My spouse and I visited Citizens Bank Park on a Sunday
afternoon in late July 2017. The evening prior, we attended a concert at the Wells Fargo Center, and we had stayed
overnight at the nearby Courtyard by Marriott Navy Yard. Earlier that morning,
we attended the open practice session for Eagles training camp, so to complete
our trifecta of events, we attended a Phillies game. (See our separate reviews
for the Wells Fargo Center, Lincoln Financial Field, Courtyard, Navy Yard,
XFINITY Live!, NBC Sports Arena, 1100 Social, and Bar Amis.) Although we found
tickets listed online on both the venue website and on third-party vendor
Stubhub, a personal friend (season ticket-holder) sold us her tickets instead.
Citizens Bank Park
(also known as “The Bank” or “CBP”) is home to MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies. The
ballpark is part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which also includes the
Wells Fargo Center, Lincoln Financial Field, and XFINITY Live. The Phillies
season runs from April to October. The stadium, seats nearly 44,000 fans,
opened in 2004 on the site of the former multi-purpose Veterans Stadium (“The
Vet”), but it has been modified since then. In 2004 shortly after opening, the
bi-level exposed bullpens were reassigned so that Phillies pitchers would use
the lower-level pen, thus protecting them from heckling fans, with the visiting
team using the upper pen closer to the crowd. A year later in 2005, the left
field wall was moved back 5 feet because it was deemed too “hitter-friendly”.
When you are not watching the game, be sure to check out the
Wall of Fame located above the bullpen, the Daktronics video and message
displays/scoreboard, the statues in Ashburn Alley (of famous Phillies Richie
Ashburn, Robin Roberts, Mike Schmidt,
and Steve Carlton), art in the park (tile mosaics, tile terrazzo floors with
outlined images of famous players,
and murals), and the 52-foot tall Liberty Bell that “rings” and lights
up after every Phillies home run and game victory. Concessions include Bull’s
BBQ, Campo’s Steaks, Chick-Fil-A (closed on Sundays, just like the retail
stores), Chickie and Pete’s, Primo Hoagies, Rita’s Italian Ice, Tony Luke’s,
Wayback Burgers, Turkey Hill Creamery, and Federal Donuts (we tried the fried
chicken sandwich and the cinnamon-sugar and cookies-and-cream donuts). You can
get more formal table service at Harry the K’s Broadcast Bar and Grill, plus
there are private clubs (like the Diamond Club or Hall of Fame Club) for more
exclusive service.
We enjoyed attending a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park.
