The Roberto Clemente Bridge. One of a whole lot of bridges you will find in Pittsburgh. This one is closed to all vehicles on game days so that fans can walk to the ball park.
Hard to believe that in all the time I have been living in the Northeast, I have never been to Pittsburgh (although I have seen the Penguins play twice....just not in Pittsburgh). People have told me that Pitsburgh is a nice city but I was not so sure. I must say I was very pleasantly surprised when I drove into the city. It is kind of in a valley, with "mountains" on either side and of course downtown is at the fork of 2 rivers (The Allegheny River and the Monongahela river that join to form the Ohio river) so it is very nice.
Getting there was a bit of a challenge though. My planned 4 and a bit hour drive turned into more like 6 and a bit due to really heavy traffic (and an accident that had us stopped for a while) but I got there and that is all that counts.
I am sure most of you know or are guessing that I headed to Pittsburgh to watch some baseball. Interleague play allows the Jays to play in National league parks and I always like to head somewhere that I have not been before. The Jays' season has not been as great as any of us would like but I got some excellent news on the way from Dad as he informed me that the entire Jays' coaching staff had been fired (long over due I might add) and that Cito Gaston has been rehired as manager. For those of you that don't follow the Jays the way I do, Cito was the Jays' manager from 1989 to 1997 and of course was on the bench when the team won thier 2 World Series in 1992 and 1993. He has not managed since then but has been with the team as a special assistant to someone.
Cito before saturday's game
He certainly was a fan favourite at the games and I was very happy to have a chance to see him with the team. (Now if they GM would just fire himself I think we might have a chance........a very, very slim chance but hey a real fan never gives up).
Anyway, my arrival at my hotel in Pittsburgh was also delayed and re-routed due to a whole lot of road closures in the downtown area. Apparently there was a lot going on that weekend...of course the ball games and Gay Pride were bothg going one but it also happens to be Pittsburghs 250th birthday so there was lots of outdoor festival stuff going on (music, food and all that good stuff). I managed to get to my hotel in time to catch the last few innings of the friday night game between the Jays and Pirates on TV (I didn't get tickets that night because I knew I would not get there in time). It also happened to be fireworks night at the ballpark and my hotel had a great view of the ballpark so once the game was over I also got to take in a free fireworks display.
On Saturday the game did not start until 7pm so I had all day to check out the city. I had a few things that I wanted to checkout but no real plan of action, which actually is pretty rare for me. I usually have a pretty mapped out idea of where I will head (mainly because I have a terrible sense of direction and if I don' map it out, I will get lost....I can admitt it) but this time I kind of just wandered around. It is amazing what you can find when you are not really looking. It turned out there were a few things to find. The first this I noticed when I walked out of my hotel was how much less humid it was than in the DC area. That meant I would be able to tolerate the heat longer than usual (side bar: I will never complain that it is too hot in Alberta again!! 33 C (91 F) with no humidity is nothing compared to 33 C with 99% humidity. Trusy me most days it feels more like 45 C). The second thing was the great big history sign on a building. It turns out my hotel was right across the street from the Senator John Heinz History Center (in association with the Smithsonian Institute...imagine that) and the Western Pennsylvania Sport Museum. I decided I would check that out on sunday.
No way I could miss this sign.
What I did go looking for was some the art scattered through out the city. I did have a map that I was attempting to follow but it seems that even with a map I am always going to take at least one wrong turn and end up somewhere I am not planning on being (I probably should have brought a compass too) which is actually ok because it is amazing what you can find when you are not looking for it . Anyway I eventually found my way back to the road I wanted to be on (although the wrong road was not really a problem and lead me to Starbucks) and found what I was looking for.
Some of the scattered art. Above is James Simon's Musicians and below is a fountain and eyeball shaped benches designed by Louise Bourgeois.
This fountain is in the courtyard of the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail. The Bridge of Signs (below) which mimics the original in Venice Italy, was once used to transport prisioners from the courthouse to the jail.
As I said, my wrong turns also took me to some things I was not looking for. The first things I noticed was a set of tracks running up the hill on the other side of the river.
The random tracks.
Of course I was curious and had to make my way over to figure out what they were. It turns out it was the Monongahela Incline which travels about 10 kilometres an hour (about 6 miles per hour) and the ride is less than 5 minutes but it takes you to the top of the hill and a great view of the city.
Looking down the tracks from inside the incline car. Good thing it does not move very fast or else I may have had problems with this. I am not so good with heights.
Looking down the Monongahela River
In the past it would have been used by people living on top of the hill (now called Mt. Washington but it use to be known as Coal Hill), to get down to the bottom of the hill and into the city to work. Now it is mostly used my tourists. Certainly worth the couple bucks ride.
A random fountain that I found when I was lost.
Of course once my wandering and siteseeing was done an saturday it was off to PNC Park and the ball game.
Saturday night turned out to be Roberto Clemente night. The all time Gold Glove team as named and Roberto Clemente was named to it, so there was a big pre-game ceremony and every one who entered the park got a free commerative plate (so as usual I continued to get free stuff from ball games).
Roberto Clemente's family accepting his award. Clemente died at the age of 38 in a plane crash in 1972. He was on his way to Nicaragua to help with earthquake relief. Clemente was the first Latin-American player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and the only Hall of Famer for whom the mandetory 5 year waiting period was waived. He played eighteen seasons in the majors all in Pittsburgh. He won 12 Gold Glove awards as a player. (Gold gloves are awarded to the top defensive player at each fielding position as voted on by the coaches and managers). Others named to the All-time gold glove team include Willie Mays, Ozzie Smith and Ken Griffey Jr.
It was a very nice change at this game as I was not the only Blue Jays fan in the stands. In fact there were almost as many Blue Jays fans there as there were Pirates fans....we were very loud as well even though we lost that game. It was very interesting when the group of kids in the section next to me started yelling U-S-A everytime the Pirates scored. Apparently they missed the fact that the Jays have just as many Canadians on thier team as the Pirates do (Matt Stairs for the Jays and Jason Bay for the Pirates). The guy sitting next to me (hard core republican I might add...but I didn't hold it against him) was not impressed with the level of ignorance. On a completely different topic though, I learned from that gentlemans'cousin (who happens to be a stock brocker in Texas...yes also a republican) that Dallas Cowboy season tickets will cost you anywhere from $7,500 to $16,000 per ticket and that you can buy them on 50 year payment programs similar to a mortgage. Those Texans really love thier football!!!!
The view from my seats on Satuday night. It rained a little but I was covered so did not have to go scampering like the people sitting below me.
Cito Gaston and former Blue Jay Jesse Barfield, watching batting practice. Barfield is now a commentator for CBC.
Anyway, the Jays lost Saturday night and played a really terrible game so all us Jays fans did wander back to our hotels disappointed but I had plans for Sunday and another game so it was ok. Sunday morning I headed over the History Museum (no I am not going to type out the whole name again). I really liked the way it was set up. On one side was all the History starting way back with Lewis and Clarke and the original natives, through Black History and the Underground Railroad to present with a nice section on the entire history of the Heinz company. Yes the same Heinz company that makes all the ketchup. As you may have guessed from the name (Senator John Heinz) Heinz started from very humble beginnings in Pennsylvania.
The other half of the museum was the Sports museum which showed everything from the original Negro League baseball teams, the current Pirates, the Steelers (who could every forget the steelers) and the Penguins.
A uniform and glove from the Pittsburgh Grays who played in the old Negro League.
Uniforms from 2 Pirates who played in All-Star Games, Barry Bonds and Jason Bay.
They also focused a lot on high school sports (mostly football) and Olympic sports. It was done really well. There were a lot of people visiting that weekend as there had a few former athletes in signing autographs. I had no idea who any of them were (ok so Dad tells me Bill Mazeroski is in the hall of fame, but I couldn't tell in what sport) so I skipped the line-ups and just checked out the trophies.
These are the hats collected from the ice after a Pittsburgh Penguins hatrick. I find it funny because if you look at the top centre, you will see a Blue Jays hat.
Here I am with the Super Bowl trophies won by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Don't ask me when they won them and don't ask me who they played because I don't know (or care) but the trophies were neat to see.
From there is was back to PNC park for another ball game. There was some slight concern that it would rain but it did not. We had beautiful sunshine all day. The Jays pulled that one out. The many Jays fans went home happy (many of whom had trips back to Ontario that night). The drive back to Virgina was much quicker than the ride down and all and all it was a great trip.....and a great ball park that I can cross off my list.
The view from my seats on Sunday.
Cito watcing from the dugout. Still trying to get a feel for the team.
The PNC Park outfield. That is the Roberto Clemente Bridge in the background.
The perogie race between innings. Only in PA.
Me in my seat before the game.
Julie
