Three Rivers Stadium's Baseball Legacy Could Get Permanent Display

PITTSBURGH, PA — At Friday's home opener, the Pirates played the Chicago White Sox at PNC Park, a 22-year-old stadium widely regarded as Major League Baseball's most spectacular ballpark.

Three Rivers Stadium, PNC Park's multipurpose predecessor, was widely regarded as kind of dumpy and more suited for football than baseball. But Len Martin is spearheading efforts to see the stadium, home to the Pirates for 30 years before its implosion in 2001, receives proper recognition for the baseball accomplishments that occurred there.

"A lot of history happened," Martin, 73, of Gibsonia told Patch. "The football side of the stadium's history is already represented with the marker designating where Franco Harris caught the immaculate reception. What we're striving for is to have the baseball side's history properly represented as well."

Martin and several other Pirates fans such as Dan Bonk, Jim Haller and Bob Sproule are well on their way to accomplishing that goal.

On display in the Roberto Clemente Museum in Lawrenceville are two stainless steel plates, of the Three Rivers home plate and second base where Clemente was photographed in September 1972 tipping his cap after collecting his 3000th and final regular season major league hit. He would be killed in a plane crash little more than three months later.

Still to come is a stainless steel replica of home plate. Martin and company also are working to secure a state grant to pay for an informational panel describing the significant moments at Three Rivers from July 1970 until October 2020.

The ultimate destination for the home plate, pitcher's mound and second base plates? Where home plate, the pitcher's mound and second base were located inside Three Rivers.

(Len Martin)

The home plate marker will be placed in an Acrisure Stadium parking lot; the pitcher's mound plaque on a sidewalk on the north side of West General Robinson Street and the second base plaque on a sidewalk on the south side of West General Robinson.

With the stadium an increasingly distant memory, finding those precise locations proved to be a time-consuming task for Martin. a semi-retired graphic designer and industrial design company owner. He used computer tools such as Google Earth, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and overlaid digitally scanned Three Rivers Stadium design drawings to pinpoint the locations.

"I have a background in surveys and engineering, but the research still took about a year," Martin said. "It was worth it. We found out that second base, where Clemente did that famous hat tip after his 3000th hit, was less than 50 feet from where Franco caught the Immaculate Reception."

An interesting nugget of information. But was it worth a year of Martin's time?

"I'm a diehard Pirates fan," he said.

"I'm not so much a baseball fan. I don't watch the playoffs or World Series. I don't get worried about what the ownership is doing or (which players) are getting paid. I just like watching the games. I'm a diehard Pirates fan."

That's been evident for decades. In 1995, Martin and Bonk collaborated on a book on Forbes Field in Oakland, where the Pirates played from 1909 until 1970 when Three Rivers opened. Bock wrote a history of the team; Martin designed the 24 plates containing 215 pieces that enabled readers to build a full color, 7-inch high, 30-inch long and 22-inch wide scale replica of Forbes Field.

When it comes to Three Rivers, Martin is encyclopedic, rattling a litany of historic baseball accomplishments there off the top of his head.

"The Pirates had two World Series years there, in 1971 and 1979," he said. "They had six home World Series games there, including the first World Series night game in 1971. Also in '71, they fielded the first all-minority lineup in Major League history."

There's more.

"They won two National League pennants and nine N.L. East division titles. The Major League All-Star Game was played there in 1974 and 1994. And, of course Roberto had that 3,000th hit there."

That second base marker commemorating where he tipped his cap, along with the home plate and first base marker, likely will be installed later this year if money for the informational panel can be obtained. Martin already has a specific date for the dedication.

Martin noted that a trio of state lawmakers have introduced legislation that would make this Sept. 15 Roberto Clemente Day in Pennsylvania. The day would coincide with the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month.

"Wouldn't it be great to do this on Roberto Clemente Day?" he asked.