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 statue was originally located in Schenley Park, just beyond the left-field fence of Forbes Field. Thousands of souvenirs had already made their way into the hands of fans. Numerous seats were auctioned off, including 3,727 of the blue field level seatssnapped up by the minor-league Long Island Ducks. Three Rivers Stadium also hosted the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team for a single season each.[7][8]. Touch for map. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. After its closing, Three Rivers Stadium was imploded in 2001, and the Pirates and Steelers each moved into newly built stadiums. Three Rivers Stadium * and N.N.L. 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. 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. Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1970 to 2000. The 1970s: A crowning decade . 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. When the United States Football League placed a franchise at Three Rivers Stadium in 1984, a name-the-team contest was won by a local man who came up with Maulers. His prize was a lifetime pass to the teams home games; the Maulers lasted only one year. Three Rivers Stadium hosted the first MLB postseason game ever played on artificial turf (1970), the first World Series night game (1971), and the first League Championship Series night contest (1972). 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. While the Pirates and the public powers couldnt tear down Three Rivers and copy Oriole Park at Camden Yards upon its footprintnot yet, anywaythey did try to give the stadium a more colorful and cozier vibe. The formal closing ceremony centers on home plate. (Historic Pittsburgh), On July 16, 1970, they finally played ball at Three Rivers Stadium. The first game at Three Rivers Stadium was also the first for organist Vince Lascheid, beginning a tenure with the Pirates that would last through 2008eight years into the PNC Park era. "No matter what happens, when they tear Three Rivers down, a monument ought to be built there. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh is demolished by implosion, Feb. 11, 2001. Worse, there was wrangling between the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, the latter beginning to balk on its financial contribution toward the stadium unless the Pirates and Steelers pitched in more. Dave Parker had batteries thrown at him in the field; his Pirates teammate of five years, outfielder Lee Lacy, had bottles tossed toward him. Rivers Stadium Club Features Enjoy Chicago Dogs baseball from the comforts of the Rivers Stadium Club. It took just 19 seconds for a colossal Pittsburgh sports landmark to collapse. Nothing happens in Pittsburgh without fireworks. Photographed By Harry S. Coughanour, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, circa 1970. 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. Three Rivers Stadium (sometimes referred to simply as 3RS or "TRS") was a multipurpose sports stadium and event facility located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Fans missed Forbes Field more as each year passed. Opened on July 16, 1970. They were located behind home plate. The concourse areas were dark and dingy. Stargell would share one last honor at years endbeing given Sports Illustrateds prestigious Sportsman of the Year award along with Steelers quarterback Terry BradshawTwo champs from the City of Champions, the magazine boasted. [72] In the 1995 AFC Championship game, the Steelers' Randy Fuller deflected a Hail Mary pass intended for Indianapolis Colts receiver Aaron Bailey as time expired, to send the franchise to their fifth Super Bowl. Since completion, PNC Park has been hailed as one of the best ballparks in the country. Site of Three Rivers Stadium in background. After the initial 10-year contract expired, Heinz Field contracted with Pepsi for exclusive pouring rights, breaking a 50-year tradition with the Steelers. In southwestern Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, the county seat of Allegheny County, lies partly in a hilly region known as the Golden Triangle, the location of the city's business district. [34] Throughout their 31seasons in Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers posted a record of 18272, including a 13-5 playoff record, and defeated every visiting franchise at least once from the stadium's opening to close, enjoying perfect records there against seven teams. Three Rivers Stadium, home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers from 1970 to 2000. Once the dust cloud dissipated, the crumbled remains become visible. [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]. 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. [57], On September 30, 2012, members of the Society for American Baseball Research marked and painted the home plate and first base of the former stadium on the 40th Anniversary of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit.[58]. [26][27] The team donned new uniform designs for the first time that day, a similar plan was for new "mini-skirts" for female ushers. The Steelers warmed up from scratch in their first two years at Three Rivers, with a young, taciturn head coach (Chuck Noll) who made bland wallpaper exciting, and a hotshot Louisiana-born quarterback (Terry Bradshaw) learning the ropes at the pro level. Following the season on New Years Eve, Clemente boarded a DC-7 in his native Puerto Rico on its way to Nicaragua to provide aid for victims of a recent earthquake; the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean moments after takeoff, killing Clemente and four others onboard. The first three years of the Pirates final decade at Three Rivers Stadium witnessed the fruits of their labor, winning the NL East each season from 1990-92. Three Rivers Stadium stood alone, literally, as another cookie cutter, or concrete donut, or bowl. Home, the place of origin or a destination point, is where the heart is. 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. Downtown Pittsburgh peaks over the top of the other side. The charges detonated in rapid sequence, and the walls tumbled. Three Rivers Stadium was the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. Three Rivers Stadium: 1970-2000 Requiem for a ballpark. (May or June, 1986) 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. No team ever scored 20 or more runs in a game at Three Rivers Stadium. 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. [11] It originally seated 50,611 for baseball,[11] but several expansions over the years brought it to 58,729. The expansive parking lot, both Pirates and Steelers team offices, the Allegheny Club (VIP Club) and the press boxes and facilities were not opened until weeks later due to extended labor union work stoppages. On October 1, 2000, the Pirates played their final game at Three Rivers. Arch. 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. After its closing, Three Rivers Stadium was imploded in 2001, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers moved into newly built dedicated stadiums: PNC Park and Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium), respectively. [22] The stadium was named in February 1969 for its location at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River, which forms the Ohio River. Photographed By Unknown, September 30, 1972. This eventually culminated in the Regional Renaissance Initiative, an 11-county 1997 voter referendum to raise the sales tax in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County and ten adjacent counties 0.5% for seven years to fund separate new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers, as well as an expansion of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and various other local development projects. It was a cold Sunday, Feb.. Three months later, on New Year's Eve, this true hero died in a tragic plane crash en route to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Realtime driving directions to Three Rivers Stadium Home Plate Location, Pittsburgh, based on live traffic updates and road conditions - from Waze fellow drivers. Perhaps the Pirates biggest fan at Three Rivers Stadium was Steelers owner Art Rooney, who worked by day for his football team and, every night, moved up to one of the box suites to watch the Pirates. Flickr photos, groups, and tags related to the "threeriversstadium" Flickr tag. So the idea was to open it up and see the city.. The stadium was . Pirates organist Vince Lascheid at Three Rivers Stadium on July 5, 1999. . Losing the view of downtown was a bitter bill for Ritchey to swallow; he would ultimately call Three Rivers Stadium his biggest disappointment as an architect. The longest unofficial home run in Three Rivers Stadium was a 519-foot drive unleashed well into the upper deck by the Chicago White Sox Frank Thomas during the 1994 Home Run Derby. 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. Numerous strikes in a city heavily represented by unions pushed back the scheduled first game from Opening Day 1970 to midseason; Every day they delay making the move is taking money out of my pocket, complained Pirates star slugger Willie Stargell, who had enough of Forbes Field and its endless outfield dimensions. Wehner went into detail as to just how he got that baseball back. There was some old-timey substance to the proceedings, as 71-year-old Pirates legend Pie Traynor threw out the ceremonial first pitch; Hollywood crooner and long-time Bucs fan/part-owner Bing Crosby was among the notables in the VIP section. You could even throw in the University of Pittsburgh football team, which abandoned their own stadium on campus and borrowed Three Rivers for big games, most notably in a 1976 championship campaign featuring Heisman Trophy running back Tony Dorsett. 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 following year, the stadium was the site of the Immaculate Reception. With that said it is a wild river and when roaring . 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). 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 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. Courtesy of Pittsburgh Steelers Collection. Due to lack of support, however, the arguments faded. Jack Tatum hit the intended receiver, 'Frenchy' Fuqua, and knocked the ball back to Harris, who caught it and ran into the end zone. The team proudly released a chart of the loudest decibel level counts during each of Parkers at-bats in his first game back at Three Rivers as a member of the Reds. For the Pirates, time seemed to stand still on any progress toward an actual stadium. The Pirates werent complaining either; they all but bookended the decade hoisting a pair of World Series trophies, while winning four other National League East Division titles. Except, according to the Post-Gazettes Robert Dvorchak, for a gas station which closed in 1980, unable to make a profit. The Parrot was an instant hit and remains a popular asset to this day at PNC Park. She sued the Pirates and their subsidiary that managed the stadium, arguing that the Baseball Rule, which usually prevents spectators at baseball games from holding teams liable for foul ball injuries, did not apply because she was away from the seating areas and not watching what was going on on the field. Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1970 to 2000.It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL).. Three Rivers Stadium. It was very nice. But postwar America had moved on from baseballs Gilded Age; decaying relics of yesteryear had no place in a society focused on suburbia, interstates and 707s. The stadium's name was derived from the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, where they formed the Ohio River, the "Golden Triangle". [64] The Pirates' lowest season of attendance was 1985, at an average of 9,085. 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. Advertisement. Spectators are easily distracted by mesmerizing views of downtown Pittsburgh, the Allegheny River and the Sixth Street Bridge, now named after Pirates legend Roberto Clemente. Wagner, Kiner and Clemente could all agree that excitement was never in short supply at the Old Lady of Schenley Park. But topping all of the above has to be, by all accounts, the most bizarre incident in the history of Three Rivers Stadium. [13] Plans of the "Stadium over the Monongahela" were eventually not pursued. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 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. The implosion of Three Rivers Stadium with the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River. And while the Bridge to Nowhere did get complete and got somewhere, some of the other promised access roads around the stadium never materialized. Stadium Concert. The stadium, set for use in late spring 1970, is the future home of the Pirates . [69] Three Rivers Stadium hosted seven AFC Championship Games from 1972 to 1997;[34][71] the Steelers won four. The Steelers won 17 Monday Night Football games at Three Rivers Stadium. 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. [65] Game one of the 1970 NLCS, at Three Rivers Stadium, was the first postseason baseball game to be played on an artificial surface. 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. As groundbreaking on the stadium finally took place in 1968, the Bridge to Nowhere finally got somewhereand it wouldnt be just to ferry traffic to Three Rivers. 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. Three Rivers Stadium implosion as seen from Point State Park. He hit three of them before anyone else did it even once. The stadiums only physical feature that remains where it once stood is an obelisk-style beacon for Gate D, which could be found in a grassy area outside the south end zone of Acrisure Stadium. Dock Ellis and Manny Sanguillen, the battery for the first game back in 1970, threw and caught the ceremonial first pitch. Twenty thousand people viewed the implosion from Point State Park on the morning of Feb. 11, 2001, with thousands more watching from Mount Washington. It is in North Shore. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). The Steelers would move to Heinz Field after it was closed.[73]. Tuesday 00:00 . Workmen ease into position the last upper deck beam topping off Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Dec. 10, 1969. PNC Park is a baseball park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Architect Dahlen Ritcheys early, dreamy rendition of Three Rivers Stadium consisted most notably of an open view of the Allegheny River and downtown Pittsburgh beyond. At the time, the stadium still had a debt of just less than . Returning the following year as a member of the Reds, the Pirates wasted no time abetting the acrimony from his former fans. While the Pirates represented baseball tradition, the Steelers represented PittsburghTough, hard-nosed, grim-featured, not so fancy, wrote The Sporting News Furman Bisher. Contact us at This Great Game. Ground was broken in April 1968 and an oft behind-schedule construction plan lasted for 29months. Three Rivers Stadium, the Pirates' and Steelers ' home at the time, had been designed for functionality rather than "architecture and aesthetics". In 2011, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the Three Rivers Stadium website was still active, 11 years after the facility's demolition. 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). Adjacent Acrisure Stadium, clad with 68,000 yellow seats, retains the rabid enthusiasm of Steelers fans. [67] On September 30, 1972, Pirates' right-fielder Roberto Clemente got his 3,000th hit at Three Rivers Stadium, three months before his death. 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. Jun 06, 1999 -. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who had moved from Forbes Field to Pitt Stadium in 1964, were large supporters of the project. Delays and some disputation peppered the building phase of Three Rivers Stadium. No perfect game was ever thrown at Three Rivers, but in 1981 the Pirates Jim Bibby retired 27 Atlanta batters in a row after allowing a leadoff single in the first inning. King and Charles Mingus. The championship chic of Three Rivers Stadiums first decade would hit a celebrated crescendo in 1979. As for the game itself, the Cincinnati Redswho just 17 days earlier debuted in Riverfront Stadium, the appearance and name of which would confuse many with Three Riversedged out the Bucs, 3-2. [14] Pittsburgh hosted its third All-Star Game in 1974. 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. It was named in February 1969 for its location at the confluence of the Allegheny and . (Historic Pittsburgh). Built as a replacement to Forbes Field, which opened in 1909, the US$55 million multi-purpose facility was designed . The Honus Wagner statue, which used to stand outside of Forbes Field, stood outside of Three Rivers Stadium. 7/30/1972. Deciding the where was the easy part; little debate was spent on the choice to place a new stadium across from downtown on the north side of the Allegheny, an ugly hodgepodge of industrial blight strewn with abandoned warehouses and neglected trainyards. Oh, and yeslocal football team wants to join along. The Ballparks: Forbes Field 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. They slapped tarps in the upper reaches of the top deck to reduce capacity by 10,000; placed ads on the outfield walls; opened a caf behind the left-field fence, which had slats cut out so patrons could view the game; replaced the original red-and-gold seats with new ones painted in blue; and opened a full-scale restaurant, featuring two bars serving microbrews, near the southeast entrance with glass windows looking out towards downtown Pittsburgh. Ritchey was vetoed on the twin-stadium concept but, for the moment, was able to retain his open-air design for the multi-purpose concept. They played there in the following games: Three Rivers Stadium opened on July 16, 1970, but the Pirates lost 32 to the Cincinnati Reds in front of 48,846spectators.