at night, so we saved almost $30 on parking. Oh, and we saved $3 going to the Observation Deck by the American Falls since it was also after the hours they charge for you to go out on it. Lastly, the crowds were pretty low, especially by the time we went to Canada at 10pm.

We started at the Niagara Falls State Park and going out on the Observation Deck. There we took some day time photos and photos of us with the American Falls in the background. I also took some video of the falls, but I am not even going to try to upload that on the slow connection here, as it is hard enough getting my photos uploaded. Next time we have good Internet I will try to remember to upload a few of the videos of the falls.

After the Observation Deck we walked over to the island to see the Horseshoe Falls from the American side. The American side is kind of a cool up close and personal view of the falls. I kind of liked this experience better than the Canadian side, although so many say the Canadian side is the best. I did enjoy that side for taking photos of the falls, but just for viewing and experiencing it up close on the American side is better. It was a little crowded down at this area and a policeman tried to scratch his car against Mik’s wheelchair and was just plain rude as he rushed down when we were coming up, but overall it was a good place to walk out to.

By the time we done at the American side of Horseshoe Falls the falls were all lit up. It was hard to get photos there because of the low light conditions, so when we got over to the Canadian side next I took out my tripod to get some photos of the falls lit up at night. The view on the Canadian side ended up being great for taking photos of the falls lit up, especially since there were very few people there. I got some great photos of the falls lit up different colors and even used night portrait mode to get some of Dad and I with the falls in the background (Mik was asleep by this point, so none of him).

The night outing to the Falls ended up being a great way to do it and personally we got enough of the experience that we are not going to go again today. Dad kind of still wanted to do the boat ride, but instead we had a relaxing morning and are going to head towards Buffalo to see some other interesting things I found to do in the pamphlets. Besides the only interesting things left near Niagara Falls (a movies wax museum and Hershey Store) are on the Canadian side and it is not worth going over there again until we head to Toronto tomorrow.

Day 35: West Field

Before going to the Pittsburgh Pirates game on June 23, 2009, we did some driving around the area to locate some of the old professional ballparks. One of them is West Field. It is located in Munhall, Pennsylvania, off of West St between 19th Avenue and Orchard Street. It is not exactly obvious to find since it is back behind buildings and street signs are rather pathetic in the Pittsburgh area as we discovered a lot. The best way to spot it is to be looking up and find it by seeing the stadium lights.

West Field was used by the Homestead Grays, a Negro Leagues team. Great players such as Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson were among those that once played at West Field. I am not exactly sure the years it was used, but I think somewhere from the 1930s to 1940s. I think it was mostly used for weekday games, as I know they also played at Forbes Field, which I will post more on in its own post later.

Seeing West Field reminded me of going to Ancient Greek and Roman ruins in Turkey. The stadium is pretty much all still there, but it has been very neglected over the decades. The stands are still in decent condition, although a few areas are fixed up with wooden boards and many of the hand rails in the aisles are rusted to the point that pieces are missing from some. You can walk up a ramp to the concourse on top of the stands or walk up the steps from the bottom aisle. The field itself is in very sorry shape and the infield is converted to a sad dirt softball field. The dugouts are in okay condition and you can sit in them, but there is some grafitti in them. You can also walk down the tunnels under the stands until you get to a locked door that I assume leads to at least what used to be locker rooms.

Overall this was an interesting old ballpark to visit even though it was not actually a former MLB ballpark. It has just as much historical significance and perhaps even more than some of the actual former MLB parks since some of the greatest players of that era, such as Josh Gibson, never lived to be able to play in the MLB after the color barrier was broken. It is kind of sad to see it in such a sorry state, but at least it has not been demolished and replaced with some sort of building. Also, nice is that it remains a public park and you can actually walk on the field unlike League Park in Cleveland, where the infield was all fenced off. Lastly, at least West Field is in way better shape than that park.

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Louisville Slugger

The Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum is pretty much all about bats, so I really should not have expected much of anything for my baseball collection. However, I kind of expected to find a cool ball if I found any in the gift shop. Thus I was kind of disappointed and almost did not even get the one they did have. It is just a simple one that has a white strip and a blue strip. On the white strip is a Louisville Slugger logo that says Since 1884. At least it was less disappointing than finding their cool 125 anniversary logo t-shirts only to learn they were out of my size. It was not entirely disappointing, though, since I did get a nice 125th anniversary baseball cap.