Citi_Field from WebShots has published some outstanding pictures of the demolition process of Shea Stadium. There are Citi Field pictures here as well.

Shea Demolition/Citi Field 12/13/08

Our WebShots user, Citi Field, has provided another terrific slide show. This one is of the deconstruction of Shea Stadium. These pictures are very impressive. The loge level, from left field to past home plate, has been razed. On the right field side, some of the mezzanine sections and upper level have begun to be obliterated. The roof access and light ring that surrounds the top of the stadium has begun to be removed as well.

I look at these photos with mixed emotions. Citi Field looks beautiful as we saw in many released pictures last week. But a big part of Mets fans' memories are being wiped away next door, at least where the memories happened.

Webshots user Citi_Field has posted new pictures of the progress at Citi Field and Shea Stadium. At Shea, the field level on both the first and third base side have been razed. The field looks like a monster trucks rally as opposed to a baseball field. The finishing touches appear to be in the works on the outside of Citi Field. Although these photos do not get inside of Citi Field, crews are in the process of laying the sod inside the new park.

Shea Stadium Demolition/Citi Field 11/15/08

Citi_Field of WebShots has provided 29 more pictures of Shea Stadium Demolition and Citi Field progress. Tom Kaminski from Chopper 88 has posted new pictures as well. In the photos of Shea, you will see the third base field level demolished. The first base field level is completely razed now and there is no indication of a baseball field anywhere. One surprising aspect of Citi Field is that there is no sod on the field as of yet. Earlier reports stated the sod would be laid by the end of October in time to knit and be ready for opening day. We are now into November and it's not going to get any warmer. By comparison, the new Yankee Stadium's turf has already been installed.  

Webshots -

Shea Stadium Demolition/Citi Field 11/9/08

Tom Kaminski - http://www.wcbs880.com/pages/33067.php

The Shea Stadium scoreboard in right field is no more. The board was famous for being the biggest and most advanced in the major leagues after Shea opened it's doors in 1964. After various pieces were removed for memorabilia, the big shell was knocked to the ground sometime late last week.

Pictures of the scoreboard laying in right field can be found at Web Shots by a user known as "Citi_Field". Click the slide show link and you will see the latest demolition of Shea.

The main scoreboard has gone through a number of transitions through the years. Originally, it's shell was white. It was painted royal blue during the 1980's renovation.

The board itself was simple by today's multi-media scoreboard standards.  Messages were displayed electronically in the center with the line score at the bottom. The out of town scores and the lineups were posted on the left and right side of the board as they were up till the end, when Shea closed last month.

At the time of Shea's inaugural season, the scoreboard was considered state of the art. In 1964, there were no playback capabilities. Although Diamond Vision was twenty years off, the Shea scoreboard had the ability to display players' images using a big rear projector that was mounted at the top. The display was abandoned after a few years and was eventually covered up by the neon skyline placed there in the 1980s. The message area was able to scroll text which was useful for displaying the lyrics to "Meet the Mets". The words were highlighted as the song was played on the organ by Jane Jarvis. 

After Diamond Vision was installed in 1982, the text area, which had become mostly non functional, was covered up with a huge Budweiser sign. In one of the photos, a couple of text lines of the original message board are uncovered. More recently the line score at the bottom was replaced with a board capable of displaying graphics, animation, and text.

You will also notice in the pictures that the batter's eye and the High Definition Diamond Vision board has been removed. In some of the pictures, the scoreboard is still standing. But you will see that the shell has been stripped of it's blue covering. Essentially the entire outfield area has been razed except for the light towers and bleachers.

Seeing that iconic scoreboard laying on it's side is rather creepy when you consider it has been standing for forty-five years. I had a rather emotional response when I first saw the photos. I guess it's true that all good things do come to an end.

As we watch, little by little, Shea Stadium being taken apart, you should know that in the city of New York, there were other ballparks that were torn down too.

Washington Park is where the Brooklyn Dodgers played long before they were known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers, then known as the Superbas, played at Washington Park from 1898 to 1912. The ballpark only held 18,800 people and it was the third park to be erected on that site. I was unable to find information on the previous ballparks at that location. Washington Park was located on 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street in Brooklyn. From left to center to right, the dimensions were 335ft, 445ft, and 300ft respectively. There was a 42 foot fence in right field, a 13 foot brick wall topped by a 29 foot canvas. Part of the brick wall still stands today. The Superbas played there until they moved to Ebbets Field in 1913.

Long before there was a Yankee Stadium, the Yankees, first known as the Highlanders, played at a field called Hilltop Park. Its capacity was 16,000 but held up to 30,000 when including standing room. The ballpark was made of wood and Hilltop’s field dimensions were huge. Left field was 365ft, center was 542ft, and right field was 400ft. The ballpark was located on the west side of Manhattan at 168 Street and Fort Washington Avenue. The Yankees played at Hilltop Park until 1912 then moved into the newly rebuilt Polo Grounds with the New York baseball Giants. Hilltop Park was ripped down in 1914. The Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center stands on the site today.

Did you know there were three different Polo Grounds? Actually there were three sites but four different Polo Grounds structures. The original site just north of Central Park in Manhattan was used, oddly enough, for Polo. You know, the game with horses? Polo was played during the 1870s at this location. Hence it was called the Polo Grounds. From 1883 through 1888, New York Giants baseball was played at one corner on this site. The opposite corner was used by the American Association’s New York Metropolitans, the original Mets.  In 1889, the Giants moved to a larger field further north in Manhattan near an area called Coogan’s Hollow. Fans continued to refer to this new location as the Polo Grounds even though no polo was played there. The Giants played there for two seasons before moving to the North side of Coogan’s Hollow to play in a wooden park that seated more people. Half way through the 1911 season, the Polo Grounds, made of wood burned down forcing the Giants to finish their season at Hilltop Park, the Yankees home.

The Polo Grounds was rebuilt for the 1912 season on the same site as the last one. This time the park was constructed using steel beams and concrete to prevent a fire from destroying the place once again. It actually took a few seasons for the Polo Grounds to take the shape that we are familiar with from photographs. Also the Yankees moved in with the Giants and played at the Polo Grounds until Yankee Stadium was built in 1923. After the Yankees moved out, the Giants continued to play at the Polo Grounds until they moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season.

In my opinion, the Polo Grounds has to be one of the ugliest ballparks every built. I say that with total objectivity because I was only one year old when the Giants left New York. But to those who feel I’m too harsh, I apologize because I actually liked Shea Stadium. I know what it means to feel a certain way about a ballpark regardless of its architectural shortcomings.

The Polo Grounds dimensions were ungodly. The foul lines were short and center field was a mile away. The two decked stadium was shaped like a horse shoe (polo grounds? Hmm). Its seating capacity was 55,000 which was a lot for a two tiered stadium. It was only 279ft down the left field line, 250 down the line to the upper deck in left field which hung over the lower level. So when Bobby Thompson hit the shot heard around the world, he didn’t have too far to drive it. Center field was 483 feet away, not too many homers hit to dead center. The right field line was 257 ft.

The Polo Grounds remained standing and served after the Giants left to be the home park of the expansion New York Mets for the 1962 and 1963 season. The park was torn down in 1964, a week before Shea Stadium opened its doors for the first time. The same wrecking ball that was used to demolish Ebbets Field was used to take apart the Polo Grounds.

The most famous of all New York ballparks to be demolished was Ebbets Field. Built and named for Charles Ebbets, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, it opened in 1913. The Dodgers played there until they moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.

Perhaps more than any other baseball park, Ebbets Field represents the classic park to play baseball. It was small and intimate. The two level park brought the fans closer to the action then any other. Brooklyn Dodger fans, who I have talked to, all say that you could hear the players on the field talking, even when it was a full house. A full house at Ebbets Field was 32,000. The ballpark was right in the middle of the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Like Wrigley Field, it was a true neighborhood ballpark.

The stands wrapped around the field from the right field foul pole clockwise to center field. There was a wall in right field with nooks and crannies and a hand operated scoreboard. On the field, the left field line was 348ft. Center was only 393ft, not deep by today’s standards. Right field was only 297 feet down the line. The wall in right was 38 feet tall, half of which was concrete and the other half a large screen. There was an Abe Stark sign on the right field wall that offered the possibility of winning a suit if the batter could hit a ball off of it on the fly. Lights were installed with the first night game played on June 15, 1938. What made Ebbets Field most memorable architecturally, more that other parks of the time were its arches on the outside façade and the famous rotunda behind home plate.

Another first for Ebbets Field included the first televised game in history. It happened in August of 1939 against the Cincinnati Reds. But the most famous thing about Ebbets Field was the fact that the first black man, Jackie Robinson, broke the color line playing there.

Ebbets Field was razed in February, 1960. Its deteriorating condition led the Dodgers to move out of Brooklyn. Walter O’Malley wanted to build a new stadium for the Dodgers in Brooklyn but city planner Robert Moses wanted it in Queens where Shea Stadium was eventually constructed.

Shea Stadium follows in a long line of New York baseball parks that have met the wrecking ball. But unlike the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, there will be no wrecking ball for Shea. She will be dismantled piece by piece over a five month period. Soon Yankee Stadium, the renovated one from 1976, will be torn down too. Most likely, that will not happen till May of next year. In Yankee and Shea’s place will be too shiny new baseball palaces that blend the best of the old with the best of the new. It’s hard to believe but some day many years from now, they will likely be replaced too.

Starting sometime next week, workers will begin to take Shea Stadium apart. First the process of stripping away anything that can be sold off as memorabilia or recycled to other parks and tennis courts around the city must be completed.

New York state law prohibits the implosion of buildings in New York City. Besides, an engineer working on Citi Field has said that Shea is too close to the new park. An implosion would heavily damage the new stadium.

Shea will also not be taken apart with a wrecking ball. Instead she will be dismantled piece by piece. Bolts will be undone and blow torches will be used to cut through steel girders. The precast sections of concrete risers will be removed by crane and eventually crushed at another site and recycled. The steel in the building will also be reused. There will be new buildings and bridges elsewhere built with steel that once made up the supper structure of Shea Stadium.

The process will not be fast. It will take most of the winter to completely deconstruct Shea and remove all of its debris. The hope is that Shea is down in time for opening day next April.

It is unlikely that the parking area will be completed by the time Citi Field opens. A lot of the work depends on the winter weather. But early in the season however, the parking lot where Shea Stadium once stood will be complete and trimmed out with trees, shrubbery, and bricks.

Stadiumpage.com will eventually post photos of the deconstruction as well as new pictures of Citi Field so check there often.

Speaking of Citi Field, the field has been leveled and the irrigation system has been installed. By the end of October, the field will begin to be laid down. The sod for the new park is currently growing out on Long Island. In another month Citi Field should be almost complete and by the end of the year she should be done. That will give workers and the Mets staff ample time to tweak things and get everything just right for April.

So far the word is that the collapsing economy has not slowed the project but I guess that could change. I wonder, given the economic woes, how anyone will be able to justify ticket prices when the new yard opens next season. Hopefully things will start to get better by then.

As Shea Stadium soon closes its doors, I thought it would be fun to take a look at Shea in the movies. Stadiums and ballparks are often venues for major motion pictures of fictional stories. It Happens Every Spring staring Ray Milland, was shot in the old Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. Fear Strikes Out staring Anthony Perkins was filmed at Fenway Park when it was a single tier structure. Pride of the Yankees, the story of Lou Gehrig, staring Gary Cooper was staged at the old Yankee Stadium. Even the Natural was shot in an old minor league park, War Memorial Stadium. Shea is no exception, having been the backdrop for many films.

The first motion picture to be filmed at Shea Stadium was the 1968 classic The Odd Couple, staring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon. When the obsessive Felix Unger phones roommate and sports writer Oscar Madison at the Shea Stadium press box, the Pirates have the bases loaded with none out in the top of the ninth. The Mets are about to blow a one run lead, we learn from a writer sitting next to Oscar. Madison says to the writer "What's the matter, you never heard of a triple play?" Just then the phone rings. The writer tells Madison he has an emergency call. Oscar goes to the phone with his back to the playing field. Pirate great Bill Mazeroski hits into a 5-4-3 triple play to end the game as a jubilant Mets team celebrates on the field. Unfortunately Oscar misses the entire play because he’s on the phone with Felix, who just informed the sports writer not to eat any frankfurters at the game because he would be preparing franks and beans for dinner. The other writer tells Madison that he just missed the greatest defensive play he had ever seen. Oscar screams into the phone “Are you crazy?!! Are you out of your mind?!!” Matthau’s expression is priceless as he slams down the press box phone.

The scene was filmed in 1967 prior to a game with the Pirates. Roberto Clemente was asked to film the scene but refused, claiming he did not want to be perceived as a weak hitter who hit into a triple play. Mazeroski jumped at the chance and earned one hundred dollars.

The first sequence of the scene was filmed in Shea Stadium’s parking lot B, looking north toward LaGuardia Airport. It’s the lot where Citi Field now stands. The camera pans left, to a half-filled stadium, where the back of the big right field scoreboard shell is visible with its original white paint. The PA announcer says “Number nine, Bill Mazeroski”. I can’t be sure, because it was so long ago, but the announcer did not sound like the Shea PA Announcer I recall from the ‘60s. Most likely it was a post production voice-over recorded in Hollywood. The scene inside the stadium was filmed from the third base side press level. The lower field level wooden seats, painted in the original pastel yellow, are partially filled with fans cheering as the Mets pull off the improbable play. You can also clearly see the two pitching circles to the right and left of home plate. This is where pitchers used to warm up before the game. This practice faded as pitchers began warming up in the bullpen on a mound instead of flat ground.

One of the odd things about the scene is after the Mets make this miraculous play, the players run toward the dugout and shake each others’ hand (no high fives or fancy dances then) but only a couple of players come out of the dugout. There are quite a few players just sitting on the bench hardly reacting. You would think that after the Mets won the game on a triple play, the entire team would have gone nuts.

It took two takes to get Mazeroski to hit into the triple play. If you see the movie in the 4:3 aspect ratio format, you cannot see most of the play. It must be viewed in wide screen to see the outs made at each base.

The Odd Couple definitely depicted the popularity of the Mets in those early years. Oscar Madison’s apartment is loaded with photos of Mets players, including a very young Tom Seaver. In one scene, you can see a Mets pennant on his mantle. And throughout the film, Oscar wore a Mets hat (original blue with orange NY and no orange button on the top). There are no Yankee mementos anywhere.

The only baseball themed movie involving Shea Stadium was 1973’s Bang the Drum Slowly. The film followed the story of dying catcher Bruce Pearson (Robert De Niro) and his close friend and pitcher Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty) who play on the fictitious baseball team, the New York Mammoths. The John D. Hancock directed movie includes many scenes shot in Shea Stadium. Yankee Stadium, as it was prior to the mid 70s renovation, was also used in the film. In fact, both Yankee and Shea Stadium have an opening credit in this movie. There are more scenes of Shea Stadium in this film than in any other, since the story is about characters that play baseball. 

Many of the Shea Stadium scenes were shot at ground level behind home plate. In these scenes you can see the old green outfield fence. In those early years (1964-1979), Shea was much more open in the outfield then today. There was no homerun apple, no picnic area with bleachers, no three tiered camera perch, and no humongous advertising signs hung off the right field scoreboard. Also, the parking lot lighting is in full view, which is pretty familiar if you recall games on WOR Channel 9 from that period. And in a couple of shots you can see the top of the old Serval Zippers sign on a building in Queens way out in center field. As in The Odd Couple, the yellow seats in the lower seating bowl are plainly evident. In one scene where Wiggen is getting hammered by the Orioles, you can clearly see the loge section in fair territory left field. The loge seats, now blue, were originally a beige-orange color.

There are a couple of excellent views of the original scoreboard in right field. This scoreboard was replaced in 1989. In the movie there is a message which says “Happy Labor Day” in the text area of the board, which was covered up by a huge Budweiser sign in the 1980’s.

The continuity of the film was a little disturbing since many scenes were shot in both Shea and Yankee Stadiums. In the opening sequence, the two stars are jogging on the warning track of the old Yankee Stadium wearing their home pinstripe pants and baseball undershirts but Shea is the Mammoths home park.

Another inconsistency relates to the dugouts. Some of the scenes in the dugouts were of Yankee Stadium and some were of Shea and it gets confusing. For example, in the first scene at Shea, the Mammoths home park, it's opening day. This was obviously stock footage of a Mets home opener where pains were taken to make sure no one in a Mets uniform is seen on film. When the National Anthem is being sung, you see the Mammoths in the dugout with hats over their hearts singing. The problem is they are standing in front of the Yankee Stadium dugout. In the shot you clearly see the blue seats from Yankee Stadium of that era, not the yellow seats from Shea.

Also after the first game, the Mammoths retreat to the locker room through the tunnel of Yankee Stadium, not Shea. Later in the film there is a take from Shea's tunnel which reveals much more of the understructure of the field level seats than Yankee Stadium does.

When the Mammoths are filmed wearing their home uniform, the action takes place at Shea. Yankee Stadium was used mostly for away games. You can tell by the batter's eye from the old Yankee Stadium. In the away game scenes you rarely see the seats. However, even here there is inconsistency. In a rain delay segment, we see the Mammoths in their locker room wearing home uniforms. But the long shot of the covered ball field is clearly the old Yankee Stadium.

For the average movie fan, these continuity errors are meaningless, but to a baseball geek like me, these incongruities can drive you crazy. There is even one odd scene that shows a ground crew covering the field with tarp. But the field is neither Shea nor Yankee Stadium. To my eye it appears to be RFK Stadium in D.C!

Even with these faults, Bang the Drum Slowly is an excellent baseball movie (orignially a play) with great archival footage of Shea and the old Yankee Stadium and is a must see if you are a fan of Shea.  

The Wiz, which debuted in 1978, had nothing to do with baseball. The updated version of The Wizard of Oz used Shea Stadium as a set in one of its scenes. This time it was the concourse that circles the ballpark. The ramps were used for the motor cycle chase by the biker monkeys which were an updated version of the flying monkeys from the original Oz. Having walked down those ramps many times over the years, I can’t imagine what it would have been like on a motorcycle. One wrong move and they would have had flying monkeys for real!

In 1978, the stadium still had the same look as it did when it first opened. The concourse depicted in the movie was devoid of color and banners the way it is today. Drab is the only way to describe the scene. In a couple of shots you see Nipsey Russell (Tin Man) moon-walking and dancing on an escalator. The orange and blue steel panels hanging on steel cables where still there in ’78 and can be seen in this footage.

In one shot, a motorcycle is chasing Dorothy (Diana Ross) on the catwalk at the very top of the stadium. This was quite a daring stunt and took a bit of nerve by Ross, the film’s star. How in the world they got the motorcycle up there is anyone’s guess. In this scene you can see the original green wooden seats in the upper level. Also the lighting system was an older one that had three rows of lights along the top unlike today’s system that only has one row of halogens ringing the top of the stadium.

In 1997, the very popular Men in Black was released. Once again Shea plays a big part in the film. The movie starred Tommy Lee Jones (Agent Kay) and Will Smith (James, Jay, “Slick”) who play CIA-like agents who investigate alien visitations. The film was basically a sci-fi comedy about the men wearing black that have been reported (allegedly in real life) close to the site of UFO encounters. Near the conclusion of the film a chase of an alien ensues, culminating at the Worlds Fair grounds in Flushing Meadow Park adjacent to Shea Stadium. One of the original structures of the fair, a duel circular pavilion supported on tall towers turns out to be a flying saucer. The alien being chased lifts off in the saucer in an attempt to escape our government pursuers. As the saucer gains altitude it flies over a packed Shea Stadium. We see a batter swing and make contact. The left fielder, Bernard Gilkey, gets conked in the head with the ball as the saucer distracts him from the game. Kay and James shoot down the saucer as it is hovering above Shea. Fortunately for the crowd below, the ship veers off and crashes into the Unisphere, the centerpiece of the 1964-65 World’s Fair.

The scene was shot at night and incorporated special effects as the spaceship flies over Shea Stadium. The shot of Shea was likely taken from a helicopter or blimp. In the scene you can see the neon ballplayers lit up on the outside of the park, a modification added to Shea in the 1980s. The hitter in the scene is wearing an Atlanta Braves uniform with a dark blue helmet with no team emblem on it. Bernard Gilkey is wearing the traditional pinstripe uniform with blue cap. The flying saucer structure was actually the New York Pavilion at the Worlds Fair and like the Unisphere it still stands in Flushing Meadow Park today.

In 2002, Mike Piazza made a cameo role in the film Two Weeks Notice. Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) and George Wade (Hugh Grant) are enjoying a Mets game in the front row close to the Mets dugout. The Mets are playing against the San Francisco Giants who are building a rally against Pedro Astacio (hard to imagine). When a pop foul is hit toward where the stars are sitting, Piazza dashes from home plate to make the play. Lucy, trying to protect herself from getting hit by the ball, reaches up and causes Mike to miss the catch and fall into the seats. George tells Piazza as he’s lying on Lucy to “take it easy, the season just started.” A frustrated Piazza walks back to the plate, turns and says “Thanks George; next time go to a Yankees game”. Sandra Bullock’s character Lucy then finds herself on Diamond Vision as the Mets fans erupts in boos. Even Mr. Met gets into the act cheering the crowd on making her sink deeper into her seat.

This scene opens with a long shot of Shea from behind home plate. Some of the footage of game action was actually shot during the game before the scene with the actors was filmed. With the Mets in the field, the crowd is shouting "Let’s Go Mets," which of course is only chanted when the Mets are batting. Former Met Tsuyoshi Shinjo singles for the Giants, at least we assume by the crowd reaction. Sandra Bullock’s character is wearing a black cap with a blue bill and a blue Mets jacket, something equipment manager Charlie Samuel would never let his players wear. The game footage is likely from May 9, 2002, the only game against the San Francisco Giants in which Pedro Astacio pitched that season. In real life, the Mets lost the game by a score of 4-3 with Astacio getting the loss.

Two Weeks Notice is a great archive for the way Shea looks today with the replaced seating, Diamond Vision, and blue paint everywhere.

Last August, my son and I attended an afternoon game against the Pirates. Robin Williams and John Travolta were seated in a box to the right of the Mets dugout. During the game between the first and second inning, the public address announcer asked the crowd to cheer the two stars as they were being filmed. It was hard to tell what was going on from our vantage point, but the scene will be in a film called Old Dogs which is scheduled for release in 2009. Ironically, Shea Stadium will no longer be there when the film is released. Of course it’s always possible the scene at Shea will be left on the cutting room floor. 

There are other films with scenes from Shea. According to the Mets website, Bingo Long and the Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings (1976) staring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and the late Richard Pryor had scenes filmed at Shea.  I saw this picture recently, but Shea is not at all obvious in the film. My guess is that some of the close up game action shots, where the stands and fans cannot be seen, were shot on the Shea infield. At the beginning of the film there is a short shot of Billy Dee Williams walking to the mound at an old beaten down ballpark. In part of the scene, only Billy and the infield can be seen. Compared to the park in the other shots, this field is too pristine. It's likely the infield was at Shea, but honestly I have no way of knowing.

Also in 1976, the remake of King Kong starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lang was to have the big ape appear to the public at Shea. For some reason, the scene was never shot at the big ballpark and instead a set was constructed that was supposed to be Shea. The stadium’s name was never mentioned in the film, but did appear in the original screenplay.

Shea also appeared in TV shows. Most recently, Shea’s parking lot was the stage for a scene from The Soprano’s. Tony held a quick meeting with one of the New York captains behind center field. You can see Shea in the background.

Who can forget the two-part Seinfeld when it was discovered that Roger McDowell was the second spitter from the grassy knoll behind Shea’s outfield fence. The episode also starred Keith Hernandez playing himself. It was hard to tell if the scene was really shot at Shea or not.

During my research I came across an interesting tidbit in regards to an animated Godzilla series. In one of the episodes, Shea Stadium is destroyed by Godzilla as he battled one of his adversaries. I have not seen this episode.

If you really grow nostalgic in the future, as Shea becomes a distant memory, there are countless YouTube clips of home movies and videos taken over the years in the ballpark. Plus, there are a multitude of concerts that have been filmed at Shea. SNY's Mets Classics will continue to show games from the many years the Mets called Shea Stadium home.

Shea will be gone soon enough, but she will never be forgotten. The many features filmed there will preserve her mark forever.

While looking at the Mets schedule I see no celebration of the closing of Shea Stadium. I am really surprised there is no evening or day where a plethora of great Mets ballplayers of the past are brought back to Shea Stadium. It could be done in a similar way in which the Mets celebrated the 20th anniversary of the ’86 World Championship team two years ago.

Again, the Mets organization does a very poor job of promoting itself. In the past, the Mets traditionally had an Old Timers day but haven’t had one in years. While the Yankees continue to bring out old time players to cheering fans once each year, the Mets have almost taken the stance that no one cares so why bother.

This year would be the perfect opportunity to bring out the great Mets in Shea history as well as old timers who competed against the Mets. Yet all we get is a countdown each home game to when the old girl will be dismantled. I think the Mets are making a huge mistake in not promoting the greatness of Shea Stadium’s history. Regardless of its architectural shortcomings, Shea, and the players who have graced her field, hold a special place in Mets fans hearts. A special day devoted to the end of this edifice should be a no brainer. Yet the closest thing I see on the schedule is New York Jets night.

Who would not want to see the Mets-Shea all time team standing on the first base line with the all time Shea opponents on the third base line? After the introductions, they could play a 2 inning game. Who wouldn’t pay to see Seaver fire one in from the mound or Keith Hernandez drive one into the opposite field gap? It would be a great night and a fitting solute to a stadium that many of us grew up with. Fred Wilpon loves to talk about his childhood memories of Ebbets Field. Well, regardless of its immense size and lack of character, a great many Mets fans feel the same way about Shea Stadium. Howie Rose and Gary Cohen are two of them.

Here’s a small list of who the Mets could bring back for the evening. Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack, Ron Swoboda, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Ed Kranepool, Ed Charles, Cary Carter, Ron Darling, Mike Piazza, Al Leiter, Mookie Wilson, Lenny Dykstra, John Olerud, Davey Johnson, Bud Harrelson and on and on and on. Why not? The celebration two years ago of the ’86 club was hugely successful. I really thought after that evening, the Mets would have reinstated an Old Timers day again but it never happened.

You get the feeling that because the Mets have not won 26 World Championships that they are not worthy of promoting themselves the way their cross town cousins do. That’s a shame. No one in baseball can compete with the history of the Yankees. In fact no one in the world except maybe Manchester United could compare to the history of the Yankees.

On the eve of another subway series, the last in the two current stadiums, the Mets need to start being more concerned with their fans and stop being so worried about what the Yankees are doing. For goodness sake, the Mets could win the next 10 World Series in a row and they still would not match what the Yankees have done.

The Mets have reached the playoffs seven times in their history, all while playing at Shea. In those years they took home 4 National League pennants and 2 World Championships. There are many teams in baseball that cannot make that boast. So to celebrate 45 years of Shea Stadium, each day the Mets are bringing special guests to tear off a number of remaining home games. Most fans in the ballpark are likely getting their hot dogs and beer while that’s going on. To me, the truly just thing to do is to have a special day with speeches, introductions, a tribute video, and an old timer’s game – all the pomp. That my friends would be closure.

Update - September 2008 - The Mets did hold a celebration at the end of the last game on September 28. They did a fantastic job. The only thing that went wrong was the Mets losing the last day of the season. I was unaware of such plans for a celebration at the time I wrote this article.

The last major renovations to be made to Shea Stadium occurred after the 2004 season. Sections in the field box level behind the aisle to the backstop side of the dugout were replaced with seats that were raised about 2 feet on new concrete. The purpose of doing this was to give fans in those seats the ability to see over the heads of those walking back and forth. Also, a new high definition video board replaced the original in left field. Ribbon advertising boards were added on the right and left field sides of the stadium on the facing of the mezzanine level also.

On the field in 2005, the Mets began to improve under the tutelage of new Mets manager Willie Randolph. In ’05 the Mets would finish 4 games above .500 for the best record since the 2001 season. Off the field, plans were being put together that would ultimately lead to Shea Stadium having a date with the wrecking ball.

New York City desperately wanted to land the Olympics for 2012. In order to do so, the city would have to build an Olympic Stadium. Plans were laid to build a stadium in the heart of Manhattan over the west side rail yards, a site that, at one time, George Steinbrenner wanted to build a new Yankee Stadium. The Olympic stadium would be grandiose in scale and ultimately would become the new home of the New York Jets who still shared a stadium with the NFC Giants in New Jersey. One problem, the opposition to such a facility by those who have businesses and live in the area was enormous. Even though the Jets were to invest 850 million of their own money, it would still cost the city half a billion in infrastructure including a huge slab to cover the rail yards. Lawyers were hired and the fight was on. The odds of New York landing the Olympics were a long shot to begin with. Many felt the purpose was really nothing more than for billionaires to become even richer. To make a long story short, the stadium referendum was voted down. New York had no stadium and its chances of landing the Olympics now became more remote.

Another announcement was made prior to the 2005 baseball season. The Yankees planned to build a new ballpark at their own expense next to the current stadium. The only money needed from the city would be for improvement of roads, parking, and a new Metro North rail station. The Yankees would pay for the rest. The Mets who planned a new stadium for almost 10 years were strangely being ignored or at least it seemed that way. The Mets stadium group had performed site work including environmental impact studies, had architectural plans that were revised time and again yet the city was hot to build a stadium on the west side of Manhattan for the Jets and build infrastructure for the Yankees in the Bronx.

After the West Side Stadium deal was voted down, a week later in June of 2005, the Mets brass and Mayor Bloomberg put together a plan that guaranteed the Mets would get a new stadium. The Mets committed to paying for a new stadium and the city of New York would commit to pay for infrastructure and the cost of converting the new Mets yard to an Olympic size (80,000 attendance) stadium in a last ditch attempt to land the Olympics.  The Mets would build the new ballpark next to Shea Stadium. The one stipulation to the deal was that the Mets would get their infrastructure money regardless of the Olympic committee’s decision. And it was a one time offer. In other words, if the Olympics were not awarded to New York for 2012, the Mets would not be obligated to renovate their baseball only yard years later for some future Olympic bid. New York was running out of time, building a new stadium with no plans anywhere else in New York was simply not feasible. So the Mets who had plans for a new park longer than any other New York team since 1998, and were overlooked as the Jets and Yankees got all the attention leaped in front of the pack.  

Three weeks later the Olympic Committee awarded the Olympics to Paris. New York would not need an Olympic Stadium. The Mets got the money they would need for infrastructure improvements and shortly would announce final plans to replace aging Shea Stadium. In the early spring of 2006, the New York Daily news published a rendering of the new Mets stadium temporarily named Mets Ballpark. The press conference to reveal and announce the new ballpark occurred in the first week of the 2006 season at Shea Stadium. By the middle of summer, work had already begun.

On the field the Mets and their fans enjoyed a special season as the team led by young shortstop Jose Reyes and third baseman David Wright ran away with the eastern division of the National League. The Mets missed the World Series by 1 game that fall. But the future looked bright for the team on the field and off as the new ballpark was no longer a dream. However, the collapse of 2007 will not be forgotten soon. And the fact that the Mets have not gotten off to a good start this year only makes Mets fans worry about the state of the team come next April when they finally move into the new ballpark.

As for Shea Stadium, it will be torn down by wrecking ball in November of 2008 or sooner if the Mets do not make the post season. New York law prohibits implosion. Frankly that’s fine by me. A stadium with the countless memories of Shea deserves to be taken down piece by piece, not brought down in a matter of seconds. Most of the stadium seats and other artifacts of the stadium will be auctioned off. By the end of the year, once Shea is completely dismantled, it will be paved over and become part of the new parking lot and plaza surrounding Citi Field.

I would hope that in the parking area, they mark the foul lines and home plate where Shea’s field once was. Ground was broken in 1961 for Shea Stadium. Likely by January 1, 2009 there will be no evidence of its existence. Shea’s lifetime will not even reach 50 years. Not a long time considering that older ballparks like Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Fenway Park are still standing. Heck, for that matter, the coliseum in Rome, at least its ruins, are still standing. Never the less, the memory of Shea Stadium will live on for quite a long time. And if you miss the old park, you will always be able to see Shea on many episodes of Mets Classics.

Shea Stadium was never esthetically pleasing. Her semi-circular shape gave the feeling that the park was never completed. Shea is big with too many seats too far from the field. By contrast, Citi Field will be a baseball field jewel. She’s the pretty new girl in town. I just hope the memories we will experience at Citi Field will be as exciting and amazing as the one we’ll remember from Shea.

Shea Stadium Part I