The stadium was OVERSIZED and the Astroturf was utterly hazardous to players’ health, just ask former Chicago Bears wide receiver Wendell Davis about his knees.
Went to my first Phillies game at The Vet, in the 700 level, that place was hallowed ground. The smell of piss and weed in the 700 level....nothing more badass than that.
Those yellow seats when Veterans Stadium first opened were general admission for 50 cents and you could sit anywhere. I saw Steve Carlton win many games there when l was 13 in 1972. Veterans Stadium , Riverfront Stadium and 3 Rivers Stadium all looked the same.
I went to the Vet’s implosion - it was a Viking funeral. There were so many people partying and drunk waiting at 4 in the morning. People were getting arrested. We all went crazy when the walls started falling, not because we hated it, but because we loved it. It was a dump, but we all loved that stadium….
One thing I'll never forget after going to many Phillies & Eagles games at the Vet over many years, plus concerts, college & high school football games: there was this permanent odor in the 700 level - a nauseating combination of urine, pot, & beer, that never went away. It was ever present. It permeated the seats, the concourse, the bathrooms. You could smell it in any season, spring, summer, fall, winter. It was it's own entity. Made for quite an experience. I can only have fond memories of the Vet, that smell notwithstanding. It served it's purpose.
I have to take credit for that MudMan, back in 72, I had dinner up in Chinatown while I was coming off the flu. I was sitting in that section and all of a sudden, I blew a load all over the seats of a mixture of beer and Chinese food. The cleaning crew tried every disinfectant but could never get that scent out of the stadium. I’m sorry MudMan. I was feeling so bad that night.
Played with the Phillies in 1999. We used to stretch on that turf before batting practice. How anyone could play football on that parking lot is beyond me.
Saw my first game here as a kid on September 14, 1986. Phillies beat the Mets 6-0. I remember asking my dad, “What’s that smell?” to which he casually replied, “Marijuana.” Lol. Was also present for the last ever game against the Braves and many games in between. Lots of memories.
The best years I’ve lived in Philadelphia was going to see the eagles and Phillies play! From the 1980 nfc championship game win over the Dallas cowboys! To the 1980 World Series win. And the Phillies winning the 1993 nlcs over the Braves!!
With all due respect, this video has several flaws in it. -The Vet is well remembered in Philadelphia and by Philly sports fans. To this day, fans that were born after early 2004 are told the tales, myths, and facts of the Vet. -The "upper level" scoreboards that you stated were installed when the Vet opened were actually installed in the mid 1980s. Originally, the digital scoreboards were in between the upper bowl, and the lower bowl, which, you actually showed pictures of in this video. I suggest doing comprehensive research of your videos before releasing them. This has an excessive amount of flaws, some half truths, and exaggerations.
I agree. Very fond memories of The Vet in the 90's growing up. For the Phillies games, we'd always sit in the first row of seats in the outfield. I remember having a fewl conversations with CF's of opposing teams. Before I was about to hit "reply," I wanted to check my, "bag of tickets" as I call it. It's a bag filled with tickets of events I've been to over the years. Movies, sporting events, concerts, etc. Sure enough, I still have two tickets from the The Vet. I have a Phillies-Giants ticket from April 25, 2003. The other one is Phillies-Astros (back when they were in the NL) from August 18, 1998. The Giants ticket is particularly special, not only because it was the last season at The Vet, but we went there as part of a school trip that lasted the entire day, including taking a tour on the Delaware River via the Spirit of Philadelphia.
Agreed. Saw my first Phillies game there in 1971. Saw the National League playoffs there in 1980. I sat up in the 700 level, right next to the Marlboro man, as far up as you could go. I miss that stadium. I've only been to the new one twice since it has opened. I miss the Spectrum too. Saw many a concert there and at JFK Stadium.
You could see steam coming off that turf in a July-August day game. 700 level general admission for 5$ in the 1990s. Parents had to close my eyes once when the drunks got in a fight and one fell to the lower level.
When the Vet opened there were seats in the upper reaches of the 700 level for Phillies games which were only 50 cents. Even in those days I thought it was crazy. I saw some great events at the Vet but I can't honestly say I was too awfully saddened when it was imploded.
I visited this stadium quite a few times in the 1980s and early 90s. The seating colors weren't bad to look at in person. Those yellows and oranges were everywhere in that time period. The real reason that color was popular was because it hid stains from cigarettes and spilled beer. Dark colors hide stains too but got really hot in the sun. The yellow seats were much cooler.
Love this stadium. Went to many eagles and Phillies games here. I remember getting the free Phillies tix in a pack of Phillies Frank hot dogs. How times have changed.
Man in the mid 70s the kids in our South Jersey neighborhood crew (oldest 14 and youngest 12) would get dropped off at the High Speed Line I think in Haddonfield by our parents. We would take that train across the bridge into Philly, then transfer to the subway and make our way to South Philly. Would buy tickets for seats in the 700 level for .50 cents and watch the game until about the 7th inning. Then we would sneak down to the 200 or 300 level and watch the last few innings from there as usually quite a few seats were empty by that time. Great memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another story Tom Garvey who worked at the parking lot right by The Vet lived at Veterans Stadium inside a empty concession in which he turned into a small apartment and lived there from 1979-1981 and he had keys unfortunately no photos exist but its true
I had been to the vet before as a kid and today what’s left of it is now parking for Citizens Bank Park. Not to mention that my father also used to go there for both Eagles and Phillies games too.
I loved and miss the Vet very much. CBP is a beautiful stadium but I never had the fun there that I had at the Vet. When the Phillies were bad (which was most of the 30 years) you could just sit and people watch. So many great memories and stories from there.
One thing that should have been brought up is that Veterans Stadium was owned & mismanaged by the city of Philadelphia. My buddy's dad worked in the boiler room and before it was ten years old told me it had numerous problems including blown boiler tubes that had a contractor give the lowest bid to maintain chemicals & condition of these expensive to replace tubes.
I had my first police interaction where I was in trouble, at the Vet. I was 12, and Mom - who had brought me and my friends - was not pleased. Also, the Vet was a dump and I hated it but it was our dump so I went.
You are correct, Temple Univ like many metropolitan universities is land locked and has no place to put a football stadium. To add to the insult of a terrible atmosphere for a college game, its reported Temple pays well over 1 million dollars a year to rent Lincoln Financial.
My home stadium as a kid. I saw lots of games there -- Phillies, Eagles, and even Temple. I have vivid memories of attending the season opener of Rams v. Eagles on 9/9/01. One thing that doesn't get mentioned a lot was the Stargell star, where Willie Stargell hit the longest HR recorded in the stadium. The circular field surrounding the star was painted white until he died, then they changed it to black. There's a photo on the web during the demolition where the white background can be seen under where the Exit sign had been.
My favorite experience at the Vet was the first game after September 11th against the Braves. It was an incredible atmosphere. There weren’t that many people there, considering how many seats were at the Vet but it felt full to me. Scott Rolen had a great game. I get chills thinking about it.
I remember that too! It shows you how desperate to get people to their games, when attendance was so sparse when the Phillies were totally horrible back in the day! 🤣L.O.L.!
At least Shibe Park (NOT "Shribe"!!) and even Baker Bowl was built to last! No really, Baker Bowl was considered a big joke for years when the Phillies finally left it in 1938...yet it still hung on for 12 more years!!
I spent a few nights and Sunday afternoons in that stadium. I thought it was an awesome stadium when it opened. It was a giant leap over Connie Mack stadium.
You can say what you want about veterans stadium but I have great memories there. Saw many Phillies games there as well as other events there. I will always have fond memories of Veterans stadium and I don’t care what anyone says, it will always be special to me
I absolutely loved the vet for Football. I still prefer it over the Lincoln Financial Field. But Citizens Bank is Truly a Gem. Love watching games there
There was nothing wrong with "donut" stadiums. "They all looked the same", they say. No they didn't. You could show me any of the "concrete donut" stadiums and I could instantly tell you which stadium was which. "They were horrible for baseball", they complain. By what metric? By whose standard? "You can't fill a 60,000 stadium for baseball, it's stupid", they slander. "Right, because it's built for BOTH baseball AND football." I don't think Phillies fans in 1980 thought: "Ugggh! We just won the World Series and dammit, if it were only a 35,000 seat knock-off of Fenway Park, I'd have enjoyed it more!! ARRRGGG dang Veterans Stadium!"
They were cost efficient, too. Two sports one stadium. The biggest problem was that they convinced team owners that they could get the public to pay for their playpens. And you're right, I would have a more difficult time differentiating many of the current stadia than those from the '70's.
I dunno, I hate going to Rogers Center in Toronto for the Jays. Seats don't face the correct way, angles are all wrong. They're actually going to fix it this offseason.
And everyone always cries about the upper decks being too big and empty I actually liked the colors of the vet and the old stadium in Miami even if the seats was empty it still looked good to me.
I think there should be some in mlb today maybe 3 or 4 teams because all the stadiums look the same today. Uneven and unsymmetrical. Not easy on the eyes. I get it’s a baseball thing but do it with modern twist. A lot of these multipurpose stadiums were neglected that’s why they were bad. You got keep them nice and polished
You have to admit Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta and Riverfront Stadium in Cincy looked almost identical, at least on the outside. Veterans Stadium and Three Rivers did have unique looks though even though they were shaped about the same.
I live in Philly and what I love the most is seeing the beautiful sunsets in the summer. I usually like to sit in the 200 level facing downtown center city and the sunsets are so amazing. I recall at the vet they had sunsets but it was entirely blocked. No good sunsets over the city. And I also don't miss the 700 level at all!!
I was blessed to have access to that shit turf in the early 90’s. My ex girlfriends mom worked for the front office. I used to sit on the ground against the mat in the end zone during the gang-green days. 🦅
Went here once on a 100° day in July. Maybe the most uncomfortable stadium ever. The entire structure is a concrete bowl with no shade whatsoever. The turf field absorbs heat and it radiates throughout the concrete donut seating bowl. The netting behind home plate was minimal and roughly the width of a vollyball net and 8' tall. Thankfully the Phillies got a real ballpark.
2:32 The two scoreboards shown are not the two being described in the narration. The two original ones were lower and more primitive, and larger, attached to the front of the upper deck. The one in left field was removed at some point, and only the one in right field was present when the Phillies won the World Series in 1980. The two boards in the picture, way up near the roof, replaced the original boards later.
The original scoreboards were hydraulically operated and lowered into the ground for Eagles games. They blocked the view of the 300 Level seats in Left and Right Fields. In Left Field was the scoreboard, in Right Field was the animated "information" scoreboard (stats, line-ups, messages, etc.) I really liked that animated board! As you may remember, in the early years, between these two big boards, the 300 Level sections were covered with black mesh. And there also was Phila. Phil (with bat on his shoulder), the Liberty Bell, the American Flag (which dropped down when the Phils hit a Home Run), and Phila. Phyllis (sitting on top of a cannon.) Behind the Center Field fence were "The Dancing Waters" (fountains.) The original signs that hung down from the roof were Sunoco (Left Field) Schmidt's Beer (Center Field) Western Savings Bank (Right Field.)
I remember being a little kid going to Phillies games there, feeling like we spent multiple innings just walking up the ramps to get to our seats in the nosebleed section.
Saw the first Phillies playoff game in 26 years since the 1950 WS. Had standing room only tickets and stood at the very top of the 700 level. Unfortunately, the Phil's played the Big Red Machine (Cincinatti Reds) and got swept in that series.
Bro, great video. One thing I was really hoping you’d touch on regarding the Vet was how the Astroturf is suspected of having been made with carcinogens and noted the several former Phillies players who ended up with cancer sometime down the road. Quite a few former players have died of similar brain blastoma if I recall correctly. Not trying to hate whatsoever. It was entertaining, no doubt, but it would’ve been another cool tidbit to throw in there. Ya got a new subscriber.
The other renovation was they added "luxury" boxes at the top of the stadium. The infield seats weren't that bad even high up. I had a partial plan by first base, the first row of the upper deck. They weren't bad.
The score boards on in the upper deck were not original to the stadium they were added in the 90's I believe. The 2 score boards that were their in 1970 on opening day were later remove or just lowered to their football positions. The sky boxes were also added in the 90's, you use to be able to walk around the top of the stadium in a complete circle.
Early/Mid 80’s for upper deck scoreboards and skyboxes. Skyboxes added after Leonard Tose threatened to move team to Phoenix as part of deal to keep team in Phila.
You're exactly right! The original main scoreboard was lower (just below the upper deck) Those 2 upper scoreboards were not pat of the original design.
@robtaylor4365 I do remember after the first year or two of the opening, someone fell from the lower deck under one score boards causing them to restrict any seating in the scoreboard areas.
Ok. Not going to troll. This is the case of someone too young taking on this subject. Hard to completely understand "The Vet" if you are under 40. It was a huge part of our lives as Philly sports fans. So much so that I have a piece of concrete from the demolition that came from someone who knew someone...I was not living in the area when it was demolished otherwise I would have been there too. If you had been older you would have included Phil and Phillis and the original Liberty Bell they rung on a HR, the original scoreboards (think animation like in the original "Major League" movie) which no-one else had ever seen and the dancing waters behind the center field wall. Was a playground for kids in the upper decks as we ran laps around the concourse when bored and took care of our gloves thinking that maybe Mike Schmidt or Greg Luzinski would hit an upper deck HR we could catch. Or how about the thousands of free tickets they gave out to school students for getting straight A's? We baked in the sun on hard plastic seats and shivered in the swirling winter winds. You would have mentioned the 120+ degrees the field would get in the summer. I can tell you from experience, once playing soccer on it in July for a high school all star soccer game that the heat was brutal as was the hardness of the turf (I was a goalkeeper so gobruised up pretty good). Also was a ball boy for a game when the Phila Atoms played soccer there. From firework nights to high school football, concerts, yes Temple football games (anyone remember the infamous Syracuse game in the 80's when students pelted the field with oranges?), to the many memories on the field, the Vet was a big part of many Philadelphian's lives. It was so much more than the Phillies and the Eagles. It was a huge concrete pit and was not, in hindsight, fan-friendly and we complained as much as we loved it, but it was and always will be "The Vet".
The colors were not that bad.. when viewed from an 1970’s eye… viewed from today.. UGLY.. but back then, those were common colors used. Different ERA.. Different ideals.. and for MLB.. They often packed that place.. you forget.. back then, those big stadiums sold out. MLB still priced tickets affordable. Now, MLB’s popularity whains and the ticket prices soar so fans are turning off…
RFK Stadium's seats had that earth tone color scheme too. RFK was the first of the concrete ashtray multipurpose stadia to be completed. Baltimore's Memoiral Stadium and Milwaukee's County Stadium, which predated DC Stadium/RFK, were multipurpose stadia but not of the concrete donut design. RIP Veterans Stadium. Thanks for being the sports venue I grew up with more than any other.
One thing about this stadium that people may not know about is that it was also home to two different Philadelphia teams in the NASL (the predecessor to MLS), the Atoms from 1973-75 & the Fury from 1978-80. Like it was for football & baseball, Veterans Stadium was absolutely terrible for soccer with players complaining about the AstroTurf.
A great stadium?! None of those multi-purpose stadiums were considered great, particularly for baseball. There's a reason why most of them were gone in around 30 years. The outfield upper deck at the Vet had lousy sight-lines for baseball as you couldn't even see(without standing up) the warning track right in front of you if you were sitting in the upper 600 or 700 level.
Its not fall colours its simply what colours were used for so much in the 70s. Just like Charles Town Racea (Shennedoah Downs) in Charles Town. It had those wonderful brown orange yello colours thru the late 90s until its buy out and transformation in to gambling machines and a video casino.
I remember as a kid seeing baseball games on TV when my Dodgers used to go on their road trips in the Eastcoast back in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Vet, Three Rivers and Riverfront stadiums kind of looked the same to me as a kid but I liked those stadiums. Lol! Olympic Stadium was another stadium I remember from that era. I remember John Kruk, Darren Daulton and the rest of the Phillies from that time.
5:25: I went to one Eagles game in my life. It was December 27 1981, a playoff game at Veterans Stadium against the hated New York Giants. This was 11 months after the Eagles had lost the Super Bowl in an upset to Jim Plunkett and the Oakland Raiders. The stadium was filled with Giants fans. It was a 4 PM start due to TV and fans from both sides had hours to get drunk in the pregame tailgates. The Eagles went down 20-0 in the first quarter. The combination of angry Eagles fans, boisterous New Yorkers and mass drunkiness led to many fights in the stands, including people being throw down the stairs. Beer was dumped on people a couple of rows behind us and a fight broke out in the section to our right. That was the beginning of events that led to putting a jail inside Veterans Stadium. It wasn't a case of just Eagles fans. It was that both the Philiies and the Eagles had hated rivals with fans who traveled just north of there in New York, plus Cowboys fans invading the premises when the Eagles played them once every year.
My dad has his ticket stub for the last Phillies game played in that stadium has the price of ticket date and everything also has pictures of it behind demoed and something else of it framed don’t remember what tho. My neighbor also has 2 of the VETS seats before it got demoed they auctioned off seats and everything to buy and he bought 2.
I only went to The Vet once at the beginning of the final month of the final season. Red Sox vs. Phillies It was awful place to play baseball. The bullpens were like a closet Too large. I had to go down a couple of levels for a cheese steak sandwich. Missed 3 innings of the game Only time I went there. It was instresing experience.
Spent many an hour there in the 700 level. Also dont forget the Atoms and the Fury played soccer at the Vet too. Imagine soccer on that concrete field...
When I visited the Colosseum in Rome, it immediately was obvious that the design was very similar to the Vet. The overall shape, the outer ramps to the upper levels, the way the stands went down to field level, the way they had to ration wine because drunkards became a problem. All copied by the Vet.
Ah yes without the Vet there would not be the existence of the greatest parking lot in America. Got all the stadiums and the arena, Xfinity Live smack dab in the middle, you can do it all there
I think those two outfield scoreboards were not original and were added later during one of the many upgrades the stadium went through in its life time.
Go right ahead, Ginger, make me feel old. 🤣 (I remember making trips to the construction site when it was almost ready for occupancy. I was a SJ teen with a newly minted DL. It was impressive for the time. I also remember being a little kid going to Franklin Field (U od Penn) to see the EAGLES GO BIRDS, AND a single trip to Connie Mac Stadium.)
“Fenway” is the name of a company. The area it’s in is not called Fenway, it’s called the “Fens” (which means marshy type area, which I’ll circle back to this). “Fenway” was the name of the local real estate company that owned the lot that it’s on. Thus why in the movie “The Departed” Nicholson says “When I tell you to bury someone in the marsh, you bury them in the marsh” Told you I’d circle back. If anyone complains about stadium names today and companies, it’s not a new thing, Fenway Park and I rest my case.
@@brucepedersen5647 I didn’t mention it, the video did. I’ve been asking that question for years. Fenway (and Boston) might be the most overrated place on the planet. It’s cramped, rat infested, overpriced, the history of it either doesn’t exist anymore or is made up to pawn off a lie.
Six former Phillies actually died from brain cancer. They think it’s from the Astroturf that was in veterans Stadium. They did testing on the pieces of turf.
I remember the Artificial Turf being a DISASTER for NFL Players. It was basically a carpet over concrete and I think it was a WR named Wendell Davis who ruptured BOTH of his Patella Tendons on that surface and I'm not kidding! The dude played for the Bears and was drafted out of LSU, I think?
The turf has also been suspect in several of the Phillies players deaths from brain cancer/tumor. Daulton, vukovich, Mike ryan, tug McGraw and several other players. Some type of chemical that emanated from the turf. With the heat in the summer it made it worse
I seem to recall Cleveland Browns player Jerry Sherk had some skin scraped off. (Astroturf was like playng on a cheese-grater.) Sherk developed a staph infection that shortened his career.
Veterans Stadium lasted both not as long but roughly even the same years that Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh PA (1971-2001). Basically it was the cookie cutter multi-use stadium era of the late 20th century. I wish they didn’t tear all of then down. Just my opinion.
this place may have been a dump but it was phillys dump
Philly is a dump
It might’ve been a dump, but it was our dump 🖤💕
The stadium was OVERSIZED and the Astroturf was utterly hazardous to players’ health, just ask former Chicago Bears wide receiver Wendell Davis about his knees.
Should've named it Kensington Stadium then.
I always had fun at Phillies games there…
Went to my first Phillies game at The Vet, in the 700 level, that place was hallowed ground. The smell of piss and weed in the 700 level....nothing more badass than that.
Those yellow seats when Veterans Stadium first opened were general admission for 50 cents and you could sit anywhere. I saw Steve Carlton win many games there when l was 13 in 1972. Veterans Stadium , Riverfront Stadium and 3 Rivers Stadium all looked the same.
The 2 stadiums that really were cousins was Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta & Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati
I went to the Vet’s implosion - it was a Viking funeral. There were so many people partying and drunk waiting at 4 in the morning. People were getting arrested. We all went crazy when the walls started falling, not because we hated it, but because we loved it. It was a dump, but we all loved that stadium….
I'm from New York, and the only time I went to Veterans Stadium was in 1989 to watch the Rolling Stones. It was the second show of the tour. Had fun.
One thing I'll never forget after going to many Phillies & Eagles games at the Vet over many years, plus concerts, college & high school football games: there was this permanent odor in the 700 level - a nauseating combination of urine, pot, & beer, that never went away. It was ever present. It permeated the seats, the concourse, the bathrooms. You could smell it in any season, spring, summer, fall, winter. It was it's own entity. Made for quite an experience. I can only have fond memories of the Vet, that smell notwithstanding. It served it's purpose.
I have to take credit for that MudMan, back in 72, I had dinner up in Chinatown while I was coming off the flu. I was sitting in that section and all of a sudden, I blew a load all over the seats of a mixture of beer and Chinese food. The cleaning crew tried every disinfectant but could never get that scent out of the stadium. I’m sorry MudMan. I was feeling so bad that night.
@@nightowl5475 That's why I don't eat Chinese food. MSG and soy are icky-poo.
Played with the Phillies in 1999. We used to stretch on that turf before batting practice. How anyone could play football on that parking lot is beyond me.
minors dont count
@@italianwaterice9594will think of you when my mlb pension check hits again at the beginning of May
My first time going there, I showed an usher my ticket for help finding my section. He said I was "upstairs, with the poor people." Real classy.
He wasn’t wrong and local guys like me love that stuff. Remember, we’re a working class city.
The 700 level yellow seats. Watched many a game from that vantage point as a kid growing up in South Philly. Great times.
Saw my first game here as a kid on September 14, 1986. Phillies beat the Mets 6-0. I remember asking my dad, “What’s that smell?” to which he casually replied, “Marijuana.” Lol.
Was also present for the last ever game against the Braves and many games in between. Lots of memories.
That was a Sunday afternoon, the mets were supposed to clinch the division, in that series, but were swept
The best years I’ve lived in Philadelphia was going to see the eagles and Phillies play! From the 1980 nfc championship game win over the Dallas cowboys! To the 1980 World Series win. And the Phillies winning the 1993 nlcs over the Braves!!
With all due respect, this video has several flaws in it.
-The Vet is well remembered in Philadelphia and by Philly sports fans. To this day, fans that were born after early 2004 are told the tales, myths, and facts of the Vet.
-The "upper level" scoreboards that you stated were installed when the Vet opened were actually installed in the mid 1980s. Originally, the digital scoreboards were in between the upper bowl, and the lower bowl, which, you actually showed pictures of in this video.
I suggest doing comprehensive research of your videos before releasing them. This has an excessive amount of flaws, some half truths, and exaggerations.
I agree, very well remembered! Sitting in the 700 level was a rite of passage for me as a child. Sooooo many great memories.
I agree. Very fond memories of The Vet in the 90's growing up. For the Phillies games, we'd always sit in the first row of seats in the outfield. I remember having a fewl conversations with CF's of opposing teams.
Before I was about to hit "reply," I wanted to check my, "bag of tickets" as I call it. It's a bag filled with tickets of events I've been to over the years. Movies, sporting events, concerts, etc. Sure enough, I still have two tickets from the The Vet. I have a Phillies-Giants ticket from April 25, 2003. The other one is Phillies-Astros (back when they were in the NL) from August 18, 1998. The Giants ticket is particularly special, not only because it was the last season at The Vet, but we went there as part of a school trip that lasted the entire day, including taking a tour on the Delaware River via the Spirit of Philadelphia.
Agreed. Saw my first Phillies game there in 1971. Saw the National League playoffs there in 1980. I sat up in the 700 level, right next to the Marlboro man, as far up as you could go. I miss that stadium. I've only been to the new one twice since it has opened. I miss the Spectrum too. Saw many a concert there and at JFK Stadium.
@@abssch My home bar is named the 700 Level in remembrance of the games I attended in that section as a kid, and has a pair of Vet seats in it
Yes sir!!!
Dude, it's SHIBE Park, NOT Shribe.
He got called out for it a few days earlier. He's determined to call it Shribe for some reason.
You could see steam coming off that turf in a July-August day game. 700 level general admission for 5$ in the 1990s. Parents had to close my eyes once when the drunks got in a fight and one fell to the lower level.
When the Vet opened there were seats in the upper reaches of the 700 level for Phillies games which were only 50 cents. Even in those days I thought it was crazy. I saw some great events at the Vet but I can't honestly say I was too awfully saddened when it was imploded.
I visited this stadium quite a few times in the 1980s and early 90s. The seating colors weren't bad to look at in person. Those yellows and oranges were everywhere in that time period. The real reason that color was popular was because it hid stains from cigarettes and spilled beer. Dark colors hide stains too but got really hot in the sun. The yellow seats were much cooler.
Love this stadium. Went to many eagles and Phillies games here. I remember getting the free Phillies tix in a pack of Phillies Frank hot dogs. How times have changed.
Fucking right man great memories
Arizona Diamondbacks NLCS tickets are going for $15 on Seat Geek, right now. You you imagine a $15 playoff ticket to CBP?
Yup I went to many games from the phillies Frank's boxes.
Man in the mid 70s the kids in our South Jersey neighborhood crew (oldest 14 and youngest 12) would get dropped off at the High Speed Line I think in Haddonfield by our parents. We would take that train across the bridge into Philly, then transfer to the subway and make our way to South Philly. Would buy tickets for seats in the 700 level for .50 cents and watch the game until about the 7th inning. Then we would sneak down to the 200 or 300 level and watch the last few innings from there as usually quite a few seats were empty by that time. Great memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another story Tom Garvey who worked at the parking lot right by The Vet lived at Veterans Stadium inside a empty concession in which he turned into a small apartment and lived there from 1979-1981 and he had keys unfortunately no photos exist but its true
I remember going to the Vet for a lot of Phillies games. 700 level behind the plate. Great memories. I moved to Florida in 02.
Shibe Park. How many times do we need to correct you?
I had been to the vet before as a kid and today what’s left of it is now parking for Citizens Bank Park. Not to mention that my father also used to go there for both Eagles and Phillies games too.
I loved and miss the Vet very much. CBP is a beautiful stadium but I never had the fun there that I had at the Vet. When the Phillies were bad (which was most of the 30 years) you could just sit and people watch. So many great memories and stories from there.
One thing that should have been brought up is that Veterans Stadium was owned & mismanaged by the city of Philadelphia. My buddy's dad worked in the boiler room and before it was ten years old told me it had numerous problems including blown boiler tubes that had a contractor give the lowest bid to maintain chemicals & condition of these expensive to replace tubes.
I had my first police interaction where I was in trouble, at the Vet. I was 12, and Mom - who had brought me and my friends - was not pleased.
Also, the Vet was a dump and I hated it but it was our dump so I went.
You are correct, Temple Univ like many metropolitan universities is land locked and has no place to put a football stadium. To add to the insult of a terrible atmosphere for a college game, its reported Temple pays well over 1 million dollars a year to rent Lincoln Financial.
Weren't there plans recently for Temple to build a new stadium near the campus? I'm not sure what bacame of that idea.
I remember the Stargell Star that was placed where he hit the longest HR in that stadium
This Place was a dump compared to the Bank & the Linc, but it was our dump & it had a jail, because Philly has the best fans on earth!
My home stadium as a kid. I saw lots of games there -- Phillies, Eagles, and even Temple. I have vivid memories of attending the season opener of Rams v. Eagles on 9/9/01. One thing that doesn't get mentioned a lot was the Stargell star, where Willie Stargell hit the longest HR recorded in the stadium. The circular field surrounding the star was painted white until he died, then they changed it to black. There's a photo on the web during the demolition where the white background can be seen under where the Exit sign had been.
I remember going to see a Army and Navy Game there in the 80's it was the best!!
My favorite experience at the Vet was the first game after September 11th against the Braves. It was an incredible atmosphere. There weren’t that many people there, considering how many seats were at the Vet but it felt full to me. Scott Rolen had a great game. I get chills thinking about it.
I grew up going to phillies games there. They used to give free tickets out in hotdog packages lol😂
Yes! Phillies Franks!
I remember that too! It shows you how desperate to get people to their games, when attendance was so sparse when the Phillies were totally horrible back in the day! 🤣L.O.L.!
At least Shibe Park (NOT "Shribe"!!) and even Baker Bowl was built to last! No really, Baker Bowl was considered a big joke for years when the Phillies finally left it in 1938...yet it still hung on for 12 more years!!
And you were alive 100 years ago to actually know this?
@@trickolas78 Dude there are these things called websites and books that you can find out about historic ballparks...not to mention Wikipedia.
People do read and are interested in history. @@trickolas78
Back in the day I couldn’t tell the difference between Veterans Stadium, Three Rivers, and Riverfront.
Quite a few former Phillies players are coming down with brain cancer due to the turf they played on.
I miss massive upper decks. Looked much more intimidating.
I spent a few nights and Sunday afternoons in that stadium. I thought it was an awesome stadium when it opened. It was a giant leap over Connie Mack stadium.
You can say what you want about veterans stadium but I have great memories there. Saw many Phillies games there as well as other events there. I will always have fond memories of Veterans stadium and I don’t care what anyone says, it will always be special to me
"Upper deck" was said 8 times
I absolutely loved the vet for Football. I still prefer it over the Lincoln Financial Field. But Citizens Bank is Truly a Gem. Love watching games there
The linc sucks. Just like the team it houses
There was nothing wrong with "donut" stadiums. "They all looked the same", they say. No they didn't. You could show me any of the "concrete donut" stadiums and I could instantly tell you which stadium was which. "They were horrible for baseball", they complain. By what metric? By whose standard? "You can't fill a 60,000 stadium for baseball, it's stupid", they slander. "Right, because it's built for BOTH baseball AND football." I don't think Phillies fans in 1980 thought: "Ugggh! We just won the World Series and dammit, if it were only a 35,000 seat knock-off of Fenway Park, I'd have enjoyed it more!! ARRRGGG dang Veterans Stadium!"
They were cost efficient, too. Two sports one stadium. The biggest problem was that they convinced team owners that they could get the public to pay for their playpens. And you're right, I would have a more difficult time differentiating many of the current stadia than those from the '70's.
I dunno, I hate going to Rogers Center in Toronto for the Jays. Seats don't face the correct way, angles are all wrong. They're actually going to fix it this offseason.
And everyone always cries about the upper decks being too big and empty I actually liked the colors of the vet and the old stadium in Miami even if the seats was empty it still looked good to me.
I think there should be some in mlb today maybe 3 or 4 teams because all the stadiums look the same today. Uneven and unsymmetrical. Not easy on the eyes. I get it’s a baseball thing but do it with modern twist. A lot of these multipurpose stadiums were neglected that’s why they were bad. You got keep them nice and polished
You have to admit Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta and Riverfront Stadium in Cincy looked almost identical, at least on the outside. Veterans Stadium and Three Rivers did have unique looks though even though they were shaped about the same.
I attended baseball games there a few times. Loved that Philly Phanatic!!
I live in Philly and what I love the most is seeing the beautiful sunsets in the summer. I usually like to sit in the 200 level facing downtown center city and the sunsets are so amazing. I recall at the vet they had sunsets but it was entirely blocked. No good sunsets over the city. And I also don't miss the 700 level at all!!
I was blessed to have access to that shit turf in the early 90’s. My ex girlfriends mom worked for the front office. I used to sit on the ground against the mat in the end zone during the gang-green days. 🦅
The Vet was the first MLB stadium I ever went to. Other defunct stadiums I went to include old Yankee Stadium, Memorial Stadium and the Astrodome.
I've been to the Vet, Tiger, Memorial (Baltimore), Turner (LOL) as my defunct MLB stadium list.
Went here once on a 100° day in July. Maybe the most uncomfortable stadium ever. The entire structure is a concrete bowl with no shade whatsoever. The turf field absorbs heat and it radiates throughout the concrete donut seating bowl. The netting behind home plate was minimal and roughly the width of a vollyball net and 8' tall. Thankfully the Phillies got a real ballpark.
You call what you want this place had home-field advantage way more than the link does now
2:32 The two scoreboards shown are not the two being described in the narration. The two original ones were lower and more primitive, and larger, attached to the front of the upper deck. The one in left field was removed at some point, and only the one in right field was present when the Phillies won the World Series in 1980. The two boards in the picture, way up near the roof, replaced the original boards later.
The original scoreboards were hydraulically operated and lowered into the ground for Eagles games. They blocked the view of the 300 Level seats in Left and Right Fields. In Left Field was the scoreboard, in Right Field was the animated "information" scoreboard (stats, line-ups, messages, etc.) I really liked that animated board! As you may remember, in the early years, between these two big boards, the 300 Level sections were covered with black mesh. And there also was Phila. Phil (with bat on his shoulder), the Liberty Bell, the American Flag (which dropped down when the Phils hit a Home Run), and Phila. Phyllis (sitting on top of a cannon.) Behind the Center Field fence were "The Dancing Waters" (fountains.) The original signs that hung down from the roof were Sunoco (Left Field) Schmidt's Beer (Center Field) Western Savings Bank (Right Field.)
“THE DIRTY, STINKING, GREEN DRUNK BIRDS. AT THE VET.” -J.T THE BRICK, GIANTS FAN
The colors were perfect for the time it was constructed dude.
I remember being a little kid going to Phillies games there, feeling like we spent multiple innings just walking up the ramps to get to our seats in the nosebleed section.
It was a great place, comfortable and no bad seats. It was so much better than Connie Mac you felt like you were in heaven
Saw the first Phillies playoff game in 26 years since the 1950 WS.
Had standing room only tickets and stood at the very top of the 700 level. Unfortunately, the Phil's played the Big Red Machine (Cincinatti Reds) and got swept in that series.
Saw the Phillies win a pennant there and was at the flare gun game
I was also at that game Eagles vs the 49ers.
That MNF game was the beginning of the end for the Vet.
Bro, great video. One thing I was really hoping you’d touch on regarding the Vet was how the Astroturf is suspected of having been made with carcinogens and noted the several former Phillies players who ended up with cancer sometime down the road. Quite a few former players have died of similar brain blastoma if I recall correctly. Not trying to hate whatsoever. It was entertaining, no doubt, but it would’ve been another cool tidbit to throw in there. Ya got a new subscriber.
Good video buddy. In Philly it is not forgotten because it matched the character of the city so well. It was also damn loud during Eagles games.
The other renovation was they added "luxury" boxes at the top of the stadium. The infield seats weren't that bad even high up. I had a partial plan by first base, the first row of the upper deck. They weren't bad.
Those boxes were part of a deal so Norman Braman wouldn't move the team out of Philadelphia.
The score boards on in the upper deck were not original to the stadium they were added in the 90's I believe. The 2 score boards that were their in 1970 on opening day were later remove or just lowered to their football positions. The sky boxes were also added in the 90's, you use to be able to walk around the top of the stadium in a complete circle.
Early/Mid 80’s for upper deck scoreboards and skyboxes. Skyboxes added after Leonard Tose threatened to move team to Phoenix as part of deal to keep team in Phila.
You're exactly right! The original main scoreboard was lower (just below the upper deck) Those 2 upper scoreboards were not pat of the original design.
@robtaylor4365 I do remember after the first year or two of the opening, someone fell from the lower deck under one score boards causing them to restrict any seating in the scoreboard areas.
Yes I do remember when that happened
Ok. Not going to troll. This is the case of someone too young taking on this subject. Hard to completely understand "The Vet" if you are under 40. It was a huge part of our lives as Philly sports fans. So much so that I have a piece of concrete from the demolition that came from someone who knew someone...I was not living in the area when it was demolished otherwise I would have been there too. If you had been older you would have included Phil and Phillis and the original Liberty Bell they rung on a HR, the original scoreboards (think animation like in the original "Major League" movie) which no-one else had ever seen and the dancing waters behind the center field wall. Was a playground for kids in the upper decks as we ran laps around the concourse when bored and took care of our gloves thinking that maybe Mike Schmidt or Greg Luzinski would hit an upper deck HR we could catch. Or how about the thousands of free tickets they gave out to school students for getting straight A's? We baked in the sun on hard plastic seats and shivered in the swirling winter winds. You would have mentioned the 120+ degrees the field would get in the summer. I can tell you from experience, once playing soccer on it in July for a high school all star soccer game that the heat was brutal as was the hardness of the turf (I was a goalkeeper so gobruised up pretty good). Also was a ball boy for a game when the Phila Atoms played soccer there. From firework nights to high school football, concerts, yes Temple football games (anyone remember the infamous Syracuse game in the 80's when students pelted the field with oranges?), to the many memories on the field, the Vet was a big part of many Philadelphian's lives. It was so much more than the Phillies and the Eagles. It was a huge concrete pit and was not, in hindsight, fan-friendly and we complained as much as we loved it, but it was and always will be "The Vet".
The colors were not that bad.. when viewed from an 1970’s eye… viewed from today.. UGLY.. but back then, those were common colors used. Different ERA.. Different ideals.. and for MLB.. They often packed that place.. you forget.. back then, those big stadiums sold out. MLB still priced tickets affordable. Now, MLB’s popularity whains and the ticket prices soar so fans are turning off…
Yep it was a different era Not expensive like it is today Miss those times
RFK Stadium's seats had that earth tone color scheme too. RFK was the first of the concrete ashtray multipurpose stadia to be completed. Baltimore's Memoiral Stadium and Milwaukee's County Stadium, which predated DC Stadium/RFK, were multipurpose stadia but not of the concrete donut design. RIP Veterans Stadium. Thanks for being the sports venue I grew up with more than any other.
700 level was my home. Right next to the Phanavision.
One thing about this stadium that people may not know about is that it was also home to two different Philadelphia teams in the NASL (the predecessor to MLS), the Atoms from 1973-75 & the Fury from 1978-80. Like it was for football & baseball, Veterans Stadium was absolutely terrible for soccer with players complaining about the AstroTurf.
I’ve had the LINC all my life, and I love that stadium
The vet was a great stadium! Shame Philadelphia didn’t take care of it
A great stadium?! None of those multi-purpose stadiums were considered great, particularly for baseball. There's a reason why most of them were gone in around 30 years. The outfield upper deck at the Vet had lousy sight-lines for baseball as you couldn't even see(without standing up) the warning track right in front of you if you were sitting in the upper 600 or 700 level.
miss this place.
The Vet was the best home field advantage for the Eagles
Its not fall colours its simply what colours were used for so much in the 70s. Just like Charles Town Racea (Shennedoah Downs) in Charles Town. It had those wonderful brown orange yello colours thru the late 90s until its buy out and transformation in to gambling machines and a video casino.
I read something recently where the turf in Vet Stadium caused cancer in a lot of players due to the chemicals in it.
I think maybe you are just saying Shribe Park as a running joke now. You would think from the comments you would get the correct pronunciation by now.
Hey, he's trolling us!
I miss this place!!
I remember as a kid seeing baseball games on TV when my Dodgers used to go on their road trips in the Eastcoast back in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Vet, Three Rivers and Riverfront stadiums kind of looked the same to me as a kid but I liked those stadiums. Lol! Olympic Stadium was another stadium I remember from that era. I remember John Kruk, Darren Daulton and the rest of the Phillies from that time.
5:25: I went to one Eagles game in my life. It was December 27 1981, a playoff game at Veterans Stadium against the hated New York Giants. This was 11 months after the Eagles had lost the Super Bowl in an upset to Jim Plunkett and the Oakland Raiders. The stadium was filled with Giants fans. It was a 4 PM start due to TV and fans from both sides had hours to get drunk in the pregame tailgates. The Eagles went down 20-0 in the first quarter. The combination of angry Eagles fans, boisterous New Yorkers and mass drunkiness led to many fights in the stands, including people being throw down the stairs. Beer was dumped on people a couple of rows behind us and a fight broke out in the section to our right. That was the beginning of events that led to putting a jail inside Veterans Stadium. It wasn't a case of just Eagles fans. It was that both the Philiies and the Eagles had hated rivals with fans who traveled just north of there in New York, plus Cowboys fans invading the premises when the Eagles played them once every year.
My dad has his ticket stub for the last Phillies game played in that stadium has the price of ticket date and everything also has pictures of it behind demoed and something else of it framed don’t remember what tho. My neighbor also has 2 of the VETS seats before it got demoed they auctioned off seats and everything to buy and he bought 2.
I only went to The Vet once at the beginning of the final month of the final season. Red Sox vs. Phillies It was awful place to play baseball. The bullpens were like a closet Too large. I had to go down a couple of levels for a cheese steak sandwich. Missed 3 innings of the game Only time I went there. It was instresing experience.
That place was definitely a home field advantage.
Spent many an hour there in the 700 level. Also dont forget the Atoms and the Fury played soccer at the Vet too. Imagine soccer on that concrete field...
Id call the Vet's surface a pool table. Id call it the parking lot now.
The Rome Colosseum was an all-purpose stadium and still stands today😂
When I visited the Colosseum in Rome, it immediately was obvious that the design was very similar to the Vet. The overall shape, the outer ramps to the upper levels, the way the stands went down to field level, the way they had to ration wine because drunkards became a problem. All copied by the Vet.
Whalbergs Invincible movie shows the stadium as CGI. Worth checking out.
Always have a special place in my heart for candlestick
Good Riddance to that unctuous carbuncle of a stadium.
Ah yes without the Vet there would not be the existence of the greatest parking lot in America. Got all the stadiums and the arena, Xfinity Live smack dab in the middle, you can do it all there
Black Friday. Luzinski didn't catch it. Never forgotten.
Did u do one on the Philly spectrum ??????
That Was The Phillies Dump Of A Stadium. The Playing Surface Was Dangerous(ASTRO TURF). Lots Of Careers Were Ruined.
I think those two outfield scoreboards were not original and were added later during one of the many upgrades the stadium went through in its life time.
Go right ahead, Ginger, make me feel old. 🤣 (I remember making trips to the construction site when it was almost ready for occupancy. I was a SJ teen with a newly minted DL. It was impressive for the time. I also remember being a little kid going to Franklin Field (U od Penn) to see the EAGLES GO BIRDS, AND a single trip to Connie Mac Stadium.)
“Fenway” is the name of a company. The area it’s in is not called Fenway, it’s called the “Fens” (which means marshy type area, which I’ll circle back to this).
“Fenway” was the name of the local real estate company that owned the lot that it’s on.
Thus why in the movie “The Departed” Nicholson says “When I tell you to bury someone in the marsh, you bury them in the marsh” Told you I’d circle back.
If anyone complains about stadium names today and companies, it’s not a new thing, Fenway Park and I rest my case.
Who gives a crap about Boston, or Fenway.
@@brucepedersen5647 I didn’t mention it, the video did.
I’ve been asking that question for years. Fenway (and Boston) might be the most overrated place on the planet. It’s cramped, rat infested, overpriced, the history of it either doesn’t exist anymore or is made up to pawn off a lie.
Wrigley? That's the gum guy. Another corporate stadium name that's old as dirt.
I loved going to Phillies games there 😂
Nailed it! Oh Yeah, Concrete indeed.
Football players Hated that place. Artificial Turf on top of Concrete.
No Padding at all.
The upper deck scoreboards didn't appear until the late 80's. They had 2 large scoreboards over the outfield fence before that
The two jumbo screens at the top weren’t the OG scoreboards.
Six former Phillies actually died from brain cancer. They think it’s from the Astroturf that was in veterans Stadium. They did testing on the pieces of turf.
I remember the Artificial Turf being a DISASTER for NFL Players. It was basically a carpet over concrete and I think it was a WR named Wendell Davis who ruptured BOTH of his Patella Tendons on that surface and I'm not kidding! The dude played for the Bears and was drafted out of LSU, I think?
Only been to the vet 1 time in my life when I was about 6 years old in 2003
The turf has also been suspect in several of the Phillies players deaths from brain cancer/tumor. Daulton, vukovich, Mike ryan, tug McGraw and several other players. Some type of chemical that emanated from the turf. With the heat in the summer it made it worse
I seem to recall Cleveland Browns player Jerry Sherk had some skin scraped off. (Astroturf was like playng on a cheese-grater.) Sherk developed a staph infection that shortened his career.
The Vet had a little medical center downstairs adjacent to the jail. Dynamite care.
Don’t remember which had the worse bathrooms the vet or the Spectrum.
They were both upgrades on Connie Mack Stadium.
I usually held it in when I went to an event at the Spectrum 🤣🤣🤣. At least at the Vet there was more than one
Grew up at the Vet. I miss it
It would be nice if Temple could play their home games at Franklin Field when Penn is on the road if both universities could come to some agreements
Veterans Stadium lasted both not as long but roughly even the same years that Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh PA (1971-2001). Basically it was the cookie cutter multi-use stadium era of the late 20th century. I wish they didn’t tear all of then down. Just my opinion.
Philly fans are a different breed.