(WHTM) – The baseball season just started, but 19 years ago today the Philadelphia Phillies played their first regular season game in Citizens Bank Park.
April 12, 2004 is the day many Phillies fans were waiting for; the day the Phillies play on their own field.
The new $458 million ballpark played host to 41,626 fans that saw the Philadelphia Phillies taking on the Cincinnati Reds where the Phillies would lose 4-1.
Citizens Bank paid $95 million for the naming rights of the new ballpark, which will end in 2029.
Dimensions of Citizens Bank Park are:
- Home to left field foul poll: 329ft
- Home to center field: 401ft
- Home to right field foul poll: 330ft
- Home to left center: 374ft
- Home to right center: 369ft
Citizens Bank Park first opened to a max capacity of 43,500 in 2004. Today Citizens Bank Park has a max capacity of 42,901
The average attendance for the 2004 season was 40,125 which would be the highest in Phillies history.
Since its opening in 2004 Citizens Bank Park played host to:
- 3 World Series (2008, 2009, 2022)
- A no-hitter by Roy Halladay (October 6, 2010)
- Jim Thome’s 400th homerun (June 14, 2004)
- The 2012 NHL Winter Classic (Philadelphia Flyers versus New York Rangers)
- The 2012 AHL Winter Classic (Adirondack Phantoms versus Hershey Bears)
Citizens Bank Park is scheduled to play host to the MLB All-Star game in 2026.
Concerts have also been a popular event to take place in Citizens Bank Park, some of those concerts include:
- Jimmy Buffet
- Bon Jovi/Nickelback
- Billy Joel/Elton John
- Bruce Springsteen
- Beyonce/Jay Z
- Zac Brown Band
- Green Day/Fall Out Boy/Weezer
This season the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 in the home opener.
