PNC Park has gotten some exciting updates ahead of the 2024 season, yet most fans will never see what's arguably the most important one.
There's new food, of course, including the viral, pierogi-topped Renegade Dog (which is actually quite tasty). There's also a massive new team store beyond left field that's full of fresh merch, tasteful renovations and thoughtfully curated art throughout the club level, more self-serve food and drink options, and plenty of whiskey from the Pirates' "sister organization" Wigle Whiskey, which team owner Bob Nutting bought in 2022.
But just off the service tunnel near the Pirates' locker room are spaces that represent something of a sea change in baseball: purpose-built locker rooms for women coaches, both home and away, and women umpires. Each includes spacious wooden lockers, padded seating, whiteboards, TVs, bathrooms stocked with toiletries, and mini fridges full of sports drinks. Pirates president Travis Williams says this is all part of the Buccos "invest[ing] heavily in player and coach development."
"A lot the enhancements that we've made to the ballpark over the last couple years have really been focused on the fan experience," Williams told assembled media. "This year, we included in some enhancements that won't be so visible to some fans, but are equally as important to the organization."
Perhaps surprising is that PNC initially came equipped for a more women-inclusive baseball environment. When it opened, the ballpark already featured facilities for women umpires — the difference then was there was no one to use them.
"When the park was built in 2001, we actually built it with women umpires in mind," Jackie Riggleman, the Pirates' director of facility operations and strategy, said as Pittsburgh reporters filed through the space. "As time went along, we changed that room into multiple different things over the years because there wasn't a female umpire in the league."
That's shifted in 2024, with umpire Jen Pawol becoming the first woman to umpire a Spring Training game since 2007. Pawol is currently working in AAA baseball following Opening Day, but she's on the MLB's call-up list. Riggleman said there are also other women actively umpiring in the minor leagues.
When they come to PNC, Pawol and others will now have their own space adjacent to the umpire's conference room. Visiting women coaches such as the Giants' Alyssa Nakken will likewise have separate facilities for their use. Although the Pirates don't currently have a woman working as a coach on staff, three women working for the team in nutrition and massage therapy roles will now have access to a space comparable in quality to the men's.
"The home women's locker room now matches all the finishes of our men's coaches' locker room," Riggleman said. "They have their own private spaces equipped with six lockers, two showers, two toilets, and two sinks." These fittings mean capacity to grow should the Bucs hire more non-male coaching staff — given Caitlyn Callahan's turn with the team in 2022, that seems more a question of when than if.
Other additions to the service-level team facilities include a blue-lit sleep room with isolating pods, new conference and coaching facilities, and spaces for physical and mental therapy. The team's indoor batting cage sports a remarkable new pitching robot from Trajekt that can imitate any Major League pitcher, even shifting low enough to replicate the delivery of sidearm hurlers. The players' clubhouse cafeteria also boasts new food options and refreshed art.
But the behind-the-scenes accommodations for women are a sign of tangible progress in baseball in the area of gender. As women take more roles in MLB's front offices, video games, and even atop pitchers' mounds, the Pirates' upgraded spaces for women signal that many of these changes are here to stay.
Besides, Riggleman told the media, sometimes the hardworking women behind the Pirates just need a break. "It is a great space for our women to go and have a little bit of time to themselves," she said.
A locker room of her own: as MLB evolves, PNC Park gets updates
