Veterans Stadium
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Philadelphia Veterans Stadium, colloquially known as "The Vet", was located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue in Philadelphia. It housed the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League from 1971 through 2002 and Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies from 1971 through 2003.
Originally scheduled to open in 1970 but completed one year late due to a combination of bad weather and cost overruns, Veterans Stadium was a complicated structure, its seating layered in seven separate levels: The lowest, or "100" level, extended only part way around the structure, between roughly the 25-yard lines for football games and near the two dugouts for baseball; the "200" level comprised field-level boxes, and the "300" level housed what were labelled "Terrace Boxes;" these three levels collectively made up the "Lower Stands." The "Upper Stands" began with the "400" level, reserved for the press and dignitaries; then came the "500" level (or "Loge Boxes"), the "600" level (Upper reserved, or individual seats), and finally, the "700" level (General Admission for baseball), where some of the most passionate sports fans on the East Coast could be found.
The Vet had been known for providing both the Eagles and the Phillies with great home-field advantage. In particular, the acoustics greatly enhanced the crowd noise on the field, making it difficult for opponents to focus on the task at hand. The field's surface, originally composed of AstroTurf8 (usually rated to be the "hardest" of all synthetic playing surfaces), was switched to the somewhat softer NexTurf in 2001.
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The stadium became famous for the rowdiness of Eagles fans, such that the City of Philadelphia was forced to assign a Common Pleas Court Judge, Seamus McCaffery, to The Vet for game days to deal with miscreants removed from the stands. The final game ever played at the stadium was on September 28, 2003. Alas, the Phillies lost to the Atlanta Braves that afternoon, but a ceremony that followed pulled at the heartstrings of the sellout crowd. Both former general manager Paul "The Pope" Owens and Tug McGraw made their final public appearences at the park that day. During the winter, they passed away. The last words ever uttered in the park were by veteran announcer Harry Kalas, who helped open the facility on April 10, 1971, paraphrasing his trademark home run call: "And now, Veterans Stadium is like a 3-1 pitch to Jim Thome or Mike Schmidt. It's on looooooong drive...IT'S OUTTA HERE!!!" The team moved into Citizens Bank Park in 2004.
The end came when the 33-year old stadium was imploded on March 21, 2004. A parking lot for the still standing sporting facilities was constructed in 2005 at the site. On June 6, 2005, the anniversary of D-Day, a plaque and monument to commemerate the spot where the stadium stood and a memorial for all veterans was dedicated by the Phillies before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
See also: List of stadiums