David Cicotello

I would enjoy almost any book about Forbes Field because Forbes Field was my “field of dreams”. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean I played baseball on Forbes Field. However, I do have many memories of happy times I spent watching the Pirates play in Forbes Field. Like many other boys, playing baseball was an important part of my life from a young age until late high school. I also was a big fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and followed them on radio and TV. In about 1959, like many other boys in who grew up in Western Pennsylvania, I experienced my first Pirate game in Forbes Field with a bus load of other players from the boys baseball program in our town. I can’t remember who the Pirates were playing that day or whether they won the game. However, I do remember how unbelievably excited I was and how amazed I was by Forbes Field. I went on one or two more of those bus trips in succeeding years, and I loved every minute of those experiences. Unfortunately I didn’t get to many other Pirate games until my college years. As an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, I went to as many games at Forbes Field as I could. At that time Forbes Field was on the Pitt campus and owned by the university. I remember we could see a portion of the field from certain windows on the upper floors of Hillman Library and of course we could look down on Forbes Field from the Cathedral of Learning. My friends and I often paid $1.00 (or maybe it was $1.50) to sit in the left field bleachers to watch games. It was great to see those games during the last few years of Forbes Field’s life. The last games (a double header with the Chicago Cubs) were played June 28, 1970 in Forbes Field and the Pirates won them both. I was not able to attend those games, but later I was able to actually walk on the field several times after the beloved ballpark was closed. That was a very sad, although we all knew that Pittsburgh needed a bigger and newer ballpark (Three Rivers Stadium). I found this book to be fascinating. It provides much factual historical information about Forbes Field and its relationship and importance to the city of Pittsburgh and the teams and players who played there from 1909 until 1970. It should be noted that the book provides much information about the Pittsburgh Steelers, the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, and the black baseball teams who also played in Forbes Field. It also includes a “play-by-play” transcript of the last game played in Forbes Field between the Pirates and the Cubs, which was called by Bob Prince (Gunner), Nellie King, and Gene Osborn. That transcript also includes a brief interview with “The Great One” Roberto Clemente. Perhaps even more enjoyable to those of us who loved Forbes Field are the many pages of memories that were contributed by former players who played in Forbes Field, coaches, many fans who experienced the joy of attending games, and many people who worked in Forbes Field or for the Pirate organization. This book triggered lots of fond memories for me and I really liked it!… (mere)