First, can you tell me what motivated you and others to write the book?
Basically, I was looking at the 50th anniversary of the building of Three Rivers Stadium. It was a cookie-cutter stadium – nothing special about it aesthetically. But the memories from my time inside the stadium were special.
I went to my first Pirates game there, a couple of days after they opened the stadium. I saw the Steelers upset Cleveland there finally – watched the fans behind me burn the Cleveland Browns pennant after the game – that was a fun moment!
I just had great memories there – it was a special place for me and I thought it needed it’s just due with the 50th anniversary coming up.
You hear some fans talk about how much closer fans felt to the teams and game at Three Rivers versus Heinz Field now. Do you have that same feeling?
Definitely with football. It was an intimidating noise for Steelers games – fans were so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. Players talked about how how loud it was versus Heinz Field – but it was much more expensive to gut and rebuild Three Rivers than to just build a new stadium.
I do like Heinz Field – it just doesn’t have as intimidating a feel to it For baseball, I don’t think that matters as much. But in football, players aid the noise at Three Rivers really made a difference.
Not everyone realizes also how bad the Steelers were before Three Rivers was built – it was one of the most embarrassing teams in the NFL. They made it to one playoff game in the 50’s -that was their post-season history before the stadium.
Any interesting stories on how the stadium got started?
Before then the Steelers played at Forbes Field and shared a stadium with Pitt. They never had a true home before Three Rivers. Generations of fans and players who came later can’t grasp just how bad the conditions were for players before Three Rivers.
In the mid-50’s, the idea was actually launched. Forbes Field was sold to Pitt who wanted to build it’s campus up more. They wanted to build the stadium but one snag after another with the city, county and state governments kept occurring – one blockage after another. Pitt got nervous – but they finally got it started in the late 60’s.
One of the most interesting things was that they had a few different designs for the stadium. One would have had the stadium built with an open end like Orioles Stadium. It would have been perfect for the Pirates I think.
A second design was stranger. They had it being built on top of a bridge they wanted to build over the Allegheny River – with the stadium built in the middle of the bridge. But they settled on a design that was already being used in Philadelphia and Cincinnati – they didn’t need to use a designer for it so it made it less expensive to build.
The whole process took about 15 years.
What are some of the favorite moments the book captures form your standpoint?
What is interesting to me is that two of the biggest moments in the history of the stadium happened in the same year – in ’72. Clemente got his 3,000th hit and the Immaculate Reception. The strange thing about it, is we are looking to have a monument built for Clemente to commemorate his 3,000th hit. When we did an overlay of the stadium we realized that where Clemente stood on second base after his hit was only about 20 feet away from where Franco Harris caught the Immaculate Reception!
Tell me more about the monument?
Lou Martin is a local historian and is looking to get the monument built of Clemente standing on second base, with home plate and the pitcher’s mound – to commemorate the hit. We were hoping to have it built by the end of July but now with Covid it’s just hard to get done that fast.
Tell me more about the book and team behind it?
A year ago a group of us – local authors – most of us with Duquesne roots – got together to decide to write the book. Tom Rooney, Josh Taylor from KDKA, Chris Fletcher from Pittsburgh Magazine, Robert Healy – and a bunch of others guys.
We created a list for the basis of the book – the greatest memory for each year of the stadium. We divided the book up in chapters and every writer wrote about a year and memory that was important to them. There are 30 incredible memories all told in different voices – I think that makes it enjoyable to read.
Can you give some chapter examples of who wrote on what?
Robert Healy wrote about Duquesne’s Club Team in ’73 that played there for a national championship. Tom Rooney wrote on a more general topic – of what the North Side was like before the building of the stadium and the stadium’s impact. Bill Ranier was at the game when Roberto Clemente got his 3,000th hit. Most everyone had a real connection to the chapter they wrote about,
What’s also nice about the book is that proceeds of each sale go to the Chuck Cooper Foundation which helps African Americans get post-college scholarships to get upper degrees. We felt it was important to give back to a local charity.
As someone who has watched Pittsburgh sports now for years, how do you think the fans and fan experiences in Pittsburgh have changed since Three Rivers was first built?
I think the fanbase at the stadiums changed a bit. With Three Rivers football and baseball games were more affordable. You got a broader fanbase that represented all of the city because everyone could afford to go. I think Heinz Field is more expensive – only certain kinds of fans can usually afford to go and I think the fans are less enthusiastic as the ones we had at Three Rivers.
Forbes Field – my dad told me they would bring cases of beer to the games and have a party while watching the games. Now I know you could never do that at Three Rivers either but it felt like that kind of atmosphere. It was more accessible to everyone so you got certain kinds of fans that were more enthusiastic – because it was more accessible to a broader range of fans. That’s just my personal feeling on it.
Any other thoughts about the book you want readers to know about it?
The book was a lot of fun – it was a group of guys, most of whom I’ve known for years, and others’ whose work I respected for a long time. I am happy they all agreed to be a part of it
I am working on two other books as well. One on the Civic Arena and the 60th anniversary of the arena. That will cover specific memories -not so much year-by-year And I’m also writing a book on the first things that happened across all of Western PA sports. That’s more of a fun, interesting collection for readers. Both will be available in 2021.
I enjoy writing on my own, but I have really enjoyed collaborating with others like this as well.
