June 30, 1970: Riverfront Stadium opens
The Reds lost to the Braves 8-2.
Do you have a moment/memory of Riverfront?
Did you see a Reds or Bengals game, concert or college or high school game at Riverfront?
We will discuss during Extra Innings....
My memories:
*Riverfront wasn't really anything special....big, round and concrete.....one of many cookie cutter stadium during that era. But it was special to me. It was cool. It was so huuuuuge to walk into as a kid!
*I remember that Riverfront was THE place to be in the 70's. Everyone wanted to watch The Big Reds Machine!
*I loved the colored seats....blue, green, yellow, and then red!
*I feared trying to stand up in my red seat. I thought sure I'd fall forward andonto the field.
*The ramps: They seemed so dark, long and scary. But I always ran down the ramps upon entering to get to the blue seats.
*The ushers: Oh, man, they were mean. I mean all kinds of mean. You got through to the blue seats only if you had a blue ticket stub.
*How about the scoreboard graphics? I loved the stolen base, the dust and the runner being safe, reading a book!
*How about Farmer's Night? Players wore overalls and milked cows!
*I remember sitting high up in the CF red seats and not even being able to see Cesar Geronimo!
*Remember the guy falling out of RF seats behind the wall on the day of Pete Rose Jr's debut?
*We walked into a game one afternoon and I was handed a special card to get my picture taken with a player prior to the game. It was Mario Soto!
*I remember Davey Concepcion's one bounce throw off the astro-turf, from deep in the hole at shortstop.
*I remember the vibe around town as you walked into Riverfront for a weekend series vs the LA Dodgers....Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Roy Cey!
*I remember selling Kid Glove Game tickets around Anderson Township and going to watch the Reds play the Tigers. They played an exhibition game in the middle of the season!
*I attended World Series games in 1972 (too young to remember), Game 4 of the 1975 World Series (Luis Tiant beat the Reds, again), and had tickets to Game 5 of the 1976 World Series, but the Reds swept the Yankees.
*We were there for hit 4,192, hit 3,000, Rose's Return and the Freezer Bowl.
*I remember looking up to the scoreboard for the lineup as soon as we walked in for each game. I was always bummed to see Sparky Anderson's "Sunday Lineup", which meant something like Bill Plummer catching for Johnny Bench and Junior Kennedy starting for Joe Morgan.
*Smashing paper cups with my foot and the sound in that bowl of a stadium.
*Taking All-Star ballots from the usher and passing the stack down the row. Then sitting and poking out all the Reds players names.