This was a do-it-yourself model. In April of 1999, ground was broken for a new baseball stadium for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After years of team and government officials wrangling about a new stadium, one was finally going to be built.

As I’ve chronicled, my affinity for the Bucs goes back to when my family moved to Pittsburgh when I was 10 years old, and it remains to this day. I’ve been to PNC Park — along with my wife and kids — and there’s no finer stadium anywhere in baseball. Built along the north shore of the Allegheny River, directly across from Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle, it boasts an absolutely stunning skyline backdrop as one looks toward the outfield from the seats behind home plate and on the third-base side.

As the construction of the project moved along, I found myself following its progress and fascinated with its details. It was during some rudimentary online research that I came across some elevation renderings. I printed a few and then cut and sized them to fit in this clear mug shell I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Picking up the mug now and holding it up to see its base, I can observe that there are additional art options inside it. I don’t think I’ve ever swapped the one now showing with any of those.

The ballpark opened in 2001. After hosting two exhibition games before the season began, the first official game was played on April 9 — the same day that Hall of Famer and Pirates great Willie Stargell passed away. There’s a statue of Stargell outside the ballpark along Federal Street.

Incidentally, the baseball in the picture above was autographed by a former Bucco pitcher. My son and I first met Ian Snell (then Ian Oquendo) in the summer of 2001 when we dropped by Pirate City in Bradenton, Florida. At that time, Snell was a young prospect. Eight years later, he had established himself as a regular with the club and my son and I were visiting spring training. Though we didn’t get to meet with Snell personally that day — he was sick — we were able to leave for him a picture from 2001 of him with my then-toddler son. In return, he had this autographed ball given to us.