Joey's World Tour: Back To Camden Yards and PNC Park

Home is wherever I am on my baseball journey.

Hello, everyone.  This is Joey Beartran, fulfilling my duties as the Studious Metsimus roving reporter and culinary expert.  Back in 2010, I had two separate assignments to cover Mets road trips in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, as the Mets traveled to Charm City that June and the Steel City in August.  I enjoyed each ballpark so much that I asked my Studious Metsimus colleague if I could do it again this year.  It took a little begging and pleading (and me taking money out of his wallet when he wasn't looking so I could pay for my room and whatever food I ate), but I got the okay to go back to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and PNC Park.

Although the Mets were playing in Pittsburgh this past weekend, they were not in Baltimore prior to their series in Western Pennsylvania, so I attended a Mariners-Orioles game at Camden Yards instead.  Naturally, since I have no rooting interest in either game, I focused more on the tasty treats located everywhere on the field level concourses.

The matinee started 12 minutes late because of a light rain, then the play on the field stopped again for over two hours when a steadier rain fell in the third inning.  That was my moment to strike, looking for any new food choices that weren't in the park when I first attended a game there five years ago.  And boy, did I find a good one.

Located on the field level, near Section 68 on the third base side was a stand called "The Chipper".  Originally, I didn't want to go there because it reminded me a certain former Atlanta Braves player named Larry, but there was no one standing in line and I hadn't seen it before, so I gave it a shot.  Now if you're familiar with the state of Maryland, then you know that crab meat is very popular in the Mid-Atlantic state.  At "The Chipper", I was able to get kettle chips topped with crab meat, a creamy white cheddar cheese sauce, a plethora of chopped scallions and another Mid-Atlantic staple - Old Bay seasoning.

I mean, just look at this mouth-watering snack.  How can anyone not want to eat this when attending a game at Camden Yards?

These are the nom-tastic crab kettle chips, known as "The Chipper".  Even my sister Iggy was all smiles about them.

My order of crab kettle chips was so filling that it took me almost the entire duration of the two hour, five minute rain delay to finish them.  Or maybe it took me that long to eat them because I didn't know when (or if) the game was going to resume and I wanted to save as much money as I could from the amount I permanently borrowed from my colleague's wallet in case I needed to buy more edible provisions for, you know, quality assurance purposes.

At least the Mets were also playing a day game while I was in Baltimore, so I was able to keep up on Jacob deGrom's dominant performance in New York against the St. Louis Cardinals.  His eight-inning, one-hit effort in which he retired the final 23 batters he faced actually ended before the tarp on the field at Camden Yards was removed from the playing surface.

When the game in Baltimore eventually resumed, I decided to take a photo of Orioles right fielder Delmon Young, who just happened to be standing in front of the scoreboard at the exact moment the "NYM 5, STL 0" final score was flashing.  What an extraordinary coincidence that it flashed at the exact moment I took the photo.  And that Young wasn't centered in the shot.  And that the score was.

Always good to see an out-of-town scoreboard with a Mets victory on it.

The game eventually ended, nearly six hours after it was scheduled to start - the actual game time was three hours and 30 minutes, an alarming figure for a game that's supposedly been sped up this year - with the Orioles pulling out a 5-4 victory over the Mariners.  The fans of the home team who stayed during the seemingly interminable rain delay were rewarded with a win, which helped the team inch closer to the .500 mark in the mostly mediocre American League East.

Although the Orioles won the division title in 2014, it's been a rough road for Baltimore in 2015.  But at least if the O's don't make it back to the postseason this year, at least their fans can look back fondly on a time from 1966 to 1983 when Baltimore won six pennants and three World Series titles in an 18-season span.  One of those six American League pennants was won in 1969, which I am gladly pointing out in the photo below.  I wonder who won the World Series that year...

My hoodie should come with a spoiler alert if you don't know who the Orioles lost to in the 1969 World Series.

Speaking of fond memories, I have to recommend the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards, which is located in a building adjacent to the ballpark.  The museum has two floors.  The ground level floor features memorabilia from Baltimore native Babe Ruth, who supposedly had more power than Lucas Duda.  (I wasn't around when Babe Ruth was an active player, but I can't imagine anyone being stronger than Lucas Duda.)  It also has nine innings of Orioles history, which are nine individual wings dedicated to the 60-plus years of Baltimore baseball.

There are artifacts including newspapers announcing the arrival of the team in Baltimore in 1954 from St. Louis.  (They were the old St. Louis Browns, in case you didn't know.)  Also included is manager Earl Weaver's locker, the 1983 World Series trophy and a huge replica of a Sports Illustrated cover featuring Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson.

But wait, there's more!

You will also see sections devoted to each player, coach and manager inducted in the team's Hall of Fame, the first ball hit off the Camden Yards Warehouse (signed by former Mariners great and future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., who hit the ball during the 1993 Home Run Derby in Baltimore) and an entire section dedicated to Cal Ripken Jr., which is appropriately known as "Inning Eight" to commemorate the number worn by the Orioles legend.  Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about Cal but were afraid to ask is in this wing of the museum, but why should I take up so much space writing about it when I can just give you a sample of it?  Here are some photos of "Inning Eight", as well as photos from other sections of the ground level floor.

All photos above and below by Ed Leyro and Joey Beartran (Studious Metsimus)

Once I left the ground level floor, I proceeded down a flight of stairs to the much larger lower level.  Even the staircase is part of the museum experience, as important numbers in Baltimore sports history are painted on the walls, like ".316-49-122", which were the numbers posted by Frank Robinson in 1966 when he won the American League Triple Crown.

The subterranean level had exhibits on the Negro Leagues, focusing on the Baltimore Black Sox and the Baltimore Elite Giants.  There are also sections devoted to the Orioles' minor league affiliates, as well as other Maryland sports teams, including the Baltimore Blast soccer team, the University of Maryland Terrapins and the Baltimore Ravens.  Of course, my favorite section of the lower level was the locker room area, where they had uniforms and helmets that could be tried on by guests of the museum.  This section was also near an area where we could take photographs with the mascots of the Orioles and Ravens.

I was accompanied by my other sister, Honey Bee Hawk, who was with me on the trip not as a fellow Studious Metsimus correspondent, but as a fan, as she roots for Seattle sports teams and wanted to see the Mariners play the Orioles.  In the photo below, Bee tried on the Ravens helmet while I wore the Orioles batting helmet.  Needless to say, the heads of athletes are much bigger than ours.  The only heads those helmets would be too small on would be the mascots of the respective teams.

Is the Ravens mascot trying to swat Bee off the fence?  He should do that "nevermore".

Once we went back upstairs, we were greeted not with doors that said "exit", but with another wing - this one devoted to the Colts, who were Baltimore's original NFL team before they moved to Indianapolis in 1984.  In this area were old newspapers, a statue of Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas, old jerseys, coaches' scrapbooks, the Super Bowl trophy, and many other artifacts.  But you know me as a baseball fan, so I was more interested in the aforementioned baseball exhibits and spent most of my time in those areas of the museum.

I do have to say that the Sports Legends Museum blew the blue and orange socks off the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.  I got there near closing time so I couldn't enjoy it as much as I could have.  (There was even a Roberto Alomar section and an Orioles leader board that prominently featured former Mets infielder Melvin Mora on the home run, RBI and runs scored columns.  Steve Phillips was so stupid for trading him.  But I digress.)  Given more time, I could easily have spent over an hour in the museum, which is approximately 55 minutes more than I usually spend in the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.  The Wilpons are supposedly good at real estate.  It's time they give their team's tiny museum a little more of that real estate, don't you think?

From Baltimore, my designated driver and I made the four-hour trek to Pittsburgh to see Mets rookie sensation Noah Syndergaard take the hill against the Pirates at PNC Park.  Let's just say I'm glad I only stayed for that one game, as the Mets were swept in the three-game series, losing the three games by a combined score of 21-4.  At least the Mets weren't blown out of the game I attended.  They even brought up the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, as Lucas Duda (or was it Babe Ruth?) was one fly ball into the Allegheny River away from knotting the game.  Unfortunately, Duda did not produce a Ruthian/Dudian clout and the Mets did not emerge victorious.

But at least Iggy and I did get to chow down on a Primanti Brothers sandwich, which has cole slaw and french fries in the sandwich.  I also took some sweet photos of Syndergaard and some of his fellow starting pitchers prior to the game in the bullpen.  And you know what?  Noah really does look like Thor, especially when the sun shines through his golden locks.

Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey were just standing there, minding their own business, as Thor warmed up.

It wasn't all PNC Park when we went to Pittsburgh.  In fact, I made sure to tell my designated driver to take me to the site where the late Ralph Kiner used to hit many of his home runs.  Mr. Kiner used to display his prodigious power at Forbes Field, which was the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates two stadiums ago.  (They also called Three Rivers Stadium home for three decades.)

Although Forbes Field is no longer standing, having been razed in 1972 after a fire, part of the outfield wall still remains.  Located on what is now Roberto Clemente Drive on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, the Forbes Field wall is a must-see for any fan of baseball history.  The center field wall still has the flagpole in front of it that was part of the field when the stadium stood, as well as the 436-foot and 457-foot signs that are still visible on its bricks.  Ivy still hangs near the 436-foot marker, bringing back memories of an era where day baseball prevailed and no one argued over multi-million dollar contracts or which drug was the most effective and undetectable in one's system.

Across the street from the outfield wall is Wesley W. Posvar Hall, part of the University of Pittsburgh campus.  Although I didn't go inside the building, I should let you know that home plate from Forbes Field is located inside the edifice, embedded in glass.  From there you can see just how far Mr. Kiner and all other players had to hit a ball if they wanted to hit it over the center field and right-center field fences.

Another section of the Forbes Field wall was brought over to PNC Park.  Hanging just above the Riverwalk near the right field corner of the Pirates' current stadium is a statue honoring Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski.  If you recall, it was Mazeroski who hit the first World Series-ending home run, clubbing a shot over the left field wall against Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry in Game Seven of the 1960 Fall Classic.  Part of that wall, including the 406-foot marker, can now be found adjacent to that Mazeroski statue.  Below are photos of all the Forbes Field wall sections we visited in and around Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is a city full of bridges and sections of the Forbes Field outfield wall.

So there you have it, Mets fans.  That was my weekend getaway, where I returned to Baltimore and Pittsburgh in my never-ending baseball world tour.  I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip as much as I enjoyed making that trip.  And obviously, I strongly recommend taking a few days to see these two great baseball cities and visiting the two stadiums with all the baseball-related history in and around the ballparks.

Now if you'll excuse us, Iggy and I have to finish off this delicious Primanti Brothers sandwich.  We can't let our souvenir from Pittsburgh go to waste, can we?

A nom-tastic finish to a fantastic trip.

For more of Joey's World Tour, please click on the links below, where you will be entertained by Joey's wit, photos and love of ballpark cuisine:

World Tour Stop #1: Baltimore
World Tour Stop #2: Washington, DC
World Tour Stop #3: Pittsburgh
World Tour Stop #4: Texas
World Tour Stop #5: Los Angeles
World Tour Stop #6: San Diego
World Tour Stop #7: Toronto
World Tour Stop #8: Chicago
World Tour Stop #9: Milwaukee
World Tour Stop #10: Seattle
World Tour Stop #11: Cleveland
World Tour Stop #12: Brooklyn (Ebbets Field site) and Manhattan (Polo Grounds site)
 

Cutch and Go (Big Pelf)

Andrew McCutchen would've looked good in orange and blue, right?  It could've happened...

When the Mets lose in heartbreaking fashion, as they did Friday night in Pittsburgh, I tend to think of what might have been.  Did Daniel Murphy's caught stealing prevent the Mets from a potential big inning?  Could a Terry Collins ejection in the 10th provide the spark for an extra-inning rally?  Tonight I'm not thinking of those questions.  Instead, I'm going back a decade to see what might have been had the Mets not gotten swept by the Pirates in a doubleheader in late September.  Confused?  You won't be after reading this.

On September 19, 2004, the Mets and Pirates were both finishing out the season knowing that they were all going to playing golf in October rather than baseball.  New York and Pittsburgh were both near the bottom of their respective divisions entering the Sunday doubleheader at PNC Park.  Aaron Heilman and Ricky Bottalico combined to pitch a two-hitter against Pittsburgh in the first game.  The Mets lost, 1-0.  In the second game, New York's Kris Benson (the Bucs' first overall pick in 1996) got rocked for six runs against his former team.  The Mets lost both games to the Pirates, and ended the season with a 71-91 record.  Pittsburgh ended up with one more win than the Mets, finishing the year at 72-89 (they did not make up an earlier rainout).

The Mets earned the ninth overall draft pick by finishing 20 games under .500, while the Bucs got to select 11th in the 2005 June amateur draft.  New York drafted Mike Pelfrey.  Two picks later, Pittsburgh chose Andrew McCutchen.  Yeah.

So had the Mets split that late-season doubleheader with the Pirates in 2004, they would have finished the year with a 72-90 record, while the Bucs would have posted a 71-90 mark.  New York would have picked after Pittsburgh, rather than before them.

Would the Mets have drafted McCutchen had Pelfrey been taken off the board?  Would the Pirates have gone with Big Pelf had they been presented with that opportunity?  No one will ever know.  But it sure is interesting to consider how different these teams could have been had they flip-flopped their draft choices in 2005.  And that could have happened had the Mets played better in just one of two "meaningless" games against the Pirates at the tail end of the 2004 campaign.

We should all hope McCutchen doesn't continue to haunt the Mets the way he did Friday night at PNC Park.  And more importantly, we should all hope the Mets don't have any more heartbreaking losses that make me come up with crazy "what might have been" scenarios such as the one presented here.

Let's go Mets.  And go Big Pelf...

Wow, someone actually bought that shirt?

Joey's Soapbox: My 2013 Unbiased Wild Card Game Picks

Greetings and salutations, everyone!  I’m Joey Beartran and I’m ready to give you my unbiased picks for the upcoming wild card round of the baseball playoffs.  In the past, my picks have occasionally been biased because I would never pick the Yankees or the Phillies to advance to the next round.  But this October, the Yankees and Phillies are only fighting for who gets the first tee time on the golf course.

Do you know how long it’s been since the Yankees and Phillies both missed out on October baseball?  Well, this is only the second time since the Yankees started sending out invitations to their annual postseason party in 1995 that they forgot to invite themselves.  The only other time in that nearly two-decade period that they failed to make the playoffs was in 2008, when the Phillies won the World Series.  Now if you recall, because of the players’ strike, the World Series was canceled in 1994, but the year before the strike, the Phillies won the National League pennant.  They didn’t win the World Series in 1993 because Mitch Williams served up a fat pitch that made Joe Carter’s eyes get as big as Cole Hamels’ ego.

You have to go back to 1992 to find the last postseason that didn’t have the Yankees or Phillies in it to torment Mets fans, making them root for whoever was matched up against them.  And 1992 was also the last time the Pittsburgh Pirates received a playoff invite until this year.  Hmmm.  Maybe all we have to do is make sure the Pirates make it to the playoffs every year and then we won’t have to worry about seeing the only two teams whose players make Scott Atchison look like a young whippersnapper.

On that Geritol-sponsored note, let’s get to my picks for the National and American League wild card games, where we can talk some more about the Pittsburgh Pirates.


National League Wild Card Game


Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates

Last week at this time, this wild card game had a chance to be played at Great American Ballpark in the Queen City.  But then the Mets socked it to the Reds once again, just as they did in the 1973 NLCS and the 1999 wild card play-in game.  The Mets took two out of three from the Reds in Cincinnati, starting a season-ending five-game losing streak for Bronson Arroyo, Aroldis Chapman and the rest of the Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong crew.  That, combined with the Pirates’ three-game sweep of the Reds to close out the season, moved this do-or-die game to the Steel City.  Clearly, the hotter of the two teams is Pittsburgh.  However, as the old saying goes, you’re only as hot as that day’s starting pitcher, and Cincinnati’s starter is Johnny Cueto.

Because of injuries, Cueto only made 11 starts this year, but with a 5-2 mark and a 2.82 ERA, the Reds are confident he’s the man to lead them to the NLDS.  Pittsburgh, for all the success they’ve had this year, have rarely done well against Cueto over the years.  The Pirates have faced him 21 times and have only pinned four losses on him.  They’ve also had a difficult time scoring against the right-hander, as evidenced by Cueto’s 2.37 lifetime ERA against the Bucs.

Of course, Pittsburgh is sending their ace, Francisco Liriano (16-8, 3.02 ERA) to the mound, giving them their best chance to advance in the postseason for the first time since 1979.  But you don’t have to remind Liriano that three of his eight losses came at the hands of the Reds.  I’m sure he's already quite aware of that.

That being said, PNC Park will be rocking on Tuesday, hosting its first ever playoff game.  In a city known for the more successful Steelers and Penguins, the Pirates are finding their way back into the hearts of Pittsburgh sports fans.  And with two members of the Mets’ 2013 Opening Day roster now toiling for the Buccos (Marlon Byrd, John Buck), they have an extra rooter in myself.  The Pirates won’t let their success-starved fan base down.

Prediction:  Pittsburgh will advance to the NLDS.


American League Wild Card Game


Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Indians

Earlier today, I was listening to the radio and heard ESPN’s Mike Lupica mention that over the last six years, the Tampa Bay Rays have spent as much money on their entire roster as the Yankees spent on Alex Rodriguez.  Tampa has now made the playoffs four times in the last six years, while the Yankees have also made the playoffs four times in six years.   Clearly, the Rays are a team that knows how to get the most of their players.

Unlike Tampa, Cleveland was willing to spend money this past offseason, signing outfielders Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher to free agent contracts.  Both Bourn and Swisher had typical seasons (which for Swisher means 20 or more homers, lots of walks, even more strikeouts and the ire of opposing fans who pray on a nightly basis that he’s stricken with a severe case of laryngitis).  But one of the big finds for the Indians was former Mets’ first round draft pick, Scott Kazmir.  The Mets saw firsthand how dominant Kazmir can be when he had a 12-strikeout, no-walk performance against New York on September 6.  But Kazmir won’t be starting the wild card game for Cleveland.  Neither will ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who won 13 games for the Tribe.  Rather, it will be rookie non-sensation Danny Salazar.  Salazar will facing Alex Cobb, who was brilliant for the Rays in 2013, going 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA.

Basically, this matchup is the equivalent of Al Leiter facing Steve Parris in 1999 for the right to advance to the National League Division Series.  And we all know who get the better of who in that game.

It doesn’t matter that Tampa has to travel to Cleveland to play this game.  They traveled to Texas on Monday to play one game against a team they historically couldn’t beat after Game No. 162.  That history is now … uh … history.  Tampa has the right pitcher on the hill for this game while Cleveland does not.  Fans of “Bro-hio” will be singing “Bro-hi-NOOOOO!!” after this game is over.

Prediction:  Tampa Bay will advance to the ALDS. 

Win Some, Lose Some, Draw None

It has been well-documented that attendance at Citi Field suffered a significant drop-off from its inaugural season in 2009 to the just-completed 2010 season. Last year, a total of 3,168,571 tickets were sold to Mets home games. That number dropped to 2,559,738 in 2010.

The significant drop-off in home attendance can be attributed to numerous things, such as the luster of the new ballpark wearing off and the team's second consecutive losing season.

The new ballpark might have been enough to attract fans in 2009, but a good product on the field is what usually keeps fans in the seats. The Mets were not able to give the fans a good product on the field, so they didn't show up as often as they did in 2009, averaging only 32,401 fans per game in 2010.

Fair enough. The home fans had no desire to invest their time and money on a team that couldn't compete for a post-season spot. So how do you explain what happened to attendance figures once the Mets went on the road?

Believe it or not, out of the sixteen teams in the National League, the Mets finished dead last in road attendance. That's right, my friends. The Mets drew fewer fans on the road than the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'll give you a moment to take that in...

...moment's up. The Mets drew an average of 29,318 fans per road game, slightly lower than the Washington Nationals' average of 29,664. No team in the National League brought fewer people to the ballpark on the road than the New York Mets. (By contrast, the New York Yankees led the major leagues in road attendance with an average of 34,939 fans per game.)

So what could possibly be the reason for the lack of interest in Mets road games? There may be a few.

The Mets don't have the marquee name that fans in other cities want to see. The Nationals, despite their last-place finish in the NL East, had phenom Stephen Strasburg on the mound for 12 starts, five of which were on the road. The following numbers are the attendance figures for Strasburg's five road games, followed by the average home attendance figures per game at that particular venue:

• June 13 @Cle: 32,876 (17,385)
• June 28 @Atl: 42,889 (30,989)
• July 16 @Fla: 27,037 (18,825)
• July 21 @Cin: 37,868 (25,438)
• Aug. 21 @Phi: 45,266 (45,027)

The average attendance for those five Strasburg road games was 37,133, which was 7,469 more than for an average Washington Nationals road game. Other than the road game in Philadelphia, which normally sells out all home games regardless of the opponent, the other four teams saw significant increases in their attendance in games that were started by Stephen Strasburg.

Who do the Mets have that fans in other cities want to see? Johan Santana? David Wright? Jose Reyes? Although they're all good players, they no longer have the superstar label attached to them. Fans don't stop what they're doing to see Johan throw another change-up and they don't rush back from the concession stands whenever Wright or Reyes step up to the plate.

The Mets haven't had a must-see, get back in your seat-type player since the early days of Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. Until they bring up a can't miss phenom (something they don't currently have in their minor league system) or sign/trade for a potential Hall-of-Famer in the prime of his career, the Mets won't be appealing to fans on the road, especially if they continue to be a mediocre team. This brings me to the other reason.

The Mets are just not interesting enough for fans in other cities to come watch them play. Among the leaders in road attendance in 2010 were the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, Giants, Rockies and Braves, all of whom either made the post-season or contended for a playoff berth. Two non-contending teams (Dodgers and Cubs) finished in the top five in road attendance, but those teams have huge followings nationwide and will draw fans on the road regardless of their won-loss record.

Teams like the Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox can boast recent success and teams like the Cubs, Dodgers and Giants have the history that attracts fans to the gates. The Mets can't claim either recent success or the long-term history that the other teams can.

Let's say the Mets are playing at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. A Pirates fan doesn't have much to root for on his/her own team, so he/she might choose to attend a Bucs game depending on the opponent.


If you were a Pirates fan, who would you rather pay to see? The perennial contenders from St. Louis, featuring the most complete hitter in the game, Albert Pujols? The cross-state rivals from Philadelphia, who have All-Stars wherever you look? The westerners from San Francisco, who can give you a Cy Young-caliber performance from Tim Lincecum and others? Or the New York Mets?

More than likely, that fan would choose any of the other teams listed above before choosing to see the Mets, especially if he or she is there to see players not dressed in Pirates uniforms.

Mets fans in New York are not going to come out to Citi Field in droves until management can put a competitive team on the field that will be playing meaningful games well into September and perhaps October. Similarly, if the Mets don't give fans in other cities a good enough reason to come out to the ballpark other than the promise of mediocrity and good, but not great players, empty seats will continue to follow them wherever they go.

Looks like the only place the Mets are making themselves at home is at the bottom of the road attendance figures.

PNC Park: The House That Sid Bream Built

This past weekend, the Studious Metsimus / My Summer Family World Tour touched down in the Iron City, Pittsburgh, hoping to see the Mets win a series at a ballpark they've not had much success in (13-15 at PNC Park since it opened its mustard colored doors in 2001).

The trip there was long and filled with Cracker Barrel meals, but after what seemed like days, we finally made it to The House That Sid Bream Built.

Excuse me? The House That Sid Bream Built? In a city known for its steel workers and some football team that plays in Ketchup Field (which probably explains why the Pirates play in a mustard colored park), why would Sid Bream get the credit for building the stadium? Please allow us to elaborate for you.

Sidney Eugene Bream (no relation to Dwight Eugene Gooden and Darryl Eugene Strawberry) was sent to the Pirates by the Dodgers in 1985 to complete a deal in which four-time National League batting champion Bill Madlock was shipped off to Los Angeles. Bream was stuck playing first base, a position that was on lockdown due to the emergence of legendary Dodger first baseman Greg Brock, who hit all of .233 in his five Bream-repelling seasons in the City of Angels.

Once he arrived in Pittsburgh, he was part of a team that rose from the catacombs of the NL East (57-94 in 1985) to the division champions they became in 1990 (95-67). He formed a nucleus that included some of the most well-known Pirates in franchise history, like Jose Lind, Sammy Khalifa and Orlando Merced.

With Sid Bream anchoring the infield, the Pirates looked like a dynasty in the making. The supporting cast of Barry Bonds* and Bobby Bonilla served as fine complementary pieces to the team, but the glue that kept it together was Sid Bream.

However, after five and a half years in Pittsburgh, Sid Bream was due to become a free agent, and the $510,000 he was being paid by the Pirates just wasn't enough to keep the glue sticking to the team. With the Pirates deciding that the future at first base was the hitting machine known as Orlando Merced, Bream was deemed expendable.

Although the Atlanta Braves were a horrible team in 1990, Bream decided to go where the money was, and Atlanta had the green for him. Bream signed a three-year deal to play first base for the Braves and was paid far more money than he would have gotten to stay in Pittsburgh ($5.6 million over the three years).

The move appeared to benefit both Bream's former team and his new team. Orlando Merced hit .275, with 10 HR and 50 RBI in his first full season as a Pirate, finishing second in the NL Rookie of The Year balloting, robbed of his glory by some guy named Jeff Bagwell. Bream was the starting first baseman on the worst-to-first Braves and was part of a team that helped defeat the Pirates in the 1991 NLCS.

The defining moment of Bream's career came in the 1992 NLCS, also against the Pirates. After his Braves held a commanding 3-1 series lead in the NLCS, the Bucs stormed back, blowing out Atlanta in Games 5 and 6. Their convincing victories (7-1 in Game 5 and 13-4 in Game 6) gave Pittsburgh hope that they would finally make it to the World Series for the first time since 1979, after falling just short in 1990 and 1991. Everything looked set for the Pirates' first pennant in thirteen years when they took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 7. Then poop happened, and Sid Bream was one of the fecal, I mean, focal points of the rally.

Starting pitcher Doug Drabek had been in complete command over the first eight innings of Game 7 and manager Jim Leyland decided to keep him in the game for the ninth inning. The former Cy Young Award winner was still the ace of the staff, leading the Pirates with 15 wins and a 2.77 ERA during the 1992 season.

However, Drabek had not been particularly effective against lefties in 1992 (.261 batting average for lefties against Drabek in '92, as opposed to a .189 batting average for righties) and the Braves had two of the best left-handed hitters in the game leading off the ninth inning in Terry Pendleton and David Justice.

Pendleton led off the inning with a double, bringing up the power-hitting David Justice, who represented the tying run. Drabek got Justice to hit a ground ball to the normally sure-handed Jose Lind at second base. However, there was nothing normal about what happened next.

Feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders (or maybe it was his batting helmet), Lind booted the routine grounder, allowing Justice to reach base. After a walk to our hero (Mr. Bream) loaded the bases, the night was over for Drabek. Although the Pirates were still up 2-0, the lead was precarious at best, with the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on first base in the form of Sid Bream, who reportedly once beat former track star Bill Buckner in a race.

Stan Belinda was called upon to put out the fire started by Drabek and Lind. His first batter, Ron Gant, hit a sacrifice fly to plate the first run and cut the Pirates' lead in half. A walk to Damon Berryhill reloaded the bases for Brian Hunter, but Belinda got Hunter to pop up to the shortstop, Jay Bell, for the second out of the inning.

The Braves were down to their last out and the Pirates had visions of champagne dancing in their heads, especially when the Braves were forced to call upon seldom-used Francisco Cabrera to pinch-hit in the most crucial at-bat of the series.

Cabrera lined a base hit to left that fell in front of Barry Bonds*. The tying run had scored. Chugging around third was Sidney Eugene Bream, hoping to score around Popeye's #1 fan (the restaurant, not the cartoon), Mike LaValliere. Bonds*' throw was slightly up the first base line. Bream slid at the same time that LaValliere threw his ample body at the plate in an attempt to block it. In a bang-bang play, Bream scored the winning run, sending the Braves back to the World Series and the Pirates back to the steel mills.

So let's get back to the title of this blog, in the event that you're still awake. Why do we call PNC Park "The House That Sid Bream Built"?

Well, when the Mets defeated the Pirates on Friday night, it gave the Pirates their 82nd loss of the season. This clinched their record-setting 18th consecutive losing season. Doing the math, that means their last winning season was in that fateful 1992 season.

After the Pirates dismantled their team following their devastating loss to the Braves in the 1992 NLCS, their attendance at Three Rivers Stadium plummeted. After finishing 7th in attendance in 1992, the Pirates never finished higher than 12th in the years following '92. The team knew they had to do something to bring the fans back into the ballpark, since the product on the field wasn't doing the job.

Thus the idea of PNC Park was born. Once Sid Bream crossed the plate in 1992, he set in motion the events that would lead to the beautiful park on the banks of the Allegheny River. Had Sid Bream been thrown out at the plate in Game 7, perhaps the Pirates would have won the game in extra innings. Perhaps Barry Bonds* wouldn't have bolted for San Francisco, home of BALCO. Perhaps the fans would have continued to come to Three Rivers Stadium.

But Sid Bream scored that run. The Pirates didn't win the pennant. Barry Bonds* didn't stay in Steel Country and the fans didn't come out to the ballpark.

Without that run, perhaps PNC Park would not have been needed to bring the fans back to the ballpark. Sid Bream built that house with his mad dash for home plate, the same house that the Studious Metsimus / My Summer Family tour invaded this past weekend (see, it all comes full circle).

Although we didn't see any Sid Bream statues, we did see statues of Roberto Clemente and legendary Negro League players such as Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.




We also saw a food court named after Pirate Hall-of-Famer Willie Stargell with Pops-themed eateries. (There was no "We Are Family" cookie stand there, because as we all know, the cookie stand is not part of the food court.)



The Mets and Pirates were dressed in throwback uniforms in honor of African-American Night. The Mets wore New York Cubans jerseys while the Pirates wore the uniforms of the old Pittsburgh Crawfords. Starting pitchers Jonathon Niese and James McDonald were kind enough to model the throwback jerseys for us when we watched them warm up in the bullpen prior to the game.



The game itself was a washout, and I mean that quite literally. The Mets had a slim 2-1 lead before David Wright hit a three-run homer to make it 5-1. During Wright's home run trot, the light drizzle that was falling throughout the game became heavier.

When the umpires realized that they had left their swim trunks and scuba gear in the hotel room, they decided to stop the game and put the tarp on the field.


After a one hour and six minute delay, Mr. Public Address Announcer told us that the game had been cancelled and that the Mets had come away with a rain-shortened victory. It was the first time the Mets had won a series on the road in a National League ballpark this season.

Unfortunately, the Mets were unable to sweep the Pirates, as Lastings Milledge and super-slugger Jose Tabata homered off Johan Santana in Sunday's series finale. At the same time, the Mets offense paid tribute to the late Three Rivers Stadium by imploding.


Lefty starter Zach Duke stifled the Mets' batters, allowing one run and five hits over his seven innings of work. That dang Duke boy had entered the game with a lowly 5-12 record and an ERA well over 5.00. But just like the Mets who played against those Sid Bream-led Pirates teams in the late '80s and early '90s, the Mets couldn't hit a Pirates lefty who had no success against any other teams in the National League.

Back then, it was the team of John Smiley, Zane Smith and Randy Tomlin who shut down the Mets and no one else. Now, it was the disciple of PSSST (Pitching School of Smiley, Smith and Tomlin) who handled the Mets.



The House That Sid Bream Built was a beautiful ballpark to visit, even if it was only for five innings. Pittsburgh embraces their history well, both Pirates history and Pittsburgh Crawfords history. The Wilpons should pay attention to that, noting that the city of Pittsburgh can be proud of their Pittsburgh Crawfords history without neglecting that the Pirates have history as well.

Pirates fans were far more polite than their counterparts across the state in Philadelphia. They did not insult fans and even suggested places to visit in the ballpark and around their city. They might not have a good team right now, but they're proud of their ballpark and their city and it showed in how they treated the "enemy" from New York.

Someday we'll go back to The House That Sid Bream built, but we will definitely do it by plane, even if it means sacrificing a trip or three to Cracker Barrel. Driving to Pittsburgh was a major chore, with traffic, poor weather, traffic, lack of scenery and traffic being the reasons why it almost became a good idea to hand over the car keys to Studious Metsimus blogger Joey Beartran.

That's it for our road trips this year. Next year, we'll go to new ballparks, eat new food and hopefully come back with more Mets victories, especially ones that take more than five innings to complete.

Thanks for reading about the latest Studious Metsimus / My Summer Family tour stop. We hope you enjoyed our wordy beyond belief blog. Although our road trips have come to an end for 2010, the Mets will play on for the next six weeks. Perhaps with one last run, similar to the one that ya gotta believe happened in 1973, we'll have a road trip in late October / early November. So let's keep on cheering for our boys in orange and blue. Ya (still) gotta believe! Let's Go Mets!