Saturday afternoon baseball

It was another beautiful early fall day in southwestern Pennsylvania. I took advantage of it by attending a Saturday afternoon game at PNC Park – “The Most Beautiful Ballpark in America.”

Saturday afternoon games used to be a staple of the Pirates schedule, but not in recent years. The new management team decided to include two on the schedule this year, and I attended both of them.

Beyond the rightfield stands at PNC Park is an area known as the Riverwalk. From there you can watch the Allegheny River traffic and get a nice view of the Pittsburgh skyline. The bridge is the Roberto Clemente Bridge, named in honor of the late Pirates Hall of Famer.

A portion of the wall from Forbes Field, the Pirates' home from 1909 to 1970, was reconstructed in the Riverwalk area. Bill Mazeroski's game-winning home run against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series went over the wall just to the left of the 406 foot sign.

My view today from along the thirdbase line. Here, Pirates rookie Andrew McCutchen bats in the bottom of the first inning. The Pirates would lose today 2-1.

Another view from my seat, this one with a look at the scoreboard and the Pittsburgh skyline.