Franco Harris rushed for 27 100-yard games at Three Rivers Stadium. (May or June, 1986) Crowds of spectators gathered to witness the end of an era. Willie Stargell is the all-time leader in upper deck shots at the stadium, hitting four of the remaining five right-field blasts; Mark Whiten hit the other. Free shipping for many products! Opened on July 16, 1970. A jury awarded Jones $125,000, but it was reversed on appeal. 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. Attendance, abetted by a full-blown depression in Pittsburgh with 23% unemployment at one point, dipped well below a million; in 1983, the Pirates drew their smallest-ever crowd at Three Rivers when a gathering of 1,970 showed up. 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. = Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time 1 = A team used the stadium when their permanent stadium was unable to be used as a result of damage. Brett's All-Star win a big thrill", "Fun Facts About Pittsburgh's Ball Parks", "The house that the 'Immaculate Reception' built", "Steelers' former radio announcer Myron Cope dies at 79", Thirty Years of Stadium Rock Pittsburgh Music History, Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories, Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series home run, District of Columbia Stadium/RFK Memorial Stadium, Frankford High School's Community Memorial Stadium, Municipal Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Three_Rivers_Stadium&oldid=1142567592, Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States, Defunct American football venues in the United States, Defunct baseball venues in the United States, Defunct multi-purpose stadiums in the United States, Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, July 30, 1972: Three Dog Night (2nd tour), July 13, 1973: Pittsburgh Jazz Festival (featuring, July 14, 1973: Pittsburgh Jazz Festival (featuring, July 19, 1975: World Series of Rock (featuring, June 15, 1988: Monsters of Rock Tour featuring. [17] As well, its location made it hard to reach from much of the city, with traffic congestion before and after games. 40 26.717 N, 80 0.833 W. Marker is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County. Three Rivers Stadium (sometimes referred to simply as 3RS or "TRS") was a multipurpose sports stadium and event facility located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Three Rivers Stadium Plaque. Pittsburgh Jazz Festival Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles B.B. Ground was broken in April 1968 and an oft behind-schedule construction plan lasted for 29months. Dock Ellis and Manny Sanguillen, the battery for the first game back in 1970, threw and caught the ceremonial first pitch. As bad as sports fans were at Three Rivers, those attending concerts were even worse. [70] The largest attendance for a football game was on January 15, 1995, when 61,545 spectators witnessed the Steelers lose to the San Diego Chargers. Dave Parker had batteries thrown at him in the field; his Pirates teammate of five years, outfielder Lee Lacy, had bottles tossed toward him. Costing $1.5 million, the board would be replaced after just 13 years by a Jumbotron placed higher up in the top deck. The Pittsburgh Steelers played their first game in Three Rivers Stadium on September 20, 1970a 19-7 loss to the Houston Oilers. 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. Roberto Clemente tallied his 3,000th hit within its walls on Sept. 30, 1972. A look at Three Rivers Stadium from the top of the upper-deck bleacher seats. Homestead Grays (1939-1948) Vital statistics: Lifetime Capacity Outfield dimensions (feet) Behind home plate Fence height The Clem Criteria: Built Demo-lished LF LC CF RC RF Field asymm. It took just 19 seconds for a colossal Pittsburgh sports landmark to collapse. After reaching such heavenly highs in Three Rivers Stadiums first decade, the Pirates almost had nowhere to go but down in the 1980s. 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. The force of the collision ricocheted the ball back 10 yardswhere it was plucked inches off the ground by breakout rookie running back Franco Harris, who lumbered the final 45 yards down the sideline, barely evading numerous Raiders players and into the end zone with the winning touchdown. Photographed By Unknown, September 30, 1972. Asset Location: 7500 Thomas Blvd Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208-2577 . [45] The venue also served as the premiere of the 1994 Disney film Angels in the Outfield which, despite being based around the California Angels, paid homage to the original 1951 film, which featured the Pirates in "heavenly" need.[46]. 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. The final Pittsburgh Steelers home game was played on December 16th, 2000 vs. the Washington Redskins. [36] The bullpens were moved to multiple locations throughout the stadium's history; however, their first position was also their final onebeyond the right-field fence. [14], Bobby Bonilla hit one of the only 13 home runs ever hit into the upper deck of Three Rivers Stadium, and one of the six to the right-field side. Throughout their 31 seasons in Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers posted a record of 182-72, including a 13-5 playoff record. PNC Park grandly looks out toward downtown Pittsburgh and is constantly acknowledged as one of baseballs best ballparks. 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. [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. The charges detonated in rapid sequence, and the walls tumbled. Stadium officials notated the spot where they landed by later painting numbers on it. Advertisement. [6] The stadium opened on July 16, 1970, when the Pirates played their first game there. [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. At the first game, the water fountains didnt work, access roads and parking lots hadnt been fully completed, and only 13 of 35 concession stands inside the stadium were operational. 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. Try restaurant style recipes at home. The rubble of Three Rivers Stadium towers over passersby Sunday, Feb. 11, 2001 on the North Side. And while the Bridge to Nowhere did get complete and got somewhere, some of the other promised access roads around the stadium never materialized. 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. [40], Due to Three Rivers Stadium's multi-purpose design, bands including Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and The Who hosted concerts at the venue. The former home of the Pirates . 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. When they were told no, they put up their hands and signaled touchdown. They could even look to the outside and see downtown, the three rivers and the hills beyond. 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. The prescript to Three Rivers Stadium is a familiar one: Aging ballpark, long ago gorgeous and glittering, is beginning to age beyond repair. 49 were here. Three Rivers Stadium stood alone, literally, as another cookie cutter, or concrete donut, or bowl. 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. The Ballparks: PNC Park If the Pittsburgh Pirates sense that theyre being ignored by their faithful at PNC Park, they shouldnt take it personally; after all, the teams only competition isnt sitting in the visitors dugout. Yet in the 1970s, Three Rivers Stadium was a super bowl, literally so for the Steelerswho went on to conquer four National Football League titles in their first 10 years playing at the stadium. Overall, eight other home runs would reach the upper deck in the 30-year history of Three Rivers; the only player, besides Stargell, to reach it multiple times would be Jeff Bagwell, who never played for the Pirates and needed only 57 games as a member of the visiting Houston Astros to do it twice. 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). 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. [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. [38][39] The field originally used "Gamesaver vacuum vehicles" to dry the surface, though they were later replaced by an underground drainage system. This includes 4,000 premium seats that can be found in the Truist Club, Delta Sky360 Club and Terrace Club. 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. It was just going to be packed on the North Side., But nothing came of it. Wagner, Kiner and Clemente could all agree that excitement was never in short supply at the Old Lady of Schenley Park. The North Side, that industrial wasteland, was making a serious bid to become the place to see and be seen in Pittsburgh. Many of the sports fans who gathered along the Allegheny River that morning in 2001 had witnessed greatness in the stadium, and they now came to say farewell. They were located behind home plate. The reverse could be said for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers during the first of three decades they called Three Rivers Stadium home: Seemingly, everything the gold (and black) touched turned them into kings. Pittsburgh mayor David L. Lawrence first brought up the idea of a civic-owned sports building in 1947, but it would take eight years for joint city-county agencies to seriously begin pondering where, when and how. Three Rivers Stadium lives on in many different ways. July 16, 2020 8:00 am ET. Three Dog Night. Even if they end up building a hockey rink there, they should put some kind of a monument to that area where the Immaculate Reception took place. 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. Jun 06, 1999 -. This was a premier spot for other big name concerts as well. 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. Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1970 to 2000. 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. It was also the first playoff victory in franchise history. [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. It was a winneruntil the construction bids all came in at $10 million above the projected $26 million cost. 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. Thousands of souvenirs had already made their way into the hands of fans. Will the last baseball fan to leave Three Rivers Stadium please turn out the lights? 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". [33][62] The first pitch was thrown by Dock Ellisa striketo Ty Cline. 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. After sharing this park with the football Steelers for 30 years, the Pirates got their own new park in 2001. PNC Park is a baseball park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Madrid no se detiene en una maana plena de normalidad, aunque con menos gente en las calles y ms policas que cortan por momentos algunas calles . 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. It had office buildings. It was a cold Sunday, Feb.. [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). Driving directions. The Sporting News Leonard Koppett admitted that Three Rivers and its modern ilk were admirably practical buildings, containing creature comforts and working facilities undreamed of in the old days, but he well understood their flaws. [15] A site on the city's Northside was approved on August 10, 1958, due to land availability and parking space,[15] the latter of which had been a problem at Forbes Field.