March 22, 2004

Gone in 62 Seconds

It's gone. Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, where I watched probably 30 or more Phillies games back when I was growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs, was imploded Sunday in a 62-second series of demolition explosions.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has nice photo slide show of the demolition with their online story. (And if you're a fan of seeing buildings demolished by dynamite, visit ImplosionWorld.com. Really.)

Also, here's coverage from the Philadelphia Daily News.

It was where Terry Mulholland hurled his no-hitter in 1990 and Kevin Millwood tossed his gem last year. It was where Wilbert Montgomery made a mad dash to the end zone in 1981, in the NFC Championship Game, and the Donovan McNabb era officially was ushered in with a playoff victory in 2000.

The Army cadets and Navy midshipmen conducted many of their gridiron battles at the Vet, and the short-lived Philadelphia Stars won a USFL title there in 1984.

Of course not all of the memories that turned into dust yesterday are good ones. ... The Vet also was the place where fans set off a flare, cheered a stretcher bearing Michael Irvin and eventually needed a court to keep them in check.

It claimed Chicago wide receiver Wendell Davis' knees, an Eagles preseason game because of faulty turf, and most frighteningly, injured nine Army Cadets when a railing gave way. The elevators didn't always work, the floors were always sticky and the sight lines weren't terrific. But if outsiders chided the place as a dump, it was our dump.

The Phillies will begin play in shiny new Citizens Bank Park on April 12. The NFL Eagles left the Vet last year and now play in shiny new Lincoln Financial Field.

It took 2,800 separate explosions to topple the Vet, a massive hulking giant of concrete and steel that hosted baseball, football and concerts - I saw Genesis there back in the late 1980s. The place seated 62,000 and was home to almost as many rats and cats.

The last time I attended a Major League Baseball game was five years ago, an Orioles game at Camden Yards. I haven't been to the Vet in years - I live in Franklin, Tennessee, now. The Vet was demolished by Demolition Dynamics Inc., which, fittingly, is based right here in Franklin.

The Vet was 33 years "old." It was decrepit, ugly, and falling apart. No one is going to miss it.

In fact, I already do.