Day 12: Major League Baseball Trip.

DATE: Thursday, September 12, 2013. Day 12.
LOCATION: Pittsburgh's History Museum and PNC Park, home of the Pirates.

I got up at 7:30 and took a 1.5 mile walk down Penn Ave. I decided to try my "Good Morning" routine and see if I could get any Pittsburghers to say "Good Morning" in return, (at least more than the folks in Manhattan.) The results were good. I tried 10 people and  9  of them responded with a "Good Morning" in return. That was a 90% return compared with 0% in Manhattan. A few smiled when I said "Good Morning" but at least they responded.  There was only one who stared straight ahead. He was probably a transplant from Manhattan.

We ate at the hotel and then went across the street to Pittsburgh's History Museum. We were there from 11:15 to 3:30. It is a fabulous museum exploring the history of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. There was not enough time to see it all so we had to choose. All three of us chose to see the sports section which concentrated on the Pirates and Steelers. They had a statue of Franco Harris making the "immaculate reception" in the AFC Championship against the Oakland Raiders in 1971. And another one of Bill Mazeroski jumping onto home plate after he had hit the winning home run against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Another interesting display was a map showing all the Division I quarterbacks and NFL quarterbacks that have come out of the Pittsburgh area. There are a  lot - like over 50. All three of us are big sports fans so what an enjoyable time we had in the sports section.
I wanted to see the section on H.J. Heinz. So I spent over an hour there. Very interesting. It was quite a story of rags to riches. By the way, John Kerry is married  to the widow of Senator Heinz who was killed in a plane crash in the 1980s. Anybody who goes to Pittsburgh should spend some time at this museum. It is fantastic.

At 5 PM we called a cab to take us to PNC Park. We ate at the bar/grille owned by Jerome Bettis, the great Steelers running back. It is right across the street from the stadium. I tried a local beer and didn't like it. After that I went back to my Bud Light or Miller Lite. One thing of interest was that  the men's restroom was right behind the reception desk. When I was at the urinal I looked up into this glass window in front of me  and I could see everybody in the restaurant. When I went out I looked at this glass window from the outside to see if people could see into the rest room and watch a bunch of men peeing. Obviously, they couldn't - the mirror was black so nothing could be seen. I bet more than one man has thought while peeing, "Can those people see me, I can see them."

The Pirates beat the Cubs 3-1. The crowd was very enthusiastic because this was the first time since 1991 that the Pirates had a chance at making the National League play-offs. They did make it but got beat out by the Cardinals - 3 games to 2 games.

Billie Bob doesn't live to far from Pittsburgh. I was thinking when the fans were all excited if Billie Bob would have gotten excited and cheered. I doubt it  because that would have taken some energy plus he wouldn't have been sitting in his recliner.

PNC Park deserves all As' or A+s  for my five criteria. Price of beer is a B.
The same can said for Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies. And their beer price gets a B also.