[15] In April 1969, construction was behind schedule and the target opening of April 1970 was deemed unlikely to be met. Flickr photos, groups, and tags related to the "threeriversstadium" Flickr tag. The Steelers, surprisingly, were not immune to the fans bully ethic. [60][61] In 2020, nearly twenty years after the stadium had been demolished, the site had finally been taken down due to the domain expiring. There was exactly one good thing about Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Buying was a consortium of private and public sources, meant as a stopgap to keep the team in Pittsburgh and buy time to find a longer-term owner who had yet to come along. Meanwhile, the naming of Three Rivers Stadium didnt sit well with many Pittsburghers, who rather would have seen the facility named after David Lawrence, the mayor who first championed the idea of a stadium back in 1948. At the time of the demolition, Three Rivers Stadium still had $27.93 million in debt ($42.7 million today), some of it from the original construction but the rest from renovations in the mid-1980s, bringing more criticism to the public funding of sports stadiums. By the early 1990s, multipurpose stadiums had gone out of fashion. [14] The following season, the Pirates advanced to the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. No team ever scored 20 or more runs in a game at Three Rivers Stadium. Can you believe its been 20 years since Three Rivers Stadium came crashing down? But not everything was hauled away for disposal. Three Rivers Stadium had a beverage contract with Coca-Cola throughout its history. Workmen ease into position the last upper deck beam topping off Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Dec. 10, 1969. Courtesy of Pittsburgh Steelers Collection. [11] As part of the deal, the university leased Forbes back to the Pirates until a replacement could be built. (Historic Pittsburgh). Providing the infrastructural design was Michael Baker International, a fast-growing firm which had a hand in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Seattle Space Needle, and Pittsburgh International Airport, among many other projects around the planet. [14] A design was presented in 1958 which featured an open centerfield designthrough which fans could view Pittsburgh's "Golden Triangle". Three Rivers Stadium Three Rivers Stadium and sports on the Northside of Pittsburgh Operating as usual 10/01/2022 Remembering Roberto: Home plate memorial honoring his 3,000th hit to be placed in the North Shore https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/remembering-roberto-home-plate-memorial-honoring-his-3000th-hit-to-be-placed-in-the-north-shore/ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The opening of Three Rivers marked the first time the Pirates allowed beer to be sold in the stands during a game since the early 1960s. Without a hitch, a 1985 Bruce Springsteen gig at Three Rivers drew 65,000, the largest gathering for any event at the stadium. Price: From $79.99 to $99.99. It was during the Steelers' stay in Three Rivers that the now famous "Mean Joe" Greene Coke commercial aired, leading to a longstanding relationship between the two. The implosion of Three Rivers Stadium with the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River. The stadium, which took more than 2 years to build at a cost of $55 million, seated 47,971 fans for baseball games, and 59,000 for football games. Despite its ultimate reputation as a mundane hunk of concrete, Three Rivers Stadium did spark some personality with its exclusive Allegheny Club, located in the second level down the right-field line. Before each one of his appearances, the show plays a clip of Greg Brown and Steve Blass (complete with a train whistle) calling Wehner's home run that ended up being the very last in Three Rivers Stadium history. You can contact Steven at sadams@triblive.com. Forty years earlier, Art Rooney had paid $2,500 he had floating around from winnings at the racetrack to purchase an expansion National Football League team in Pittsburgh. [25], In their first game after the All-Star Break in 1970, the Pirates opened the stadium against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, July 16; who won, 32. But few expected the team to plummet deep into the Hades of Baseball. Despite polls which showed that the public was opposed to this plan as well, on February 3, 1999, the state funding portion of "Plan B" passed the Pennsylvania State House and Senate, clearing the way for construction. Its not that the Pirates had a choice in Forbes Fields fateat least not after 1958, when they sold the ballpark to the adjacent University of Pittsburgh, which wanted to raze the structure for campus expansion. [34] After the game, former Pirate Willie Stargell threw out the ceremonial last pitch (he died the following April hours before the first regular season game was played at PNC Park). A 16-year-old boy won a raffle to push the button that began the detonation. It was a cold Sunday, Feb. 11 20 years ago that a demolition crew reduced Three Rivers Stadium to a heap of rubble and twisted steel. 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. If Three Rivers Stadium gave the Pirates an early boost, it completely transformed the Steelers into a long-term powerhouse. Dave Parker had batteries thrown at him in the field; his Pirates teammate of five years, outfielder Lee Lacy, had bottles tossed toward him. The initiative's defeat led to the development of "Plan B", an alternate funding proposal that used a combination of monies from the Allegheny Regional Asset District (an extra 1% sales tax levied on Allegheny County), state and federal monies and a number of other sources. It had hotels. In the 1971 World Series, Three Rivers Stadium hosted the first World Series game played at night. 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". Perhaps a live ball was helping to bring the fans in; Three Rivers yielded a stadium-record 171 home runs in 1999then 172 in 2000. Tim McGraw / Kenny Chesney / George Strait / The Chicks (US) / Jo Dee Messina / Mark Wills / Asleep At the Wheel. Stadium Concert. While the Pirates represented baseball tradition, the Steelers represented PittsburghTough, hard-nosed, grim-featured, not so fancy, wrote The Sporting News Furman Bisher. In 2011, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the Three Rivers Stadium website was still active, 11 years after the facility's demolition. Another 3,000-4,000 viewing from atop Mount Washington and an uncounted number of people viewed the demolition from various high points across the city. No-nonsense manager Jim Leyland presided over a young and highly talented outfield that included Bonilla, Van Slyke, and a tantalizing five-tool legacy named Barry Bonds, who omitted occasional raw flashes of greatness before ascending to more consistent MVP levels. [15][17] Arguments were made by commissioner (and former Allegheny County Medical Examiner) Dr. William McCelland that the Pirates and Steelers should fund a higher percentage of the $33million project ($275.6 million today). His Hall-of-Fame teammate Steve Carlton had the most wins as a visitor, with 15. The family paid about $800 for the seats at auction. The view from the top of Three Rivers Stadium during the first game played on July 16, 1970. The Steelers would move to Heinz Field after it was closed.[73]. Three Rivers Stadium was simply not a good place to take in a game. Mary Ann Wellener, with the help of her son Paul, places a pair of seats from Three Rivers Stadium on the grave of her husband Paul Wellener III, in Mount Lebanon Cemetery where they hope to have them permanently mounted, Jan. 6, 2001. In December 1987, an evidently deranged man managed to drive his car through the stadium and out on the fieldin the process, barely missing four employees but not several trucks carrying barrels of nacho cheese, much of which ended up covering his car. In 1979, the Pirates introduced the Pirate Parrot, a mascot patterned after the successful debut of the Phillie Phanatic in Philadelphia a year earlier. While Three Rivers was receiving its late prepping up as the fight over whether to build a new ballpark continued, the area surrounding the stadium remained dormant, a head-shaking lack of mixed-use development promised by the stadium authority decades earlier. Roberto Clemente statue outside Three Rivers Stadium is shown on October 16, 1994 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The plan was to build a whole mixed-use community around the stadium, including hotels, restaurants, a theme park, science center and marinaall connected by people movers. Stadium Concert. Three Rivers Stadium * and N.N.L. It had office buildings. On Sunday, Feb. 11, 2001, with the temperature just 21 degrees, more than 20,000 people filled Point State Park to watch the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium. The statue was originally located in Schenley Park, just beyond the left-field fence of Forbes Field. [52][53] With the newly constructed Heinz Field only 80 feet (24m) away, effects from the blast were a concern. When the dust settled, the remains were visible. The final Pittsburgh Pirates home game was on October 1st, 2000 vs. the Chicago Cubs. [35][36] It had a dirt skin infield on the basepaths for baseball through 1972,[26] until converted to "sliding pits" at the bases for 1973. With that said it is a wild river and when roaring . Twenty thousand people viewed the implosion from Point State Park on the morning of Feb. 11, 2001, with thousands more watching from Mount Washington. 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. It took 10 years to wipe it off the books. Doormats would have been more appropriate; as the Steelers bounced around Pittsburgh without its own stadium, they were traditional losers who made only one postseason appearance in 37 yearslosing 21-0before moving into Three Rivers. A jury awarded Jones $125,000, but it was reversed on appeal. The Pirates were not using the pending eviction to leave town; the university would, in fact, be patiently gracious in letting Forbes Field remain standing and active as long as the Pirates needed it. Both the Pirates and Steelers won it all that year, capping a sensational first decade at Three Rivers Stadium in which both teams combined for six championship titles (Sports Illustrated). The National League won the game 72 and the Pirates' Ken Brett was the winning pitcher. It was a cold Sunday, Feb.. Ground was broken in April 1968 and an oft behind-schedule construction plan lasted for 29months. A Billy Graham Crusade took place at Three Rivers in June, 1993. The particular spot for the new stadium was, in fact, once upon a time the same site as Exposition Park, the Pirates first home. Dock Ellis and Manny Sanguillen, the battery for the first game back in 1970, threw and caught the ceremonial first pitch. [65] The average attendance would peak in 1991, when the Pirates averaged 25,498per game. Three Rivers Stadium. Three Rivers Stadium Plaque. It was perched right at the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela Rivers, walking distance from downtown Pittsburgh. By the time it put the team up for sale in 1986, the Galbreaths lost $18 million in 15 years at Three Rivers, making a profit only during the ballclubs first full season there (1971). 7/30/1972. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who had moved from Forbes Field to Pitt Stadium in 1964, were large supporters of the project. But the river that created the most beautiful valley and the home of the Giant Forest is totally overlook. Fans embraced the Steelers in a way never felt by the Pirates; blue-collar fans somehow scraped up enough cash to fill the joint over and over againfrom 1972 on, the Steelers sold out every game at Three Riversand formed rabid fan groups celebrating players from Franco Harris to placekicker Roy Gerela. Koch would even get high on his own supply while doing Parrot duty, which must have made for the most kaleidoscopic experience by an employee of the Pirates since Dock Ellis claimed he threw a 1970 no-hitter on LSD. [22] In January 1970, the new target date was set for May 29; however, because of a failure to install the lights on schedule, opening day was delayed once more to July 16. This section was taken to Three Rivers Stadium for decoration in the Allegheny Club. Three Rivers Stadium was demolished on February 11th, 2001 at 8 AM. Much like the Pittsburgh Penguins would do with the site of Civic Arena, the Steelers retained development rights to the site of Three Rivers, and would later build Stage AE on portions of the site, as well as an office building that hosts the studios for AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, the headquarters of StarKist Tuna, and the regional headquarters of Del Monte Foods. We had some immaculate times at Three Rivers Stadium.#SteelersHistory #ImmaculateReception pic.twitter.com/F5xEbYOd3j, Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 12, 2018. The dual-sport structure had been the epicenter of Pittsburgh sports for 30 years since opening on July 16, 1970. Due to lack of support, however, the arguments faded. Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1970 to 2000. July 16, 2020 8:00 am ET. That decision was in turn reversed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which agreed with her argument about the Baseball Rule and also noted that the opening to the concourse through which the foul had passed was a purely architectural choice that was not necessary to the game of baseball. On October 1, 2000, the Pirates played their final game at Three Rivers. In 1972, the Steelers made the postseasonwhich itself was big newsbut the franchises coming-of-age moment occurred in their first playoff game with, arguably, the most memorable play in NFL history. 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. Not even their rousing World Series season of 1960, capped by Bill Mazeroskis legendary walk-off homer in the seventh game against the New York Yankees, sped up the clock on any timetable. Even the pleasing evergreen views beyond the fences from inside Forbes Field were rapidly being overcome by industry and other inevitable forms of development. At the time, the stadium still had a debt of just less than . Outside of the gates, an homage to the past was erected with the placement of a Roberto Clemente statue. The broadcast crew consisted of the original MNF trio of Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith. Rivers Stadium Club Features Enjoy Chicago Dogs baseball from the comforts of the Rivers Stadium Club. Photographed By Unknown, September 30, 1972. Underneath the big furry costume was Kevin Koch, the Pirate Parrots first portrayerand, as it would infamously be revealed, a cocaine user and middleman between dealers and ballplayers in both clubhouses. [49] Two months later on December 16, 2000, the Steelers concluded play at Three Rivers Stadium, with a 243 victory over the Washington Redskins.[50]. [42] The stadium hosted various Jehovah's Witnesses conventions, including international conventions in 1973 and 1978, and a centennial conference in 1984. [54][55], Like most stadiums demolished during this time whose replacements were located nearby (including the Civic Arena over a decade later), the site of Three Rivers Stadium mostly became a parking lot. Its enclosed nature was a necessity of compromise, a confluence of sports teams near a confluence of rivers, yielding a confluence of championship glory before tough times set inmost certainly for a Pirates team that found progress in the modern age a steep slope to climb. [6] The stadium opened on July 16, 1970, when the Pirates played their first game there. Dahlen Ritcheys vision of side-by-side facilities for the Pirates and Steelers, surrounded by a profusion of development, has finally been realizedeven if it came one generation of sports venue ethos later than expected. Removed from downtown Pittsburghs choking smoke and untamed rivers, elegant Forbes Field was built in a vernal, cultural paradise on the outskirts of town, where three was the magic numberfrom three Pirates world titles to Babe Ruths last three homers to the last tripleheader to all those triples. It was a winneruntil the construction bids all came in at $10 million above the projected $26 million cost. Ground was broken for the new stadiums in 1999. Three Rivers Stadium implosion seen from Point State Park on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2001. The Steelers sold out every home game from 1972 through the closing of the stadium, a streak which continues through 2008. The idea came from Forbes Field, Ritchey told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2001 of his ballpark design. Approximate Location of Three Rivers Stadium Left Field Corner Looking Toward Home Plate. Photographed By Harry S. Coughanour, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, circa 1970. 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). When Heinz Field opened, Coca-Cola also assumed the beverage contract for that stadium (the Pirates signed a deal with Pepsi for PNC Park before signing with Coke again in 2014), and also became the primary sponsor for the Steelers' team Hall of Fame, the Coca-Cola Great Hall. 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. Once the dust cloud dissipated, the crumbled remains become visible. The son of a saloon owner who ran a favored watering home for baseball fans in the Exposition Park era, Rooneyhimself not too bad a minor league ballplayerfirst named his team after the Pirates before changing it to the Steelers in 1940. Heartbreak segued to an even more depressing reality. Location. When Rooney passed away in 1988, his officealready drenched with reference books and memorabiliabecame a library. Realtime driving directions to Three Rivers Stadium Home Plate Location, Pittsburgh, based on live traffic updates and road conditions - from Waze fellow drivers. [41][42] On August 11, 1985,[43] Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band hosted the largest concert in Pittsburgh history, when they performed for 65,935 on-lookers. Pirates organist Vince Lascheid at Three Rivers Stadium on July 5, 1999. Opened on July 16, 1970. They were considered by many to be ugly and obsolete, as well as not financially viable. Signup for our newsletter to get notified about sales and new products. Wagner, Kiner and Clemente could all agree that excitement was never in short supply at the Old Lady of Schenley Park. [34] On December 23, 1972, Three Rivers Stadium was site to the Immaculate Reception, which became regarded as one of the greatest plays in NFL history. Over 494 career at-bats at the stadium, he batted .337; no other player had a higher average in as many at-bats at Three Rivers. (Historic Pittsburgh), On July 16, 1970, they finally played ball at Three Rivers Stadium. 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. Terry Bradshaw was a frequent target of boosbut his successors at the quarterback spot fared far worse. (FlickrJoel Dinda). 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. This view of Three Rivers Stadium from Mount Washington, about a mile away on the south side of downtown Pittsburgh, shows Point State Park where the Allegheny River (next to the stadium) joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River. The exodus buried the Bucs into eternal losing mode, while the situation made Three Rivers Stadium outdated and an obstacle to the future just as a new generation of popular, revenue-generated retro ballparks quickly began to rise in the horizon. Forced to go back to the drawing board, Ritchey had no choice but to artistically cave to the tight budget, designing a fully-enclosed stadium with a symmetrical build that appealed to a more cost-effective solution. The formal closing ceremony centers on home plate. But the debt needed to be paid and the crowds, as misbehaved as they often were, were massive. Touch for map. The Allegheny Club doubled as an ode to the past; it included a segment of Forbes Field famed brick wall, and a plaque honoring Babe Ruths final home run (hit at Forbes in 1935). Some fans from out of town would reserve hotels in downtown Pittsburgh before attending an event at the Stadium. The home of the Steelers and Pirates had been rendered obsolete by the pair of stadiums now flanking the aging concrete cylinder. Get this for your collection. A look at Three Rivers Stadium from the top of the upper-deck bleacher seats. [33][62] The first pitch was thrown by Dock Ellisa striketo Ty Cline. Youre in a bowl.. If anything else, the threat brought the various public agencies together toward a budget agreement. Although the Pirates, in the midst of a two-decade stretch of losing unparalleled in pro sports, were awful over Three Rivers final two years, they managed to never draw a crowd under 10,000. Former Pirates manager Chuck tanner acknowledges the crowd before the final game at Three Rivers Stadium.

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