I’m a Cubs fan.  I have lived in Chicago for most of my life.  Steve Stone is my idol, and the 1998 Cubs are one of the best things that ever happened to me.  I think that Wrigley Field is a fantastic ballpark, and just seeing ivy evokes fond memories for me…

 

But I’m not going to let any of that bias me when I compare Wrigley Field to PNC Park.  Any way you look at it, PNC emerges as the better ballpark, and here are the top ten reasons why:

 

 

10. Food and Vendors

 

PNC offers a fantastic array of different kinds of food for your ballpark experience: Twists on traditional ballpark food such as gyros, garlic fries, and bloomin’ onions.  Local trademarks can even be enjoyed there.  I’m not a Primanti Bros. fan (pronounced per-manny by the locals), but I’m all in favor of options, and this is a good one for those who want French fries, coleslaw, and grease dripping from their sandwiches.  Now a Pittsburgh favorite that I do enjoy is Quaker Steak and Lube.  Their Buffalo wings come in many different flavors, and you need to sign a waiver in order to try their hottest!

 

While there’s nothing bad about Wrigley Field food, there’s nothing intriguing or uniquely Chicago about it.  Most people equate Chicago food with Italian beef sandwiches, deep dish pizza, and Chicago-style hot dogs.  They go just one-for-three in this department, and there are those who would argue that even the hot dogs aren’t truly Chicagoan since they aren’t sprinkled with celery salt.  Probably the most desirable concession that they have are the chocolate malts and lemon chills for those blistering day games.  But while you’re lucky to see a vendor for those concessions once a game, the beer and hot dog vendors at Wrigley are famous for lingering in between you and the game incessantly.          

 

 

9. Parking and Transportation

 

Parking prices have skyrocketed at PNC over the past few years, but you’re still looking at just $10-$15 at the Stadium parking lots.  If you’re smart, you’ll park downtown for $5 and either take a bus to the stadium for less than two bucks, or take the short, scenic walk across Roberto Clemente Bridge yourself.

 

Parking near Wrigley is a nightmare.  Even if you’re lucky enough to only pay $20 for parking, it means that you’re going to be stuck behind other cars in those cramped lots for hours after the game is completed.  A shuttle bus to the stadium from DeVry College’s parking lot is $7.50 (plus the $6.00 parking fee), and traffic before game time is so heavy that you might just be better off walking.  The best option is to take the L.  It’s inconvenient for any fan that doesn’t live along the Red Line, and you’ll get crowds that rival rush hour in London or New York, but it’s just $2 and takes you right to the stadium.

 

 

8. Skylines

 

Not too bad looking

Wrigley Field was built next to a Great Lake in a city with one of the most beautiful skylines in the country.  Pity, then, that you can’t really see either the lake or the skyline from the seats at Wrigley.  At PNC, you see the Allegheny River, Clemente Bridge, the Post-Gazzette building, and the rest of Pittsburgh’s underrated little skyline.  Wrigley Field ivy is gorgeous, and the rustic old scoreboard is nice (though it doesn’t have enough room to display scores for every game), but everything being considered, it’s just a prettier view at PNC.  

 

 

7. PNC features giant statues of Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, and Willie Stargell around the park. Wrigley’s got a tiny statue of Harry Caray. 

 

Keith takes a minute to mock Roberto Clemente after a Cubs game at PNC

Sure, there are better Pirates than Roberto Clemente (Fred Clarke, Arky Vaughan, and Ralph Kiner immediately come to mind), but I can respect the desire to only honor career Pirates.  At any rate, these are large, magnificent monuments, as opposed to the statue of Harry, which kind of makes him look like a deranged dwarf.

 

The Pirates also just unveiled a Negro League exhibit just inside the left field gate, featuring seven life-size bronze statues of Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams, each attended by a video display.

 

 

6. The Facilities

 

Here’s the thing about using the bathroom at Wrigley Field: you’re peeing in a trough.  That’s right, peeing in a trough, with all of the splashback, lack of privacy, and hygienic complications that ensue.  I think that waiting in line to urinate is preferable to gathering around a drain with a bunch of strangers.  That’s just me.  

 

 

5. Cub tickets, on average, cost twice as much as Pirates tickets.

 

Aaah! He's trying to mug us!

…And that’s if you’re lucky enough to buy the tickets at face value.  For many Cub games, you’ll have to pay even more from a broker or a scalper.  Yeah, it’s great that Cub games always have large, lively crowds, but to make it near impossible for kids to save up enough dough to see their favorite team play live is plain wrong. 

 

 

4. You won’t get stuck behind a post at PNC

 

Unless you’ve got the section, aisle and seat numbers memorized, there’s always a chance that you’ll sit right behind a big ‘ol post in Wrigley.  It’s not as small of a chance as most people think; there are a lot of support beams around the stadium and they all partially obstruct the view from dozens of seats.  The eight-inch monitors they put behind the posts don’t quite offset the money that you paid for your seat.

 

 

3. PNC: The Pirate Parrot, The Great Pierogi Race, and a PA announcer with a fake Pittsburgh accent.  Wrigley: Umm…well…they have a guess the attendance game.  Does that count as original?

 

Sure, Pittsburgh stole the Pierogi Race idea from Milwaukee’s Sausage Race, but they improved upon a great idea and made it their own.  The race begins on the Jumbotron (for exclusive fans of Wrigley Field, this is an ingenious device that displays images, such as instant replays, large enough for the entire crowd to see), where four Pierogies with various fillings race across various Pittsburgh landmarks en route to the finish line near first base.  Shortly after they emerge from a door beneath the right field foul pole, the Pirate Parrot, one of the game’s better mascots, invariably attempts to sabotage the race in an attempt to allow Jalepeño Hannah to win (hey, she’s hot!).  The twist is that the Pierogi with the worst record at the end of the year gets replaced with a new favor the following season.

 

The Pirate Parrot, up to no good

The action is ably narrated by the stadium PA announcer, who plays up a fake Pittsburgh accent.  I say fake because there’s actually no such thing as a Pittsburgh accent, but Pittsburghers invented one to use in order to make them feel as though they have a culture.  It’s similar to the small-town-speak found in rural Pennsylvania and West Virginia, only coarser, and it’s only used consciously.

 

Wrigley still has the best 7^th-inning stretch in the world, but it’s not the same without Harry, and the guest conductors have declined in quality over the years. 

 

 

2. It’s Take Me OUT to the Ballgame, not Take Me IN to the Ballgame

 

When you enter Wrigley Field, you don’t really enter Wrigley Field.  You enter Wrigley Warehouse, confines that are far from friendly.  Bland, brownish-grey floors and walls and seemingly endless ramps surround you for your first view of the stadium.  You’ll even encounter attitude-laden ticket checkers guarding the way to your $40 mediocre Upper Deck seats.  It may sound silly, but if you’re at all claustrophobic, you may want to stay away from the Confines.

 

When you enter PNC Park, you don’t really enter anything.  You basically pass through a gate and remain outside and free.  Your entire ballpark experience will be outdoors – you can even watch the game from the ramps, and it’s a spectacular view.  There’s fresh air even when you’re heading for concessions or restrooms.  I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid rain during all of my trips to PNC, though I can imagine the lack of cover might seem a little less appealing when it does precipitate.  Still, the added enjoyment during fair-weathered games (most Pirates fans can tell you about fair-weatheredness) far outweighs the inconvenience during a possible rain delay.

 

 

1. Manny’s BBQ

 

What a guy

Behind the center field wall at PNC Park, there’s this magical place called Manny’s BBQ.  There, you’ll find a hearty older man who can’t seem to stop smiling his toothy grin.  That’s Manny Sanguillen, a catcher who hit .296 during his 13-year career, 12 of which were spent in a Pirates uniform.  Every game, Manny sits outside his grill posing for pictures, signing autographs, and chatting with fans.  Does the monotony of doing this for five hours a game and 81 games a year ever get to Manny?  Maybe.  But you’d never know it from the friendliness that he exudes each and every day he’s at the ball park.

 

Why haven’t more ballparks imitated this?  Do you have any idea of the kind of draw that Andy Pafko’s Grill would have at Wrigley Field? 

 

The pulled pork sandwich itself is tasty, not though spectacular, and it’s suitably overpriced.  But if you’re like me, you’ll feel like you’re stealing from Manny by enjoying his presence so much and not ordering his food.  After all, there’s so much to enjoy at PNC Park, and it comes at such a bargain, that there’s no reason not to indulge in Sanguillen’s sandwich.