Every morning when I drive over the Walt Whitman Bridge to the Broad Street exit, I have a habit of looking to my left. It’s not that I’m trying to cause an accident: I just like checking out the progress of Citizens Bank Park.
Every day, it seems as if more and more blue seats are filling in around the stadium, making it look more and more like a ballpark.
Last Thursday afternoon, I got an even closer glimpse of the future when I joined other media members on a tour of the ballpark. Complete with our plastic goggles and hardhats, we walked in along the lower level to see the latest addition — a natural grass field. During the last week of October, the Phillies transported roughly 100,000 square feet of sod from the Tuckahoe Turf Farm in Hammonton, N.J., and installed it in the infield. Even though there weren’t any players on the field, I couldn’t help but stand there in amazement. This is what a baseball stadium is supposed to look like — well, with lower-level seats, of course.
Going to the Vet as a fan and sports reporter was always fun, but there was nothing memorable about the stadium. There was no Monument Park like the Yankees have, or a Green Monster like at Fenway Park in Boston. The Vet was simply another donut-shaped stadium along the lines of Shea Stadium in New York and Cinergy Field in Cincinnati. It wasn’t one of those must-see arenas where you go for the atmosphere as much as the game.
The Phillies soon will have that ambiance with the state-of-the-art, 43,000-seat ballpark. It’s not just going to be about the natural grass field that will take two hours to mow per day. It’ll be about the experience of taking a walk down Ashburn Alley to enjoy the entertainment and delicious foods. It’ll be about standing up and cheering every time Jim Thome hits a home run. It’ll be about breaking in Citizens Bank Park with a World Series championship.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
