The date was June 28, 1970, and it was the end of an era in Pittsburgh sports.
My beloved Buccos were closing out 61 years of history at Forbes Field in a manner fitting of the times — by playing a daytime doubleheader. I was 13 and lucky enough with my brother and a few friends to be in seats down the first base line.
Winning the first game, 3-2, over the rival Cubs only enhanced the excitement in being a part of Pirates history. Al Oliver hit the last home run in Forbes Field in the second game and the Pirates won again, 4-1. All was right with the world.
As they finished the postgame ceremonies by raffling off everything from the bases and home plate to the bullpen phone, I felt an emptiness inside.
I would never see another hard grounder bounce off the rock-like infield known as the “alabaster plaster,” never again get a bleacher seat for a buck, never see another Stargell homer climb majestically over the right-field grandstand and never again see the Forbes Field ivy that clung to the outfield’s brick walls.
I didn’t win anything in the raffle and thought I would be going home with just my memories when, suddenly, there was a mad rush toward the scoreboard in left field.
The numbers and team names that hung on the hand-operated scoreboard were still there.
I was one of the first to reach the scoreboard but was crushed by much bigger kids and grown men who literally scrambled over me, some almost using me as a ladder to get up to that scoreboard.
My friend Lenny managed to secure the Boston sign (only to lose it later after lending it to a local restaurant that sold it with the business).
Despite losing out on scoreboard memorabilia, I did not go home empty-handed. Everyone was removing the seats piece by piece, and we managed to score a couple. We must have looked strange to the people on the bus going home, a handful of kids with goofy grins on our faces lugging a Boston sign, stadium seats and as much Forbes Field ivy as we could carry.
My dad, a very handy guy, built a patio in our backyard on the North Side using cobblestones and cement. He cemented the seats from Forbes Field into the patio and planted the ivy on the hillside next to it. We would sit out on the patio on warm summer evenings watching the Bucs on our portable black-and-white TV or listening to the game on the radio while sitting in our Forbes Field seats looking at our Forbes Field ivy.
I managed to get tickets to the Three Rivers Stadium opener that followed Forbes Field’s demise, as well as the final game there 30 years later, but I wasn’t able to get tickets to the opener at PNC Park in 2001.
I have seen a lot of notable games and many great Pirates teams at the stadiums that followed Forbes Field, but nothing will ever compare to the memories I have of the days I spent in the Oakland ballpark as a kid. I fell in love back then with the Buccos and the purest sport there is.
It’s been many years since I lived at that house with the treasures in the backyard along Perrysville Avenue (I heard recently that the ivy is still there), but sometimes when I’m at a game at PNC Park or watching at home, I close my eyes and can still see Forbes Field.
I see Clemente throwing out a runner from deep right field or Stargell hitting a monster home run over the right-field stands or Maz and Alley turning another amazing double play, and once again, all is right with the world.
Tom Link of Lower Burrell, an account manager for a trucking firm, can be reached at tomlink963@msn.com.
The PG Portfolio welcomes “Baseball Lore” submissions and other reader essays. Send your writing to page2@post-gazette.com; or by mail to Portfolio, Post-Gazette, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh PA 15222. Portfolio editor Gary Rotstein may be reached at 412-263-1255.
First Published: May 22, 2015, 4:00 a.m.