The formal closing ceremony centers on home plate. An automatic tarp, which wasnt so much meant to replace the grounds crew as it was to make their jobs easier, made everyones life miserable one night late in 1970 when it crashed back into the trench where it was stored; a rain delay became a suspension of the game until the next day while the apparatus was fixed. The family paid about $800 for the seats at auction. Phil Hundley, a Deeter Ritchey Sipple architect who was not intricately involved in the Three Rivers Stadium project but was around in 2020 to talk about it, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: It had retail. . Meanwhile, the team found that their only way to replace Barry Bonds was to stick Al Martin in left field every night. A two-story, concrete marker for Gate D is the only portion of Three Rivers Stadium still standing. After his arrest and asked to explain his lapse into mental freefall to do all of these things, the man put the blame on Steelers quarterback Mark Malone, who was finishing up an awful (46% completion rate, six touchdowns, 19 interceptions) season for Pittsburgh. It was also the site of the very first broadcast of ABCs Monday Night Footballexcept that it was a preseason game held on a Friday night between the Steelers and New York Giants. In the case of the Pirates, those good timesand high times, nudge-nudgecame crashing down upon them in a thoroughly depressing, scandal-ridden second decade to follow. Spectators are easily distracted by mesmerizing views of downtown Pittsburgh, the Allegheny River and the Sixth Street Bridge, now named after Pirates legend Roberto Clemente. Pittsburgh, PA, US. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). [11][33][34], Three Rivers was the first multi-purpose stadium and the first in either the NFL or MLB to feature 3M's Tartan Turf (then a competitor to the dominant AstroTurf), which was installed for opening day. It was just going to be packed on the North Side., But nothing came of it. It's been 20 years since the home of the Pirates and Steelers was imploded before the new stadiums were opened. Dave Nightengale wrote of the stadium having all the life of a funeral parlor. With both facilities have come collateral development only dreamed about a half-century earlier, with a modern mix of parking, dining, business and green space; per example, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has relocated its headquarters right at the point where Three Rivers southeast (Gate C) entrance was once located. Three Rivers Stadium. [6] The stadium opened on July 16, 1970, when the Pirates played their first game there. [32] In 1993, the Pirates placed tarps on most of the upper deck to create a better baseball atmosphere, reducing capacity to 47,687. Second photo is the dismantling of a section of the outfield wall at Forbes Field. Players might have had a chance to enjoy the Allegheny Club after the game, but left fielders in particular didnt care for it during; the reflection of the stadiums lights off the clubs mass faade of windows made catching line drives in left an adventure. Hardware included. Three Rivers structural concrete was grounded down and recycled for nearby parking lots. Five years after local authorities said yes to a new stadium, there wasnt even a scope of work; the Fort Duquesne Bridge, conceptualized specifically to carry auto traffic from downtown Pittsburgh toward the stadium, was 90% completewith the last 10% on hold until there was actual progress on the facility. Ballplayers initially embraced the Parrot as wellthough not for the same reason as the fans. This section was taken to Three Rivers Stadium for decoration in the Allegheny Club. [56] In 2015, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette moved into a new office building also built on a portion on the site after 53 years in the former Pittsburgh Press building and more than two centuries in Downtown. Having just fallen behind at Three Rivers to the Oakland Raiders by a 7-6 score, the Steelers were 22 seconds away from defeat and facing fourth down 60 yards from the Raiders end zone. The prescript to Three Rivers Stadium is a familiar one: Aging ballpark, long ago gorgeous and glittering, is beginning to age beyond repair. The stadium opened in 1970 and was home to the Pittsburgh Steelers football team and the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History, North Shore inPittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania , Photographed By Mike Wintermantel, April 25, 2010, Three Rivers Stadium. [17] As well, its location made it hard to reach from much of the city, with traffic congestion before and after games. [59] The newspaper has revisited the issue and reported several times that the website remained active. The ballpark has a seating capacity of 41,500 with the main three tier grandstand stretching from the right field foul pole to home plate and down, and around the left field foul pole. Get this for your collection. Three Rivers Stadium stood alone, literally, as another cookie cutter, or concrete donut, or bowl. The reason for the only sellout in the short (one year) history of the United States Football Leagues Pittsburgh Maulers at Three Rivers was so that fans could rain boos and ice upon former Steelers QB Cliff Stoudt, appearing for the visiting Birmingham Stallions. A 16-year-old boy won a raffle to push the button that began the detonation. Sister Sledge, the We Are Family authors from the Bucs fabled 1979 campaign, reunited to sing the National Anthem. Theres no atmosphere in this thing, said Hank Novak, a lifelong ballpark employee for the Pirates. No perfect game was ever thrown at Three Rivers, but in 1981 the Pirates Jim Bibby retired 27 Atlanta batters in a row after allowing a leadoff single in the first inning. Instead of allowing cars to park, the team instructed fans to park downtown and walk to the stadium over bridges or take shuttle buses. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Pittsburgh beats Oakland 13-7 in an AFC Divisional playoff game on Franco Harris' Immaculate Reception. As delirious Steelers fans jumped the stands and flooded the Three Rivers turf, referees sought to determine which player Bradshaws pass had deflected off of; at the time, an offensive player could not legally catch a ball deflected directly from a teammate. The longest game at the stadium was played on August 6, 1989, when Jeff King hit a walk-off home run 5hours and 42minutes into the 18-inning contest, as the Pirates once again beat the Cubs 54. It took just 19 seconds for a colossal Pittsburgh sports landmark to collapse. One silver lining to perhaps emerge from the Pirates lack of fans during the 1980s is that there were fewer of them to abuse the players. An 8-by-12-foot area of the 406 marker section of the Forbes Field brick wall, 12 Romanesque window frames, and the Babe Ruth plaque showing where his 714th home run landed were in the Allegheny Club at Three Rivers. The perfect storm hit the Bucs after the 1992 season, facing an offseason in which free agents Bonds, ace pitcher Doug Drabek and Gold Glove second baseman Jose Lind all departed for richer teams in bigger markets because the Pirates simply lacked the capital to retain them. It was the site of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit, September 30, 1972, and Franco Harris's legendary "Immaculate Reception," December 23, 1972. [11] As part of the deal, the university leased Forbes back to the Pirates until a replacement could be built. Forbes Field wasnt getting any younger, the Pirates patience was thinning, and the university was standing by with the wrecking ball, fingers tapping on the lever. DRS principal Dahlen Ritchey, who grew up a big Pirates fan and forever regretted the day he gave away his Game Seven tickets to the 1960 World Series (because he was sure the Pirates would lose), initially lobbied for separate side-by-side stadiums for the Pirates and Steelerswith the Bucs ballpark providing an open view beyond its outfield of downtown. While public agencies battled over the finances, a local consortium of architects focused on the stadiums aesthetics. This was a premier spot for other big name concerts as well. Returning the following year as a member of the Reds, the Pirates wasted no time abetting the acrimony from his former fans. The stadium, set for use in late spring 1970, is the future home of the Pirates . Away from the North Side, one wild thought was to build a massive land bridge over the Monongahela River that would hold a stadium sitting on top of a multiple-story parking garage accompanied by twin skyscrapers. (It would take 10 years for that person, Kevin McClatchy, to fully purchase the Bucs.). Stadium Concert. Dave Parker, who had the most hits at Three Rivers with 781, also had the longest hit streak in the stadiums history at 22 gameswhich he did twice, in 1977 and 1979. With that said it is a wild river and when roaring . Rivers Stadium Club Features Enjoy Chicago Dogs baseball from the comforts of the Rivers Stadium Club. what was bolivar's ultimate goal? [13] Plans of the "Stadium over the Monongahela" were eventually not pursued. The scandal devastated the Pirates organization; the team sank in the standings, bottoming out with a 104-loss campaign in 1985. The outfield wall was a 10-foot wooden fence which eventually got covered with paddingand thank goodness for that when, in a 1998 game, the Pirates Turner Ward ran right through the right-field wall while (successfully) making a catch on a Mike Piazza fly ball. A 1973 Led Zeppelin concert nearly turned into a riot; a year later, Eric Clapton was nailed in the face by a (perhaps) errant frisbee. The final Pittsburgh Pirates home game was on October 1st, 2000 vs. the Chicago Cubs. Due to lack of support, however, the arguments faded. Opened on July 16, 1970. Three Rivers Stadium also hosted the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team for a single season each.[7][8]. [11] The stadium was located in a hard-to-access portion of downtown, making it hard in later years to get in before games and leave after games. The only Pirate who wore a jersey for the very first game and this, the very last, was bench coach Richie Hebner, who started at third base in Three Rivers inaugural game, attracted ladies with his good looks and boos from everyone else for his subpar defense, and later criticized the stadium by stating, My fathers cemetery has more life in it than this ballpark. A crowd of 55,351, the largest ever to see a baseball game at Three Rivers, watched as the Bucs blew a late lead and bowed to the Chicago Cubs, 10-9. Stadium Concert. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. June 30, 1995: Grateful Dead played their last Pittsburgh show. Doug Harvey hands Roberto Clemente the ball after he doubled off the Mets' Jon Matlack for his 3,000th career hit on September 30, 1972. Yes, Three Rivers Stadium was another one of those venues people now love to hate: A perfectly circular hunk of concrete largely adorned with slightly angled spectator ramps perfectly spaced between four large welcoming gates. From the ashes of the drug-infested, small-crowd doldrums of the mid-1980s, the Pirates rose like a Phoenix to be reckoned with at the end of the decade. Outside of the gates, an homage to the past was erected with the placement of a Roberto Clemente statue. Fifty years ago, on July 16, 1970, Three Rivers Stadium opened in Pittsburgh, Pa. If Three Rivers Stadium gave the Pirates an early boost, it completely transformed the Steelers into a long-term powerhouse. Mark Loizeaux of Controlled Demolition, Inc. pushed the button that set off the 19-second implosion, while Elizabeth and Joseph King pushed the "ceremonial old fashioned dynamite plunger". Stargell came alive with a career-high 48 homers (his previous high at Forbes was a relatively mere 33), but he wasnt alone on the star chart. But postwar America had moved on from baseballs Gilded Age; decaying relics of yesteryear had no place in a society focused on suburbia, interstates and 707s. The model of the stadium, revealed at the end of 1964, was eye candy on a prime level; a 54,000-seat venue with an overhang that protected 70% of the fans, thinning out and angling downward toward the river; private suites; and two restaurants, one open year-round. Though spacious Forbes Field was perfectly suited for Clementes brand of line-drive hitting, he found Three Rivers to be no problem. [66] In 1979, the Pirates again won a World Championship, yet again defeating the Baltimore Orioles in a seven-game World Series. [28] A parade was held before opening ceremonies. Photographed By Unknown, September 30, 1972. After being hotly debated throughout the entire southwestern Pennsylvania region the initiative was soundly defeated in all 11 counties; only in Allegheny County was it even close (58-42). . As for the game itself, the Cincinnati Redswho just 17 days earlier debuted in Riverfront Stadium, the appearance and name of which would confuse many with Three Riversedged out the Bucs, 3-2. King and Charles Mingus. [29], Three Rivers Stadium was similar in design to other stadiums built in the 1960s and 1970s, such as RFK Stadium in Washington, Shea Stadium in New York, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, the Houston Astrodome, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, which were designed as multi-purpose facilities to maximize efficiency. By the early 1990s, multipurpose stadiums had gone out of fashion. The fans celebrated in the streets to Sister Sledges We Are Family, the Pirates adopted theme song of the 1979 campaign; Stargell, for his combination of sage and vintage strength at age 39, won co-NL MVP honors (with St. Louis Keith Hernandez) and the straight MVP for both the NLCS and World Series. [63] The first hit in the stadium was by Pittsburgh's Richie Hebner, in the bottom of the first inning.

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