Citizens Bank Park - Significant Events

Significant Events

• Randy Wolf of the Phillies threw the first pitch at 1:32 pm EDT on April 12, 2004 to D'Angelo Jiménez of the Reds, who got the park's first hit, a lead-off double. Bobby Abreu of the Phillies hit the first home run, which also served as the franchise's first hit in the club's new home. Reds pitcher Paul Wilson earned the first win in that game and Danny Graves earned the park's first save.
• On June 14, 2004, Phillies first baseman Jim Thome hit his 400th career home run to the left-center field seats at Citizens Bank Park.
• The first inside-the-park home run was hit by Jimmy Rollins on June 20, 2004, against the Kansas City Royals.
• The Eastern League Reading Phillies hosted the Trenton Thunder on May 9, 2005 at CBP; Reading beat Trenton 5–3.
• On September 14, 2005, Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves hit his 300th career home run which went 430 feet (130 m) off Phils reliever Geoff Geary in a 12–4 Phillies win. The ball landed in the upper deck in left field.
• The Phillies lost their 10,000th regular-season game in their history on July 15, 2007 to the St. Louis Cardinals, 10–2, marking the first time a professional sports franchise reached that plateau.

• The park hosted its first World Series game on October 25, 2008, with the Phillies defeating the Tampa Bay Rays, 5–4 in Game 3. Before the game, country music singer Tim McGraw, the son of the late Phillies closer Tug McGraw (who had recorded the last out in the Phillies' World Series victory in 1980), took a handful of his dad's ashes and spread them on the pitcher's mound just before handing the ball used in throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in the game to Steve Carlton. The elder McGraw died from a brain tumor in 2004. Four days later, the Phillies completed a suspended Game Five, defeating the Rays, 4–3, and claiming the franchise's second World Series championship in front of a park record crowd of 45,940. The Phillies held their post-parade celebration at the park on October 31.
• On June 25, 2010, Citizens Bank Park hosted the first regular-season game in a National League stadium in which the designated hitter was used; Major League Baseball moved the Phillies' series against the Toronto Blue Jays from Rogers Centre to Philadelphia, citing security concerns for the G-20 Summit. Ryan Howard served as the first DH in a National League ballpark. Despite playing in their park, Philadelphia was designated as the road team.
• The first no-hitter at Citizens Bank Park was thrown by Roy Halladay on October 6, 2010 against the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of the 2010 National League Divisional Series.
• On May 1, 2011, the Phillies were playing against rival New York Mets in a 14 inning game when the news broke that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US forces. Fans all around the park chanted "USA! USA! USA!"
• The longest baseball game played at Citizens Bank Park to date occurred on May 25, 2011, when the Phillies faced the Cincinnati Reds. The game was 19 innings long, lasted 6 hours and 11 minutes, and ended with the Phillies winning the game, 5–4, after Wilson Valdez, a utility infielder, pitched the top of the 19th inning and earned the victory.