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.

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Quick Facts: Rating: 4 baseballs
If they had built this park with any kind of view, the new park in Philadelphia would have jumped into the upper echelon in my list of favorite Major League parks.

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 LEDs. 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.


Game Date League Level Result
658 Thu 17-Jun-2004 Major MLB Detroit 5, PHILADELPHIA 4, 11 inn, night
801 Wed 28-Sep-2005 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 16, NY Mets 6
826 Sun 30-Jul-2006 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 9, Florida 2, night
892 Mon 27-Aug-2007 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 9, NY Mets 2
927 Sun 6-Jul-2008 Major MLB NY Mets 4, PHILADELPHIA 2, 12 inn
1049 Tue 29-Sep-2009 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 7, Houston 4
1094 Mon 6-Sep-2010 Major MLB Florida 7, PHILADELPHIA 1, day
1129 Sat 23-Jul-2011 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 8, San Diego 6
1228 Wed 29-Aug-2012 Major MLB NY Mets 3, PHILADELPHIA 2
1259 Wed 31-Jul-2013 Major MLB San Francisco 9, PHILADELPHIA 2
1342 Mon 18-Aug-2014 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 4, Seattle 1
1448 Wed 30-Sep-2015 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 7, NY Mets 5
1533 Sun 2-Oct-2016 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 5, NY Mets 2
1621 Sun 1-Oct-2017 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 11, NY Mets 0
1648 Thu 14-Jun-2018 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 9, Colorado 3
1733 Fri 28-Sep-2018 Major MLB Atlanta 10, PHILADELPHIA 2
1918 Fri 27-Sep-2019 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 5, Miami 4, 15 inn
2063 Thu 9-Sep-2021 Major MLB Colorado 4, PHILADELPHIA 3
2255 Sun 25-Sep-2022 Major MLB Atlanta 8, PHILADELPHIA 7, 11 inn
2438 Wed 27-Sep-2023 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 7, Pittsburgh 6
2618 Mon 23-Sep-2024 Major MLB PHILADELPHIA 6, Chi Cubs 2
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