VETERANS STADIUM

Philadelphia 'Veterans Stadium' (informally called '"The Vet"') was a professional sports facility located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It housed the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League from 1971 through 2002 and the National League's Philadelphia Phillies from 1971 through 2003. The listed capacity for baseball in 1971 was 56,371 and for football was listed with a 62,000 seat capacity. The 1976 and 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Games were held at the venue. The Vet also hosted the annual Army-Navy football game 17 times, first in 1980 and last in 2001. In addition, numerous concerts were performed here by artists ranging from The Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen to 'N Sync and religious events from annual Jehovah's Witnesses conventions to a Billy Graham crusade in 1992.

Contents

History

Playing surface

First Phillies game

Memorable events

Fans

Final game and demolition

Trivia

See also

External links

History

Philadelphia voters approved a $25 million bond issue for a new stadium in 1964, but had to go to the polls yet again in 1967 and approve another $13 million due to cost overruns. At a total cost of $50 million, it was one of the most expensive ballparks to date.
The stadium was named by Philadelphia's City Council for the veterans of all wars in 1968, and originally scheduled to open in 1970. However, the opening was delayed a year due to a combination of bad weather and cost overruns. The stadium's design was nearly circular, attempting to facilitate both football and baseball, unfortunately, as was the case with other cities in which this so-called "cookie cutter" approach was employed (Washington, New York, Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Diego, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh), the fundamentally different shapes of the playing fields made the stadium inadequate to the needs of either sport.
Veterans Stadium was a complicated structure, its seating layered in seven separate levels. The lowest, or "100 Level," extended only part way around the structure, between roughly the 25-yard lines for football games and near the two dugouts for baseball. The "200 Level" comprised field-level boxes, and the "300 Level" housed what were labeled "Terrace Boxes. " These three levels collectively made up the "Lower Stands." The "400 Level" was reserved for the press and dignitaries; the upper level began with "500 Level" (or "Loge Boxes"), the "600 Level" (Upper reserved, or individual seats), and finally, the infamous "700 Level" (General Admission for baseball), where some of the most passionate sports fans on the East Coast could be found. Originally, the seats were in shades of brown, terra cotta, orange and yellow, to look like an autumn day, but in 1995 and 1996, blue seats replaced the fall-hued ones.
The stadium was harshly criticized by baseball purists. Many of the upper level seats were so far from the field that it was difficult to see the game without binoculars. There was no dirt in the infield except for sliding pits around the bases. In the autumn, the football markings were clearly visible in the spacious outfield area.
The Vet had been known for providing both the Eagles and the Phillies with great home-field advantage. In particular, the acoustics greatly enhanced the crowd noise on the field, making it nearly impossible for opposing teams to audible.

Playing surface

The field's surface, originally composed of AstroTurf (usually rated to be the "hardest" of all synthetic playing surfaces), contained many gaps and uneven patches. In several places, seams were clearly visible, giving it the nickname "Field of Seams." It perennially drew the ranking of the "NFL's worst field" in player surveys conducted by the NFL Players Association, and visiting players often fell prey to the treacherous conditions resulting in numerous injuries. The NFLPA reportedly threatened to sue the city for the poor conditions, and many sports agents told the Eagles not to even consider signing or drafting their clients. The Eagles, for their part, complained to the city on numerous occasions about the conditions at the stadium.
Two of the most publicized came six years to the day of each other:

★ October 10, 1993: Bears receiver Wendell Davis had his cleat get caught in a seam while running a simple pass route. He tore both of his patella tendons, ending his career.

★ October 10, 1999: Michael Irvin suffered the neck injury that led to his premature retirement (The previously winless Eagles rallied from a 10-0 deficit and won 13-10.).
The original AstroTurf was eventually replaced by a new surface, NexTurf, in 2001. The new surface was far softer, and reportedly much easier on the knees. However, the city crew that installed the new turf didn't install it properly, resulting in seams being visible in several places.
The first football game on the new turf was due to take place on August 13, 2001 when the Eagles played the Baltimore Ravens. However, Ravens coach Brian Billick refused to let the Ravens take the field for warm-ups when he discovered a trench around an area where third base was covered up by a NexTurf cutout. City crews tried to fix the problem to no avail, forcing the game to be cancelled. Later, players from both teams reported that they sunk into the turf in locations near the infield cutouts. Team president Joe Banner was irate after the game, calling the Vet's conditions "absolutely unacceptable" and "an embarrassment to the city of Philadelphia." City officials, however, promised that the stadium would be suitable for play when the regular season started.
The problem was caused by heavy rain over the weekend prior to the game, which made the dirt in the sliding pits and pitcher's mound so soft that the cutouts covering them in the football configuration became mushy and uneven. Even when new dirt was shoveled on top, it quickly became just as saturated as the old dirt. The problem was solved by using asphalt hot mix, which allowed for a solid, level playing surface, but required a jackhammer for removal whenever the stadium was converted from football back to baseball (between August and October of each year).

First Phillies game

The Phillies played their first game at the Vet on Saturday, April 10, 1971. The Phils beat Montreal, 4-1, before 55,352. Hall of Famer Jim Bunning was the winning pitcher while Bill Stoneman took the loss. Boots Day opened the game by grounding out to Bunning. Larry Bowa had the stadium's first hit and Don Money hit the first home run.

Memorable events

One of the most notable events in the Vet's history was Game 6 of the 1980 World Series on Oct. 21. In that game, the Phillies clinched their first world championship with a victory over the Kansas City Royals in front of 65,838 fans. Arguably the most memorable moment in Phillies history was Tug McGraw's strikeout of the Royals' Willie Wilson to clinch the series.
The Phillies also went on to clinch the National League Championship Series at The Vet twice; the first was in 1983 over local legend Tommy Lasorda and his Los Angeles Dodgers. The second came in the 1993 National League Championship Series over future divisional rivals the Atlanta Braves, which was the last LCS with a two-division format.
The Phillies hurled two no-hit games, the only nine-inning no-nos in stadium history and both coming against the San Francisco Giants: the first by Terry Mulholland on August 15, 1990, in a 6-0 Phillies win[1], the other on April 27, 2003, by Kevin Millwood in a 1-0 win[2], upstaging the Phillie Phanatic's Birthday promotion that afternoon. A five-inning no-hitter curtailed by rain in 1988 by Montréal Expos pitcher Pascual Pérez was not recognized after the 1990 season due to rules changes requiring that no-hitters had to be at least nine innings and a complete game. These are now listed as a separate section in the MLB record book.
The most notable football game ever played at The Vet took place less than three months after the Phillies' title, and was the Eagles' 20-7 victory over the hated Dallas Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game, actually played on January 11, 1981 in front of 71,250 fans. This contest was famous because the Eagles chose to wear their white jerseys for their home game in order to force the Cowboys into their "unlucky" blue jerseys.
The final football game played at the Vet was the Eagles' loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship game on January 19, 2003, as the team moved into Lincoln Financial Field the following autumn.
In 1971, Willie Stargell hit the longest home run in stadium history. The spot where the ball landed was marked with a yellow star with a black "S" inside a white circle until Stargell's 2001 death, when the white circle was painted black. The star remained until the stadium's 2004 demolition.
During the 1998 Army-Navy game, a serious accident occurred when a support rail collapsed and eight West Point cadets were injured. That led to the call for new stadiums for football and baseball for the main stadium tenants.
Another game that is best remembered by Eagles fans was known as "The Body Bag Game", which took place on November 12, 1990, when the Washington Redskins visited The Vet for a Monday Night Football game. The Eagles' head coach at that time, Buddy Ryan, was quoted as saying that the Redskins' offense would "have to be carted off in body bags". The Eagles number-one defense scored three touchdowns in a 28-14 win and knocked nine Redskin players out of the game, including both of their quarterbacks. The Redskins were forced to finish the game using running back/returner Brian Mitchell (who would become an Eagles player over a decade later) at quarterback.
Additionally, Veteran's Stadium was host to the latest finishing game in baseball history, a double-header between the Phillies and the Padres in 1993 which was famously interrupted multiple times by rain showers, and which the Padres won the first game of, and led in the second, but resulted a come-from-behind victory for the Phillies in the tenth inning off an RBI single by Phillies closing pitcher Mitch Williams. The game ended at 4:40 AM.

Fans

Fans who attended games in Veterans Stadium for a football game gained a reputation of being among the most vociferous in sports, especially those in the notorious 700 Level, the highest seating level in the stadium prior to the erection of luxury skyboxes behind that seating area. The stadium became famous for the rowdiness of Eagles fans, although the incident in which fans booed Santa Claus for failing to leave the field following a halftime show occurred in 1968 at Franklin Field.
Perhaps no game is more well-known for the fans' behavior than the 1989 follow-up game to what many called "The Bounty Bowl". On Thanksgiving Day (November 23) that year, the Eagles beat the Cowboys at Texas Stadium in which former Eagles placekicker Luis Zendejas left the game with a concussion following a hard tackle by linebacker Jesse Small after a kickoff. After the game, Cowboys rookie head coach Jimmy Johnson commented that Eagles coach Buddy Ryan instituted a bounty on Zendejas and Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. Two weeks later, on December 10, they played the rematch dubbed "Bounty Bowl II" at The Vet, which was covered with snow in the stands. The volatile mix of beer, the "bounty" and the intense hatred for "America's Team" (who were 1-15 that season) led to fans throwing snowballs at Dallas players and coaches. Beer sales were banned after that incident for two games. A similar incident a few years later at Giants Stadium during a nationally telecast San Diego Chargers-New York Giants game led the NFL to rule that seating areas must be cleared of snow within a certain time period before kickoff.
The Eagles fans' behavior during a Monday Night Football loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 1997 and a Dallas Cowboys game a year later was such that the City of Philadelphia assigned a Municipal Court Judge, Seamus McCaffrey, to The Vet on game days to deal with fans removed from the stands.

Final game and demolition

The final game ever played at the stadium was on September 28, 2003. The Phillies lost to the Atlanta Braves that afternoon, but a ceremony that followed pulled at the heartstrings of the sellout crowd. Both former general manager Paul "Pope" Owens and Tug McGraw made their final public appearances at the park that day. Later that winter, both men died. The last publicly-broadcast words ever uttered in the park were by veteran announcer Harry Kalas, who helped open the facility on April 10, 1971, paraphrasing his trademark home run call: "And now, Veterans Stadium is like a 3-1 pitch to Jim Thome or Mike Schmidt. ''It's on a looooooong drive...'IT'S OUTTA HERE!!!'''" The team moved into Citizens Bank Park in 2004, with the first game being played there on April 12, 2004.
The ultimate end came when the 33-year old stadium was imploded on March 21, 2004. A parking lot for the current sporting facilities was constructed in 2004 and 2005 at the site. On June 6, 2005, the anniversary of D-Day, a plaque and monument to commemorate the spot where the stadium stood and a memorial for all veterans was dedicated by the Phillies before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. On September 28 of that same year, the second anniversary of the final game, a historical marker commemorating where the ballpark once stood was dedicated. Granite spaces marking the former locations of home plate, the pitching mound, and the three bases for baseball, as well as the goalpost placements for football, were added onto the parking lot in April 2006 in western parking lot U.

Trivia

The Vet was recreated in the 2006 movie Invincible, the movie based on former Philadelphia Eagle Vincent Papale. In this case, filming was at Franklin Field, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, and digital effects were used to recreate the background.
The final rock concert at the Vet took place on July 26, 2003. Bon Jovi headlined, with Sheryl Crow and the Goo Goo Dolls opening.
The implosion of the Vet was shown in the DVD-only movie Punk Rock Holocaust, although there, it was alleged to be the Warped Tour's venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

See also

★ List of stadiums

External links

★ Stadium diagram (Clem's Baseball)

★ The Vet - A digital tribute (700level.com)

★ Veterans Stadium History (Phila.gov)

★ Photos of the Implosion (SkyscraperSunset.com)