Sunday, September 7, 2014

HHHHHH: PNC Park Seat Numbers











Again, this somewhat-neglected feature offers a baseball hint, not a household hint.  I've gone to enough games at The Best Ballpark in Baseball to know which sections I like to sit in under different conditions - daytime, evening, cool weather, hot weather - but I always wish I knew better which direction the seat numbers go in any given section.  After all, Pirates fans are getting more knowledgeable but are still extremely rude in terms of at what (key) points in (close) ballgames they decide they NEED NACHOS RIGHT NOW!  If you're sitting next to an aisle that is between you and the field, this means a lot of people in extra large Free Shirt Friday shirts sauntering between you and the action at inopportune times.

The most recent game I attended was the screw-the-kids day game during the first week of school.  Not all the kids around here were back in school, but most were.  Scheduling a day game right after they go back seems cruel, but I managed to get over that and enjoy the game for myself with one guy friend and zero kids in tow.  Having purchased from Stubhub what turned out to be good number seats, I bemoaned my lack of knowledge of seat number order at PNC Park.  A neighboring fan apologized for being nebby and then dropped some knowledge on us.

She said that PNC Park's seat numbers ascend in the same direction that the section numbers ascend.  So if you're seated in section 127 on the third base line, seat numbers start at 1 next to section 125 and go up toward section 128.  Why is there no section 126?  Hmm, can't say.

If you notice, looking at the complete seating chart, this means that down the right field line, the higher numbers are closer to home plate, the exact opposite of the order on the third base line.  Another caveat is that while knowing this rule of thumb helps, your actual seat preferences may vary based on the number of seats in a particular section.  Finally, there might be a twilight zone directly behind home plate in which all bets are off.  On the bright side, there should be no one jiggling down an aisle between you and the field there.  You only have to worry about those slowly shuffling down the row with their pierogie stacker and two IC Lights.

I would love to hear in the comments a) if this helps you and b) if it's true at your hometown ballpark.




 

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