Memories of Veterans Stadium
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- For decades, Veterans Stadium served as the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. These are my memories of watching my team play ball in my ballpark.
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My first visit to a Major League Ballpark was on Friday, June 8th 1979. I was 12 years old at the time and it was a night game vs the Atlanta Braves. My uncle had brought binoculars with him and I was able to look through them and there, coaching first base for the Braves was none other than Henry Aaron. That was my biggest thrill attending that very first game. We left in the 8th inning as the score was tied and we wanted to beat traffic out of there. The game went 10 innings with Atlanta winning. I attended other games there, have had the privilege of going to Oriole Park at Camden Yards two or three times, and even old venerable Yankee Stadium back in 1991 for a game vs. the Chicago White Sox. But I will always have fond memories of the Vet being my first ever in person Major League experience. My saddest regret is that my Dad died in July 1978, and that I never got to share that type of experience with him.
6:08. Yes, they initially permitted you to bring food into the Vet. Indeed, they used to have a “picnic” section off the left field foul line.
As teenagers in the 1970’s, we would take SEPTA from NE Philly to the games: the 59-B bus down Bustleton Avenue to the Frankford El terminal, the El to the Broad Street Line subway, and the subway to South Philly.
I remember going to a “triple header” at the Vet one September afternoon. I bought the cheap general admission ticket for a double header back when you could watch both games for the price of one. Then, the PA invited the few remaining fans down to the lower level to watch a “Phutures” game involving Phillies minor league prospects. I remember hearing a commotion or brawl in the lower level concourse during the sparsely-attended Phutures game.
I went to the game where they wore the old uniforms for one game, they got CRUSHED
I did the same as you at the vet. Packed in a car with my cousins. Pack Food and Drinks. Sit in the Yellow Upperdeck for .50 specials. Walk around the stadium with my cousins. In my high school days we would get our photos taken with the cute ushers in hot pants and try and get a fantasy date with one of them LOL. I saw Willie Montenez hit a home in the dancing fountains against the Big Red Machine. It was such a fun place to be as a kid. Good Documentary!!
I worked at Veterans Stadium during the final Phillies season there, i was 17. I cleaned luxury suites between innings and at the end of every night. The company i worked for, “Team Clean” claimed an abandoned suite that we’d chill in, between innings. I saw some good stuff. The Kevin Millwood no hitter. Jim Thome and Pat Burrell back to back home runs off the Budweiser right in right field vs the Cardinals. The very last game, security was told to just stand down and let people do whatever they wanted. People were stripping signs and stuff off of the walls in the suites. My supervisors told us we didn’t even have to clean the suites at the end of the game, because the stadium was being torn down anyway. So many good memories.
I went there once or twice when I was a kid in the late 90’s. I remember one of those times I ate a whole bunch of jello before the game and when we got to the vet I threw up red jello all over my uncles car! Hahaha I remember when they deconstructed the vet. My dad bought a shirt that had the date and a picture of the vet. As a Sox fan I’m very particular about modern day stadiums. I enjoy the jewelry box size stadiums of yesteryear. So Fenway was a huge attraction to me and wriggly is another. I wish shibe park was still around, but citizens bank is a beautiful stadium. Now I understand why that bell rings now and who came up with it! I was really rooting hard for the Phil’s when they played the astros this past series. I can’t wait for baseball season! I’m gonna go to a few Phil’s games and I plan on going up to Boston to go watch the Sox at Fenway!
I probably attended about 200 games at the Vet between 1974 and 2003. It was steps away from the subway station. So many memories, both good and not so good. I had the Sunday season ticket plan from 1993 to 2003, so I was at Game 5 of the 1993 World Series in which Curt Schilling shut out the Blue Jays, as well as on April 27, 2003 when Kevin Millwood no-hit the defending National League champion Giants. I went to the 1996 All-Star Game where we good-naturedly booed Joe Carter. Before I was old enough to get tickets on my own, I attended the first two playoff games in Vet history (1976 vs. the Reds), and thinking that series akin to a tennis match because the Reds swept the Phillies 6-3, 6-2, and in Cincinnati 7-6. What can I say about the next year? I was 14 years, one month and 27 days old when I witnessed, from Section 222, row 16, seat 5, Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS, one of the most heartbreaking games in Phillies history. October 7, Black Friday, when the Phillies had a 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth inning, 2 outs and 2 strikes on the hitter, and lost the game. My mom shushed me when I said "Damn" four times. But I also saw game 6 of the 1980 World Series from that same seat, even though I thought I was a jinx and didn't attend an NLCS game until 1993 (the pennant-clincher, when I literally screamed and swallowed a strip from a cheerleader's pom-poms). It may have been a concrete doughnut, but it was the Phillies' (and Eagles') home for more than 30 years.
In all fairness, the reason that railing broke during the Army-Navy game was because too many people were leaning against it. In fact, while mugging for the TV cameras, they were swaying back and forth. You can’t blame that on an aging stadium, but that didn’t stop people from trying.
In ’75 a couple of my Philadelphia Textile college buddies went to every Phillies game played at home at the Vet on a Tuesday. My buddies and I used to wait until the final pitch then we streaked down the mezzanine to our car to beat the traffic. Except on the day Dick Allen returned.
My best memory of Tony Taylor is that Dick Allen wanted him in uniform as a player (not coach) before he signed in 1975. I was at the Vet on Tuesday, May 14, 1975 to see Dick Allen’s return. We gave him a five minute standing ovation, before he got a hit, then we stood clapping and shouting for another eight minutes as he stood on first base with a big grin.
That night the Vet was packed and the Schuylkill Expressway one big parking lot. Then, rolling up on our right came Tony Taylor in the driver’s seat of a big car! Over the next 10-15 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic we had a wonderful conversation with Mr. Taylor about him, Dick Allen, and the Phillies.
I was in the pregame show opening day when Kiteman crashed. We went back to the bus to change out of our costumes and I missed it!
I was there when Karl Wallenda tightrope walked across Veterans Stadium. It was a double header against the Montreal Expos. It was also my first time ever going to a professional baseball game or any professional sport. I was 7 years old and my dad bought us tickets to take a bus trip to the game. It was the first of a few trips over the next few years.
Being from New York, I took the trip to the Vet twice. Once in 1990 for a Dodgers-Phillies game. A friend of mine had connections with Tom Lasorda. The other time was with a neighbor I grew up with who was in the Navy stationed at Philly. We went to an Army Navy game. My wife and I went to Citizens Bank in 2016 as it was on our bucket list and the Braves won 2-0 but it was a beautiful park.
I’m totally blown away of your stories about the “Vet”. I was in the Canadian military and totally missed the 1980 World Series. The acquisition of Pete Rose following the 1978 season was the key to the Phils first title since 1915. Watching games from the Vet on TV against the Montreal Expos the stadium looked so huge. As you have stated here the Vet had more than enough character,nuances and personality within itself. I appreciate as always your memories and stories on the history of Philadelphia baseball.
Phillies didn't win the title in 1915. They lost in 5 games.
I was driving down the Surekill Distressway one afternoon when Bill Campbell came on 1210AM and said, "The Phillies might get Pete Rose!" I almost drove off the highway. Weirdly, I hated Pete Rose with a passion until that moment. Suddenly I loved him! We are very strange creatures.
Thank you, I enjoy the simple yet very heartfelt presentation. Keep it going.
Many great memories of the Vet. It may have been a dump, it was our dump! My family got tickets for the World Series clinching game in 1980. My parents sat in the 300 level behind home plate and my sister and I sat in the 600 level in left field. Didn't matter we saw the Phillies win.
Thank you so much for the video! Just like you Veterans Stadium means the world to me. I share many memories with my dad who is sadly gone but them wonderful precious memories will be with me forever. I am 53 as a Phillies fan you can't grow up in a better time or era. It's very funny that you mention the Poconos during 1980 my mom and dad and I are up at the Sportsman Hotel during the Houston series. With the game being on by the bar near the restroom my dad and I would take turns going to the bathroom to get the score of the game not to make my mom upset with both of us. I hate people that criticize the vet! It wasn't named after any corporate sponsor it is named after our heroes that fought for us to keep us free! People bitching complain about the turf it is that turf the championship ship head was filled on October 21st 1980 the first time in 96 years of our history
The 14 and under giveaways were always a hit for us - go to a game for under $7 in the 700 level general admission seats (between the foul poles in outfield) and dad would go get $0.99 hoagies and bring the orange/white cooler with lemonade or iced tea. Good times in the 80s at the Vet.
Sorry first time with a new phone it was that turf championship champagne was spilled on God bless the vet and all those who were lucky enough to share memories of that wonderful place
My parents were at the 1990 no hitter and then took my sister and I to the game Milwood pitched in 2003. I’ll never forget it
That's amazing, talk about going full circle!
Giles was doing promotions for the Astros in the 'Dome before coming to Philly, the 'homer spectacular' was a redux of the display
at the Astrodome.
They have markers where all the bases were, not just the pitchers mound and home plate
What I remember is the 10th inning, they had great cheese steaks
The Vet was a 2-sport monstrosity that was lousy for both sports. We used to have season tickets at Franklin Field for the Eagles-- everyone was right on top of the action. At the Vet, everything was at a distance, Phillies as well as the Eagles and Temple - yeah, they played there too.
I thought it was perfect for baseball. Kind of hard to fit a rectangle football field in a circle and have close action. Matter of fact it's impossible to get close action in a football only field. If your seat is close to the opposite end zone can't see much of the action.
Yes, it was one of several “cookie cutter” multi-purpose stadiums built then as the fad of the times. Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh were the others built around the same time.
Faz com o Baker bowl
Does anyone have videos if the Padilla Flotilla or the Wolfpack? Those were some of the best fans in the world, and I'm a Mets fan so I naturally hate the Phillies. Someone needs to unearth some footage of these guys.
Veterans Stadium was one of the worst baseball stadiums ever. During day games, the sun heated the astroturf to the discomfort of players and fans. The stadium overall was sterile and unimaginative -- as were all the cookie-cutter ballparks. Good riddance!