PNC Field is a 10,000-seat minor league baseball

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

that is located in

Moosic, Pennsylvania Moosic ( ) is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, south of downtown Scranton and northeast of downtown Wilkes-Barre, on the Lackawanna River. Moosic is in a former coal-mining region. A few older industries existed at one time, includ ...

in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area that was built in 1989 and rebuilt in 2013. The stadium is home to the

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pen ...

, the Triple-A affiliate of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. The stadium also hosts high school sports games. It hosts the PIAA District II baseball district championship games for high school baseball. It also hosts high school football games such as the Railriders Bowl for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area high school football teams, sponsored by the Railriders. PNC Field was formerly known as Lackawanna County Stadium from 1989 to 2006;

Lackawanna County Lackawanna County (; unm, Lèkaohane) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and had a population of 215,896 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Scranton. The county ...

sold the naming rights to

PNC Bank The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of ...

on February 1, 2007, and the stadium became known as PNC Field.

History

Original structure

The stadium opened on April 26, 1989 and was built as a "mini version" of the Phillies'

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for footb ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The artificial turf surfaced stadium was used as a multipurpose facility. The upper-level seats of the stadium were orange and the lower-level seats were green. They also have bleacher seats at the stadium. Many amateur sports competitions were held there, as well as regional band competitions, ice skating, and car shows. On July 12, 1995, the stadium hosted the

Triple-A All-Star Game The Triple-A All-Star Game was an annual baseball game held from 1988 to 2019 between professional players from the affiliated Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball. These leagues were the International League (IL) and Pacific Coast League ( ...

. The American League affiliate stars shutout their National League opponents, 9–0, in front of 10,965 fans. Future major leaguers to appear in the game included

Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

Jeromy Burnitz Jeromy Neal Burnitz (born April 15, 1969) is an American former professional baseball player. Burnitz was a right fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Mets (1993–94, 2002–03), Cleveland Indians (1995–96), Milwaukee B ...

Jason Isringhausen Jason Derik Isringhausen ( born September 7, 1972) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and coach. He pitched in Major League Baseball from 1995 through 2012 for the New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay ...

, and manager

Grady Little William Grady Little (born March 3, 1950) is a former manager in Major League Baseball, currently working in the front office of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He managed the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003 and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 to 2007 ...

. In 2007, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise signed a Player Development Contract with the

, ending an 18-year agreement with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. This new contract called for the conversion of the playing surface to natural grass. The stadium still plays host to several amateur baseball competitions throughout the season. In February, 2010, the SWB Yankees announced that they have reached an agreement with

to renew the naming rights to the stadium. Terms of the deal were not released. PNC Field hosted the 2017

Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game The Triple-A National Championship Game is a single interleague postseason baseball game between the league champions of the two affiliated Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball (MiLB)—the International League (IL) and Pacific Coast Lea ...

at the end of the season, where the winner of the Pacific Coast League faced the winner of the International League.

Renovations/reconstruction and new structure

At a public hearing on November 8, 2010, officials from

, Mandalay Baseball Properties and the Lackawanna County Multipurpose Stadium Authority discussed the potential sale of the SWB Yankees and possible renovation of PNC Field. The following day, the club announced plans to pursue a $40 million renovation to the stadium which would dramatically alter the layout of PNC Field. The $43.3 million renovation project would actually be a reconstruction of the stadium as it consisted of altering the layout of the stadium, thus it would receive a new structure. The reconstruction consisted of demolishing the upper deck, press box, and concourse while retaining the seating bowl and ticket office; the stadium would then get a new structure by receiving a new concourse, new press box, and luxury seating. The new structure would also make the stadium an all walk around ballpark. The renovation officially began on April 27, 2012 beginning with the removal of seats in the stadium's upper deck. The architect of the renovation was EwingCole while the general contractor was Alvin H. Butz, Inc. The renovation/reconstruction of PNC Field was completed in time for opening day in 2013. It was the Yankees' alternate training site in 2020 when the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

forced the cancellation of the Minor League Baseball campaign and the abbreviation of the Major League Baseball season.Dykstra, Sam. "Roundup: Major League alternate training sites," Minor League Baseball, Thursday, July 16, 2020.
Retrieved August 28, 2020

Gallery

File:PNC Field home plate.jpg, PNC Field as seen from behind home plate File:PNC Field third base.jpg, PNC Field as seen from the third base side File:PNC Field right field.jpg, PNC Field as seen from right field File:PNC Field - Scranton, PA (52230020603).jpg, Exterior of PNC Field

References

External links

SWBRailRiders.com - PNC Field

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pnc Field Sports venues in Pennsylvania Baseball venues in Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 1989 Buildings and structures in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania International League ballparks 1989 establishments in Pennsylvania