Ballpark It For Me Pt. 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: PNC Park

PNC Park became the fifth home for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The steel used in the building was local. PNC Bank purchased the naming rights. PNC Park officially opened in 1999. The twenty-one foot wall in the right field was in honor of jersey number 21 worn by Roberto Clemente. A memorial to owner Barney Dreyfuss was in the entrance to home plate. The Jumbotron cost $21 million and included closed captioning for hearing impaired visitors.
PNC Park seated 38,747.

Answer: Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium was built in Bronx, New York and opened in 1923. Before they moved to Yankee Stadium, the Yankees played at the Polo Grounds. The Yankees were evicted from the Polo Grounds when they started playing better than the Giants. The three-tiered facility was built in 284 days and was the first to be called a stadium.

The same year Yankee Stadium opened, a boxing match was held there. Knute Rockne gave his famous "Gipper" speech in the men's locker room at Yankee Stadium. Pope John Paul VI held a mass in 1965 while Pope John Paul II held a mass there in 1982. Yankee Stadium seated 57,000.

Answer: Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field was a domed, artificial turf ballpark located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The ballpark was built in the 1980s and officially opened in 1990. It was modeled after Ebbets Field. Tropicana Field had a twenty foot round baseball in the entrance floor with the team name written on it while four devil rays hung from the ceiling. The rubber portion of Tropicana Field was made from recycled Nike tennis shoes.

After every home game that was won by the Devil Rays, the dome lit up orange. The dome sloped on one end to reduce the amount of air entering the stadium reducing the cost of air conditioning.

The ballpark went through many names including Florida Suncoast Dome to Thunderdome to Tropicana Field in 1996 after Tropicana Products, a fruit juice company, purchased the naming rights for 30 years.

Tropicana Field seated 45,360 people.

Answer: Camden Yard

Housed in Baltimore, Maryland, Camden Yard opened in 1992. It was the first ballpark to create a handicap accessible chair known as the Camden seat. The park was built in thirty-three months using lottery money. Oriole Park at Camden Yard was a name chosen by the Maryland Stadium Authority who owned the park. Oriole Park was a nod to a baseball team from 1890 while Camden Yard was chosen because of the ballpark's location. Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's game record when he played at Camden Yard in 1995.
Camden Yard seated 48,876 people.

Answer: Citizens Bank Park

Citizens Bank Park was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Three light towers illuminated first, third and home base. Ashburn Alley was the ballpark's outfield entertainment area named after Richie Ashburn, a Hall of Famer and broadcaster. There was no neighborhood surrounding Citizen's Bank Park just parking lots.

Citizens Bank Park had a natural grass field. Ashburn Alley could be entered one hour before game time. It extended 625 feet between left and right field entrances. A statue of Richie Ashburn could be seen behind the batter's eye in center field. Phillies mascot The Phillie Phanatic made his home at Citizens Bank Park.

Citizens Bank Park seated 42,901.

Answer: Fenway Park

Fenway Park was named for the road that goes along the Boston Fens. The ballpark was built on swampland and designed to take up one city block. Fenway Park officially opened in April 1912. A fire in 1926 burned most of the bleachers in the left field which were rebuilt in 1934.

At the same time the left field bleachers were rebuilt, the Green Monster was also built. The Green Monster was a left field concrete wall that was plated in tin, covered in wood, and painted green. Fenway Park had 294 new seats added above the Green Monster. In section 42 row 37 of Fenway Park was a red chair that marked where the longest home run ball hit by Ted Williams landed in 1946.

Fenway Park seated 37,755.

Answer: Pro Player Stadium (Loan Depot Park)

Pro Player Stadium could be found in Miami, Florida. The ballpark hosted baseball as well as football games. There were eight entryways into the stadium. The Teal Monster was a thirty-three foot high wall in the left field. The Pro Player Stadium was built specifically for football, but in 1993 baseball was played in the stadium.

When Pro Player Stadium was first built it was funded by Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie. It cost $115 million to build and $10 million to renovate for baseball. In 1996, the naming rights was sold to Pro Player, a division of Fruit of the Loom company. Pro Player Stadium seated 42,531.

Answer: Olympic Stadium (Nationals Park)

Montreal Expos opened Olympic Stadium in 1970. It was built in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to accommodate the 1976 Olympic Games. The Stadium had a sixty-five foot kevlar retractable roof that never worked correctly so it was discarded. In 1998, the retractable roof was put back. Olympic Stadium had a Wall of Excellence that could be seen behind home plate.

The first ballgame was played in April 1977. When he played for the Montreal Expos, Peter Rose had his 4,000 hit before he was traded to Cincinnati.

The Expos moved in 2005 to Nationals Park in Washington DC, and became the Washington Nationals. Olympic Stadium seated 46,000.

Answer: Great American Ballpark

Great American Ballpark opened in 2003. The Ohio River ran past the center and right field of the ballpark. A large space known as "the Gap" in the walls of the ballpark let anyone outside see in to watch a game. A sales tax of 1 1/2 per dollar for the citizens of Hamilton County paid for the ballpark and the stadium for the NFL Bengals. The Great American Ballpark cost $297 million whereas the nearby stadium for the Bengals cost $544 million. The Great American Insurance Company paid for the naming rights.
The Great American Ballpark seated 42,060.

Answer: Turner Field (Truist Park)

Turner Field was a one stop entertainment facility located in Atlanta, Georgia. Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run at Turner Field and part of the wall still exists. A small beach area for sunbathers with luxury lifeguards was behind the right field and the kids had an area named Tooner Field.

The Atlanta Braves joined the Olympic Committee in Atlanta to build a stadium before the 1996 Olympics so that it could be later used as a ballpark. After the Olympic Games, the Braves spent $355 Million dollars to "fix" Turner Field. Seating was taken out to reduce its capacity form from 85,000 to 50,000, the entrance was rebuilt, and part of the track and field area was discarded. Turner Field was opened by the Atlanta Braves in April 1997 and nicknamed "the Ted" after Ted Turner. The Braves moved to Truist park in 2017.

Turner Field seated 49,714.

Answer: (Skydome) Rogers Centre

The Skydome was a stadium that housed baseball, football, and basketball games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Skydome opened in June 1989 and had retractable dome that opened and closed in two pieces. When the dome was closed the stadium was thirty-one stories tall. In 1995, two roof tiles that weighed thirty pounds each fell injuring seven people. In 2005, the Skydome was renamed Rogers Centre after Rogers Communications bought the stadium.
Skydome (Rogers Centre) seated 50,000 people.

Answer: Kauffman Stadium

Kauffman Stadium had a horseshoe design with fountains outside the outfield. The ballpark was originally known as Royals Stadium. Artificial turf covered the field and a crown set on top of the scoreboard. The mascot for the Kansas City Royals was a lion named Slugger. The citizens of Jackson County paid the majority of the price for Kauffman Stadium with Ewing Kauffman footing the rest of the bill. The stadium was renamed after Kauffmann in 1993 when he lost his battle with cancer.
Kauffman Stadium seated 40,793.

Answer: Shea Stadium (Citi Field)

Shea Stadium was named after NY attorney William Shea. The stadium was christened in April of 1964 with a bottle of water from Harlem River and a bottle of water from Gowanus Canal. Shea was built to be converted from a baseball field into a football field by motorized tracks underground.

The NY Yankees played at Shea Stadium in 1974 and 1975 while their yard was being renovated. The Beatles played a concert in 1965. Shea Stadium was used as a base of operations for relief workers after September 11, 2001. The Mets moved to Citi Field in 2009.

Shea Stadium seated 55,775.

Answer: Jacobs Field (Progressive Field)

Cleveland Indians moved into Jacobs Field in 1994 and nicknamed it "The Jake". Owner Richard Jacobs paid $82 million of the price tag for the ballpark. It also gave him the right to the name Jacobs Field. A "sin tax" was placed on alcohol and tobacco in Cuyahoga County, luxury boxes were pre-sold, and the sale of tax exempt bonds paid for the rest of the ballpark. The total cost was $175 million. A nineteen foot wall in the left field was called the Cleveland Monster. The team became the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.
Jacobs Field seated 43,345.

Answer: Busch Stadium

Busch Stadium was built in St. Louis, Missouri and opened in 1966 for $20 million. The same project that built the St. Louis Arch also built Busch Stadium. Natural grass was in the stadium until 1970 when it was switched for Astroturf. In 1996, the ballpark went back to natural grass. Upper seating was taken out of the stadium to put in a manually operated scoreboard. An electronic tarp was put in to cover the field in bad weather.

Busch Stadium replaced Sportsman Park. The Browns sold the ballpark to the Cardinals when they became the Orioles. As the owner, August Busch renamed the ballpark Busch Stadium because he wasn't allowed to name it Budweiser Stadium. Busch Stadium had an eagle on top of the scoreboard to flap its wings every time the Cardinals got a home run.

Busch Stadium seated 49,779.