Philadelphia PA

Veteran Stadium - Spectrum - JFK Stadium

They were about 90 miles from our home in Tamaqua PA. Two hours down the Turnpike and the Schuylkill Expressway - and then 2 hours home. 

In 1971 - Veteran Stadium replaced Connie Mack Stadium as the home of the Phillies. In 1980 - the Phillies were crowned World Series Champs there. In 1978 and 1979 - I owned a bus and 20 Sunday Season Passes for the baseball games. The Eagles and Temple University also played there. On night we saw Temple play Penn State there. 

The middle building was the Spectrum. Its name went along with the pay television channel PRISM - that carried games back to our home back in the mountains. I also saw The Rolling Stones - BB King - and Blind Faith there. Look them up. In 1969 - I made many trips there in my new 1969 VW Beetle. 

We saw Michael Jordan - Larry Bird - Moses Malone - Julius Erving - Charles Barkley - play there. The local Sheridan Hotel had a nice deal. 2 nights for $99 Total for the family. The local American Motors garage in Tamaqua gave us free game tickets. 

JFK Stadium was old - and the stands were far away from the field - like the Rose bowl. My Dad used to take me to the Army-Navy game every there. It was amazing to be in a crowd of 102,000 - but it was still cold. 

All three of them are gone now - just like all 3 schools I attended in Tamaqua are gone. The only one left this a little one room school near Snyders PA - called Dorset - I went to first grade there. 

All glory is fleeting.