With its
setting along the Allegheny River, statues paying tribute to several Hall of
Famers with the club, and easy access to multiple points in the Smoky City, the
ballpark, which opened in spring 2001, struck me as a picturesque throwback to
old-time baseball venues, much like Baltimore’s Camden Yards.
Yet I had yet to see a game there, until a few days after the Fourth of July, when the Pirates were to square off against the Milwaukee Brewers, ahead of them by a dozen games in the National League Central Division.
It promised to be a
pivotal series, with any hope for the home team making the playoffs, even as a
wild-card contender, starting here. To underscore the dramatics involved, there
would even be a fireworks display at the ballpark.
So much
for the best-laid plans of mice and men.
By
mid-afternoon, the Pittsburgh area was drenched in a thunderstorm that didn’t
dissipate until 6:30. Fans still poured
into the stands, optimistic that at the end of the hour-long rain delay
would eventually lead to the cry, “Play
ball!”
That hope
lasted until the announcer’s voice came on the loudspeaker: “The good news is
that the planned fireworks display will take place in 10 minutes….”
The fans
who had patiently sat through the rain delay already sensed what the rest of
the announcement would be—“But tonight’s game will be rescheduled”—and promptly
began booing. They had waited long enough, and could see on the weather apps on
their cell phones that it was unlikely more rain would follow. They were not
happy.
That game
was to be my first attending a Pirates game. Now, with me heading out of town
the next morning, it would have to wait a while longer—perhaps next season.
Well,
sometimes in life you have to endure disappointments—like rainouts—and
sometimes there are compensations—like the gorgeous multi-color display seen
here on a warm summer night over one of America’s great rivers.
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