Downsizing the Vet

One of the many entrances to Citizens Bank Park, Jun-2004.

The seating bowl, as seen from down the right-field line.

The park looks out over 10th Street; center city Philadelphia is three miles north.

• Location: 11th Street and Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.
• Opened: 2004
• Home team: Philadelphia Phillies, National League (2004-present)
• Capacity: 43,500

Rating: 4 baseballs

Citizens Bank Park replaced Veterans Stadium, which served Philadelphia baseball and football fans for 33 seasons. Early discussions had the park being built in the Chinatown section or near the 30th Street rail station, but in the end the park was built across 11th Street from the site of the Vet, which was imploded in March 2004.

The Liberty Bell after a home run. The park reminds me most of Comerica Park in Detroit, built four years earlier. There are four levels of seating, rather than the seven at the Vet, and the park rises considerably lower than the Vet did. The upper levels are split down the right field line, a design feature I could not explain at Detroit, either. In the main seating bowl, the central sections behind home plate are fenced off so that fans cannot simply run through them and disturb spectators’ view.

Concession areas are numerous and varied, with popular local purveyors setting up shop beyond the outfield. The bullpens are stacked up atop each other in right-center, and fans can stand by the bullpens and watch pitchers warming up. Next to the bullpens is a Hall of Fame area, featuring the history of Philadelphia professional baseball and Hall of Fame players associated with the City of Brotherly Love.

Access to most seats is by walking, although there are some elevators and escalators. This is no different from the Vet, although here stairwells are provided along with pedestrian ramps.

The park has a large neon outline of the Liberty Bell in the outfield. When a Phillies player hits a home run, the bell swings and lights up with LCDs. Scoreboard displays are numerous, with all out-of-town scores shown on the right-field wall. The Phast Facts board displaying the official scoring decisions has also been retained.

In all, they did a good job making a more comfortable baseball-only park (the NFL Eagles opened a new stadium across Pattison Avenue in 2003). The main drawback is that the park is three miles from center city, so on a cloudy or hazy day the only view is of 10th Street (which runs into center field) and the lower end of the Schuylkill Expressway. A pretty view, such as is found at the new park in Pittsburgh, would have made this park truly wonderful.