FirstEnergy Stadium

About a 90 minute drive from Citizen Bank Park, which is where the Philadelphia Phillies play, is FirstEnergy Stadium which houses their AA affiliate team, the Reading Phillies.  For a fraction of the cost of a ticket to a major league game, you can check out quality baseball and see players that are eventually bound for the Majors.

The stadium itself is significantly smaller than a major league stadium, but that has it's benefits.  It means there is no bad seat in the house and you get a much more intimate experience.  They also provide much more entertainment between innings, especially for children, with races, t-shirts being slung into the audience and the crowd favorite, the Crazy Hot Dog Vendor, who literally throws free hot dogs into the crowd.

Any fans of the Phillies should definitely check out a game when they get an opportunity.  And even if you aren't a fan of the team, it can still be a fun, low-cost experience.  And you'll also have plenty of laughs with some of the crazy fans at the game.

Citizens Bank Park

We spent this past Sunday at the Phillies vs. Nationals game at Citizens Bank Park.  For anyone who hasn't been to this stadium yet, you're truly missing out.  The Phillies' home turf is one of the top venues to view a baseball game in the country.  The stadium is clean, provides good viewing angles from all the seats, and has plenty of food and entertainment.

The promenade located behind the outfield has various food vendors, including the famous Tony Luke's (some of the best cheesesteaks in Philly!) and Chickies and Pete's (a long line just for their Crab Fries!).  There's plenty of shops around to get your Phillies' paraphernalia, including a Build-A-Bear directly in the stadium.  It's great that when planning this stadium, that the designers thought about the entire ball-park experience and didn't just make a "cookie-cutter" stadium like the old Veterans Stadium this replaced.

Also, inside the stadium is one of the Phillie Phanatic statues that have been placed around town.  This is the only one we've seen thus far inside of a glass enclosure, but it's still allows for photos to be taken.

A final statue that caught our eye is the Mickey Mouse one.  Apparently all of the MLB stadiums have one of these this season for their teams as part of a promotion by Disney from the All-Star game.

Phillie Phanatic Press Conference

At a press conference today, the future of the 20 Phillie Phanatic statues that have been part of the Phanatic Around Town summer promotion have been decided.  The statues will be removed from their current locations around the city on August 30 and moved to Citizens Bank Park through the end of 2010 Philadelphia Phillies regular season.

The statues will be at the “Phanatic Walk” at the Third Base Gate through Sep. 30.  On Sep. 11, Citizen’s Bank Park will be open to the public, with FREE admission for the public to see all of the Phanatics. On Aug. 27, online at http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/phi/fan_forum/y2010/phanatic_around_town.jsp, the Phanatics will go up for auction, four Phanatics at a time, with bids starting at $1,000. All profits from the sales will go to Phillies Charities, which donates grant monies to local Philadelphia charities.

So, here’s your chance to catch all of the Phanatics all in one place in case you missed them this summer. And if you have a favorite, you can own one and make it part of your family.

For a video of David Buck, Philadelphia Phillies Vice President of Marketing and Advertising Sales making the announcement, please click here.

Phanatic Around Town

Phanatic Around Town features 20 Philly Phanatic statues painted by local artists and displayed around Philadelphia. The displayed Phanatics will be around town through August.

Locations include:

• African American Museum
• Betsy Ross House
• Citizens Bank
• Citizens Bank Park
• City Hall
• Franklin Institute
• Franklin Square
• Independence Seaport Museum at Penn’s Landing
• Independence Visitor’s Center
• John F. Kennedy Plaza/LOVE Park
• Lloyd Hall
• Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
• National Constitution Center
• Philadelphia Free Library
• Philadelphia International Airport
• Philadelphia Zoo
• Please Touch Museum
• Rittenhouse Square
• The Market at Comcast Center

The 20^th Phanatic’s location is still to be determined.

For more, including pictures of each Phanatic, please click here.

UPDATE: The final location has been announced as the Piazza at Schmidts.  Read about it by clicking here!