The World Needs More Kevin

Opened: March 31, 2003

Capacity: 42,319

My Pirates are arch-rivals, so I am a bit biased. I also picked just about the coldest week of the baseball season to visit here. I found Cincinnati to be a city very similar to Pittsburgh, Baltimore or Cleveland. Visited Devou Mountain and went up in the Carew Tower but couldn’t find much else to do besides William Taft’s House. Part of that was my fault as I had not intended to spend much time actually in the city but Mother Nature had other ideas. You see while there the Indianapolis Indians were slated to play a morning game so I left Cincy and drove there only to hit snow. The Indians game was snowed out and I headed back to Cincy several hours earlier than anticipated. If I had made the trip today I would have planned much differently but you’re always learning.

How did I get there?

Since I was seeing other things in the area I came in from both south and north. I parked in the garage in between the stadium and the football stadium that used to be Cinergy Field. The garage was multi-leveled which was nice to get out of the rain that was coming down. Parking was $12, not bad for a major league game and I heard some people say they just park downtown after the meters expire. Can’t do that in New York. Does Cincy have a rush hour? I stood on the upper deck watching traffic go by and it was flowing and had no problem getting around. Traffic seemed heavier in northern Kentucky in the suburbs.

Ticket prices

Prices were cheap. Paid $5 for two of the games and $7 for the other. Wound up standing in the lower deck for two of the games to get out of the wind.

Finding my seat and amenities

Easy to find the seats. One thing that was odd was that they did not have souvenir cups though they seemed to advertise them on the boards. Maybe they were not in yet but how else am I going to remember my trip to Cincinnati? Oh wait, I bought an ice cream helmet. Yeah, I was the damn fool eating ice cream out of a helmet in 35 degree weather. On the plus side the coney hot dogs from Skyline were great!

In game experience

They have a replica riverboat in the outfield that shoots flames when a Reds’ pitcher strikes out a visitor. The Pirates struck out a lot so that was the warmest spot in the park. I don’t really remember a whole lot otherwise, maybe because I was trying to keep warm and/or dry.

Getting out

This was quite easy. A quick drive to I-71 and you are out of town. It was easy (minus the road construction) to get up I-65 to Indianapolis, though I left just before the game was suspended. Not that that mattered since only about 5,000 people showed up, at least that’s what it looks like in the picture.

Wrap

Will I come back? Yeah. Will it be awhile? Probably. This time I’ll hit the breweries and find some other attractions but for now, I’ve seen enough of Cincy.