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.

Day 36: Jumping Pillow and Basketball

This morning we are getting a slow start. Dad said he wanted to aim for 9am, but I have it scheduled for 11am. So he is behind what he said as usual, but it is not a big deal. Waiting on him to be ready I went and tried out the jumping pillow they have at this KOA. Later I had Dad take some pictures of me on it.

While Dad was taking a shower I played with Mik. We started by just playing catch with the basketball and him trying to shoot at the hoop they have here, but he cannot even make it half way up to it. Then he decided to play defense against me, as long as I went easy on him. He got pretty good at stealing the ball in mid dribble without even touching me. Every time he got a clean steal I would try a lay up for him. He ended up winning 6 to 5. After 30 minutes and Dad getting back from his shower I was tired out, but he kept wanting to play. He is hoping the next KOA has a basketball court, too.

Game 18: Cleveland Indians 5 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 4

We got to PNC Park around 4:15pm and did a little walking around outside it along with a stop at the Team Shop before the park officially opened. There are a few interesting statues outside including one of Roberto Clemente that has Hallowed ground from where he played in Puerto Rico and Pittsburgh.

Around 5pm they opened the center field gate and we went into the river walk part of the park. There really was not much to do besides see another piece of Forbes Field's wall (more on seeing the actual site of Forbes Field when I eventually get caught up to that). It was actually kind of weird because we were in the park, but not really because even the outfield sections where you would normally go to catch batting practice before the rest of the park opens had gates closing off every section. Finally at 5:30pm the park really opened.

To get anywhere in the park we had to go up an elevator and just ended up going straight to our seats, so Mik and I did not really explore the park, since I preferred to stay seated and not try to rush back before the game started. The seats were pretty good, especially the view of the scoreboard, which was very important for this game, since we got a scoreboard message for Mik.

Up until the bottom of the 9th inning the highlight of the game was the Pierogi race. This is almost the best race in MLB, but I still think the Nats Presidents Race is the best. The Hannah one, which I think is jalapeno won the race this time.

The Indians took a lead scoring 4 runs in the top of third with the help of three base on balls, two singles, and a triple. They added another run with a homer in the sixth. The Pirates got their first run with a lead off homer in the bottom of the 9th by Adam LaRoche. They then went on to get three more runs and get back around to Adam with 2 outs and the bases loaded. He ended up ending the inning and the game by flying to right field, but boy was it an exciting almost come back game.

I was kind of rooting for the home team Pirates, but Mik was rooting for the Indians. I guess the free hats really converted him to an Indians fan or at least that is his favorite American League team now. When we got back to the car after the game I asked him what his favorite part of his birthday was and he said the Indians winning. I really thought he would have said the mini cake at DQ or the pierogis at the park, but for once the food was not the highlight for him even though it was great.

As for PNC Park and them boasting about being the best ballpark, I do not know. I am still very partial to Wrigley as the best, but I got to give PNC credit for being a pretty good park. They definitely have very few cons with the main reason Wrigley winning out being its history and its old scoreboard charm. Pierogis sure win over giant pretzel, but barely.

Day 35: Mik's 15th Birthday

Today is Mik's 15th birthday. Before heading to hunt down old ballpark sites in Pittsburgh we stopped at Dairy Queen to celebrate. Mik got a mini cake that had a brownie on the bottom. It had some sauces drizzled on top and Mik ended up getting that all off on his first attempt to get a bite of the ice cream. I had a banana split and Dad had a blizzard.

Car Magnet Update: Louisville Slugger Museum

They did not have any stickers at the Louisville Slugger Museum, but we did find a 125 anniversary Louisville Slugger magnet. We got it and put it on the back of the car next to the KC Kansas City Royals one we had got before finding stickers for the Royals.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: All the Ballparks 2009

At the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum they do personalized bats including mini bats. The mini bats they personalize are the thick end ones like the Cincinnati Reds one Mik got, but the personalized one was only $17.99 plus tax compared to the Reds on being $25. The only option is to have the mini bat as a natural color. You can have up to two lines of text, but Mik just got one line saying All the Ballparks 2009. When he was thinking about what he would get on his bat before we got to the museum he thought he might have it say All the Ballparks 2009 Summer of Hell, but he ended up not getting the second line.