For Shea

[metsfanbook]

Here's something I've written to praise Shea Stadium, a stadium that probably doesn't deserve to be celebrated. It's from a book I've written about being a Mets fan. I hope that connoisseurs of baseball stadiums will at least see my point:




http://metsfanbook.com/ForShea.html

[The Real McCoy]

Nice piece.

I was at Game 2 in 64 against the Pirates and Game 5 in 69 against the Orioles, both sell-outs for different reasons. I watched the Jets when they had a linebacker named Wahoo McDaniel, who later gained fame as a pro wrestler and I watched them when they had a QB who won a Super Bowl which was, although none of us knew at the time, the last of his fame. Shea was named after a lawyer and maybe that should have been our clue, right from the start, that it would never be beloved. But Shea didn't conform to the cookie cutter parks that were going up in the sixties and that was a plus. Shea was a lot like the corner news guy, at the top the stairs near the subway, you never thought much about him but he was there when you needed him every day and you never missed him until the day he wasn't. Shea was a jouneyman stadium, but it was our jouneyman stadium and I'll miss it when it's gone.

[VIBaseball]

Nicely done...it's not easy to pull off that kind of sentiment. :)

I've always been partial to Shea (sure, I'm a Mets fan). But you made me think about little things like going to my first-ever major-league game in a Cub Scout uniform with Pack 52 from my home town...those orange and blue plates stuck in my memory forever.

[Toy Boat]

Your thoughts about Shea pretty much summed up my feelings - and many other Met fans I'm sure - as well. She may not be the prettiest home, but she's our home and I'm going to miss her when she's gone. I grew up only a few miles away and have so many great memories tied to that place. Hopefully the new building will provide just as many memories (and more legroom!).

[NYMets523]

I love Shea. Big capacity means cheaper tickets. Plus I think it's easier to navigate through. The one thing I will miss is the name. Simple and isn't an advertisement. I really hate how they let companies put the names on the stadiums. Some aren't bad (like Great American Ballpark) others are embarrasing (Minute Maid, Tropicana, PETCO, US Cellular, etc). I hope it gets named Robinson Field/Park/Stadium. (it's an homage to the Dodgers and NY NL team)

[SBBL]

I am going to miss Shea. It's home. It's my childhood. It's familiar. It's always been there. The first time I entered the stadium as a 9 y/o is imprinted in my memory. The grass - was there ever anything so green! Such sharp lines seperating dirt and grass! The white lines were blinding in their brightness! It was nothing like the lot my friends and I played on. It was immense, perfect, bold, important, unlike anything I had ever seen! This is were the Gods of my 9 y/o life lived. I knew, knew, baseball was the most important thing in the world. Seeing this amazing site confirmed my belief. I was at Olympus, and I was about to see the Gods in person ! I can look around the stadium and remember all the different seats I sat in, different views, different levals, and different memories from different stages of my life. This year, 35 years after that first time, I still get that sense of anticipation and wonder as I walk through the entryway to the seating area. For the last 12 years I've had my son with me. This is Shea for me. I'm about to lose all this. Sure I'll still have my memories, but I won't be remembering them in the place they happened.
I'm sure the new stadium will be nice. I've been to a few different stadiums over the years. I always thought it was kind of neat to see were other people grew up. I never thought of any of them as great or as dumps, just ball parks. I enjoyed them. I always compared them to Shea. None could ever match up.
I don't care what people say about Shea. It's mine. I'm sad it's being taken away and what's being taken with it.

[metfan13]

I'm with you guys. I was also about 9 when I first went to a game there. It's always been my teams home. Most of my favorite baseball memories took place at Shea. I saw Willie Mays, and McCovey, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and the other 1970's Reds stars, and many others. Plus of course all my favorite Mets.

A new ballpark will be nice. Nice amenities, shiny and new, and I'll enjoy it, but it won't be Shea.

[Candlestick60]

I'm with you guys. I was also about 9 when I first went to a game there. It's always been my teams home. Most of my favorite baseball memories took place at Shea. I saw Willie Mays, and McCovey, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and the other 1970's Reds stars, and many others. Plus of course all my favorite Mets.

A new ballpark will be nice. Nice amenities, shiny and new, and I'll enjoy it, but it won't be Shea.

Hey Metfan13 Iam gonna miss shea a lot too I was wondering if there going to implode or use the wrecking ball on the big shea??? C60

[metfan13]

Hey Metfan13 Iam gonna miss shea a lot too I was wondering if there going to implode or use the wrecking ball on the big shea??? C60

Has to be a wrecking ball. NYC has some kind of law against imploding.

[NYMets523]

I hope they sell the seats.

[PeteU]

It's easy to knock an "ugly" stadium like Shea, but the thing is, even the ballparks that aren't very attractive still hold a lot of memory and history behind it, be it team memories and history, or personal memories and history.

Probably my least favorite ballpark was Riverfront Stadium, just for the fact the place looked so incredibly boring and unremarkable. Yet, I'm sure for many Reds fans there's a lot of memories to the place, and a lot of kids saw their first game there and fell in love with the sport there.

[metsfanbook]

Pete, I think you're absolutely right. I think that this is part of the nature of baseball in general. It is all about loving things that don't necessarily deserve to be loved, because they're yours, and you have put a part of your heart and soul into them. This is why true baseball fans love their teams even when they're lousy, even when they're unlovable. Baseball fandom is all about loyalty, more than anything else. Which is why it's possible for Mets fans to love Shea so much, as I'm sure Reds fans loved Riverfront.

[SBBL]

Met fans have no apologies to make for their warm feelings about Shea. Nor do they have to make any excuses for liking it. It is our place and the only one we have ever known.

We all had our first time their as a child. That expierience will never leave you. I relive that sense of awe and wonder everytime I go. It's a great feeling. If you grow up with a stadium, you know all the different parts of it, it's like home. It will be different for the next generation of fans. For me, I'll miss it. I'm sure I'll like the new place, maybe even love it, but nothing ever replaces your first love, right ?If you don't understand, then you've either never been in love, or never went to Shea for your fist ever ML game when you were a little kid.

I don't care if Yankee fans or others think their park is something special. "Yankee Stadium is the catherdral of baseball, bla,bla,bla...." Shea is my baseball Cathedral and don't try to tell me that term is reserved for the Bronx or Wrigly. Thats pompous and arrogant. Shea is historic. Shea is a baseball Cathedral.

Do Not Be Ashamed !

[metfan13]

Met fans have no apologies to make for their warm feelings about Shea. Nor do they have to make any excuses for liking it. It is our place and the only one we have ever known.

We all had our first time their as a child. That expierience will never leave you. I relive that sense of awe and wonder everytime I go. It's a great feeling. If you grow up with a stadium, you know all the different parts of it, it's like home. It will be different for the next generation of fans. For me, I'll miss it. I'm sure I'll like the new place, maybe even love it, but nothing ever replaces your first love, right ?If you don't understand, then you've either never been in love, or never went to Shea for your fist ever ML game when you were a little kid.

I don't care if Yankee fans or others think their park is something special. "Yankee Stadium is the catherdral of baseball, bla,bla,bla...." Shea is my baseball Cathedral and don't try to tell me that term is reserved for the Bronx or Wrigly. Thats pompous and arrogant. Shea is historic. Shea is a baseball Cathedral.

Do Not Be Ashamed !

Good points. Many historic baseball moments happened at Shea. No apologies needed.

[hsnterprize]

I'm with you guys. I was also about 9 when I first went to a game there. It's always been my teams home. Most of my favorite baseball memories took place at Shea. I saw Willie Mays, and McCovey, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and the other 1970's Reds stars, and many others. Plus of course all my favorite Mets.

A new ballpark will be nice. Nice amenities, shiny and new, and I'll enjoy it, but it won't be Shea.First of all, it's great to see a lot of passionate Mets fans on this board. Kudos to you.

Secondly, you guys are expressing a lot of the same anxiety we White Sox fans felt when Old Comiskey Park was about to be and eventually torn down. Comiskey Park had been where it was for decades, and there was a lot of history made there, from the very first All-Star Game, to over 55,000 fans filling it for a Negro League All-Star Game, the exploding scoreboards from the 1950's onward, "Disco Demolition Night", and on and on and on. Shea Stadium, despite what many people describe as a "cookie-cutter", has enought memories for Mets fans to cherish. The 1969 and 1986 World Series championships, the "Let's Go Mets" chants, the Big Apple, that super-large scoreboard in right, etc., etc., etc...you have a lot to be proud of. And I'm not a Mets fan (unless they're playing the Cubs)...I'm just giving credit where credit is due.

No...Citi Field will NOT be Shea Stadium. It'll be a different place with a totally different feel than Shea.. But take this to heart...the Mets and you Mets fans are in good hands. I don't know all the politics behind what's going on with the new place, but it looks like it'll be a good place once it's all finished. It'll take some time to get used to, but you'll be alright...especially if the Mets christen that place with a World Championship. We felt the same way about U.S. Cellular Field...but after 2005...it has some character we all love to dwell on.

Take care, Mets fans. You'll be okay. Citi Field looks like it'll be a nice place for you once it's all done.

[metsfanbook]

hsnterprise, thanks for your encouraging and appreciative words. The only problem I have with Citi Field is that it is too small. Shea seats 55,000. Citifield will only seat 42,500. New York is, in case no one has noticed, a very big place. If the Mets continue to be good, it will become almost impossible to get a ticket, particularly if you aren't rich. This means, for someone like me, no more opening days, crucial games, or playoff games. It means no more spontaneous, "let's go see a ballgame" games. It will become as hard to get into as Fenway, and that isn't good, in my book. I like the looks of the new stadium as much as anyone else, but the small size is a disaster ready to happen for fans with family incomes under $200,000.