There have not been any major changes in the demolition of Shea Stadium this week, at least from the outside. Most of the work currently being done at the old ballpark is inside.
Bobcats, small cage enclosed bulldozers, are busy inside the stadium knocking down walls, concession stands, and just about anything non load bearing. Elevators have been removed and their shafts are being used to dump debris. The home, visiting, and old Jets locker rooms have been ripped out as well as the diamond club, ticket office, and other rooms.
According to Jeff Wilpon, major structural elements will not be coming down till sometime in December when huge grappling hook machines can be put into place.
The entire outfield area, from visitor bullpen to home bullpen has been razed. Gone are the right field scoreboard, the batter’s eye, the picnic area, and the camera stand. They have been knocked down and removed. The high definition Diamond Vision board has been removed and is being kept by the club. I’m not sure if it will be used at Citi Field or not. However, the original apple will find a home somewhere at the new park. It will be placed on display while a brand new apple inside Citi Field takes over the homerun duty.
The field at Shea looks like a battle ground as excavators and loaders have torn up the place. The video of Shea’s huge right field scoreboard falling over is rather surreal. As the board crashes to the ground, three excavators watch over the scene like predators waiting to move in on their kill. Here's the video if you haven't seen it yet.
The slide show is ten days old but there are some great pictures of the progress of taking apart Shea. Thanks to islandextreme26.
The 2008 baseball season is finally over. The Philadelphia Phillies are the world champions. The wackos on the radio will soon begin to spew the garbage. Craig Carton already started this morning on WFAN radio. He was ranting that the Mets should sign Manny Ramirez, Orlando Hudson, and Derek Lowe.
Did Craig not recognize that the Phillies strength was their bullpen? They won with a closer, Brad Lidge, that did not blow a save the entire season? They had strong setup men who were able to protect leads, getting the game to Lidge. Yet, in his wish list for the Mets, he never mentions any solution for the bullpen. I promise this is the last time I will write this. The Mets must improve their bullpen and find a closer. That’s it. Any other moves they make will be gravy. If the Mets bullpen was able to save games instead of blowing so many, the talk of guts and having a Shane Victorino type of player would never have been uttered. If the Mets had a bullpen rivaling the Phillies, they would have won the division. What needs to be fixed is what caused them not to win, not bringing in more high priced aging free agents.
The good news is that with Omar Minaya’s contract extension, he will not feel it necessary to make rash decisions and blowup a team that simply needs some tweaking. Not that rebuilding the bullpen is an easy task but spending absurd amounts of money on Manny Ramirez is not the approach the Mets should take. The Phillies won the World Series last night and interestingly enough, they did so without Manny Ramirez.
The Mets do not need Manny, they need bullpen help, perhaps a corner outfielder, and depending on what happens with Oliver Perez, possibly a starting pitcher. Fifteen days from now, eligible players will be able to file for free agency. The general managers meeting will start next week and I’m sure the trade rumors will begin. The hot stove league is about to start.
Major League Baseball ended last night but the baseball season never ends. As I mentioned above, the hot stove will warm up. Plus, the Arizona Fall League, the Hawaiian Winter Baseball League, and the Caribbean Leagues are in full swing (the Puerto Rico League starts up next week). The AFL and HWBL will end before Thanksgiving but the Caribbean leagues will play through the end of December. They will have their league playoffs in January followed by the Caribbean World Series at the beginning of February. Pitchers and catchers will report in the middle of February then in March, the second World Baseball Classic will begin.
Following the WBC, spring training continues and will be extended one week. The 2009 season will start on April 6th for the Mets at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati followed by the Citi Field opener on April 13th. It will be here before you know it.
Adam Ruben, at his blog at the Daily News, lists all Mets on Caribbean rosters in the Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican, and Mexican Leagues. Not all players will participate but if they do, the list indicates which teams they will play for. You can follow the action of Caribbean Baseball at MLB.COM. All Caribbean Leagues are under way except for the Puerto Rico league which begins play next week.
Last week I wrote about how cold and wet weather can affect the outcome of the World Series. Unfortunately, we got a first hand account last night as the weather in Philadelphia was simply horrible.
When all is said and done, the right things will be said about how baseball can improve the situation, or how they have handled bad weather appropriately. They may even talk of modifying the schedule so the post season can be played in better conditions. Don’t bet on it. Baseball is a business and the business rules will come first. Nothing will likely be done to change where or when the World Series can be played.
In some years, the weather will not matter when teams playing in the NLCS, ALCS, and World Series are from warm weather climates or whose homes are in ballparks with roofs. But when you have good teams in the northeast, on the Great Lakes, and Minnesota come 2010, chances are one or two teams will find themselves in the same position as the Phillies and Rays found themselves last evening.
Frankly last night’s game should have been stopped earlier. It was a travesty watching players stumbling, almost dropping balls, and sliding in the wet conditions at Citizens’ BankPark. This was a crucial game for both clubs. For the Phillies, it was a chance to win the World Series and not have to return to Tampa. For the Rays, it was a must win game or their storybook season would be over. The most important game of the year for a sport that proclaims to be the greatest game, to be played in such conditions can only be described as a disgrace.
I realize there is not much MLB can do. The games must be played. There are three levels of playoffs forcing baseball to play almost into November. Fox and TBS are paying huge dollars to televise these games and need maximum return on their dollar. That requires the games be played during prime time. Is there a solution or do we just accept that a sport requiring good weather conditions, that allows its athletes to play at the best of their ability, simply will not be able to in the most crucial games that matter most?
Baseball athleticism requires finesse. The feel of the baseball to a pitcher, who throws two to three different pitches, is extremely important and is compromised greatly when pitching in cold and windy weather. Fly balls can become problematic adventures when ballplayers have to track down in cold stiff wind, especially with rain blowing all over the place. These are not sights we typically think of when enjoying the summer game.
The solution is simple but requires a change in business philosophy and compromise. It’s not feasible to move the season forward. Starting in the middle of March will only move the problem of bad weather to the beginning of the season instead of the end.
However, the best solution, I believe, is to shorten the season, with the playoffs starting in the middle of September.
Prior to 1961, the regular season schedule was 154 games. With eight teams in both the American and National Leagues, each team played the others 22 times. The season started in mid April and concluded at the end of September, typically before October began. The World Series was completed the first week of October. There were no playoffs then. The pennant winners immediately advanced to the World Series.
After expansion in ’61 and ’62 in the AL and NL respectively, the schedules were expanded to 162 games. The 10 teams in each league played each other 18 times. Prior to divisional play, each team played each other an equal number of times with equal numbers of games home and away. It made sense for the number of games on the schedule to increase when more teams were added.
When divisional play began in 1969, two more teams were added to each league. However, the number of games on the schedule did not change. Initially both leagues adopted an unbalanced schedule. Teams played each other 18 times within each division but outside the division, teams played each other 12 times.
Through two additional expansions over time by both leagues, the number of games has not changed. They tried balanced and unbalanced schedules to enhance competition but as if it were handed down on stone tablets, the number of games for the season did not budge. Plus, due to revenue, doubleheaders, a common occurrence on Sundays in the old days, went the way of the dinosaur.
Today, a doubleheader is only played when a rainout forces the issue. And even then, the games are usually day-night affairs so revenue can be maximized. Combine the 162 game schedule, with no doubleheaders, and the expanded playoff format and you have the mess we saw last night. A crucial game played in the worst conditions. Rainouts can happen any time of the year but the cold and windy conditions destroys the integrity of the game. And that’s what needs to be focused on, the integrity of baseball.
The success of the playoff format and the wild card should not be changed. It is a formula that works well and insures more interest down the stretch of the regular season. What should be changed, and will have the least impact on the game itself, is the number of regular season games played. A 148 game schedule would allow the baseball season to end in mid September. The first and second rounds would be played during the final two weeks of the month with the Worlds Series completed by the end of the first week of October. In the northern regions, even during the first week of October, temperatures are reasonable for baseball.
Revenue would suffer to some degree by removing 14 games from the schedule. That’s only seven home games per ownership but the game’s integrity would greatly benefit. Major League Baseball is the highest level of the sport in the world. For that status to remain, something must be done to insure that the sport’s most important games are played in an environment that allows its athletes to perform at their best.
At some point, Major League Baseball must consider reducing the number of regular season games for the longevity of the sport. Otherwise they may kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
The Philadelphia Phillies are poised to do something the Mets have not done in exactly twenty-two years ago tonight. That would be to win the Worlds Series and become champions of all baseball.
Now I am not one to pay much attention to all the nonsense in regards to who says what in a locker room about another team. But if in fact the Phillies do walk off with the prized trophy tonight, I would say to every Mets player the first day of spring training to keep their mouths shut. The team to beat now is clearly the Philadelphia Phillies.
It’s time for the Mets to prove that they are worthy to be on the same field as the Phillies. Oh sure, we will hear about how the Mets took the season’s series from them but the fact is the Phillies have made the playoffs two years in a row, perhaps culminating in a world championship tonight with Cole Hamels on the mound.
Omar Minaya has his work cut out for him. He somehow must figure out how to rebuild his bullpen including finding a legitimate closer, not an easy task. If that’s all he does, I would consider the coming winter productive.
Many have suggested that the Phillies grit and guile is so much more than the Mets. The truth is, if the Mets could have held on to leads and secured saves the way the Phillies did, they would have appeared to have guts and guile too. Phillies – Mets = bullpen. That was the difference between the two clubs and will be again unless Omar can make changes.
It is unlikely the Mets will sign Francisco Rodriguez. He’ll want a five year deal for an exorbitant amount of money. It’s simply too risky. A trade for a closer is more likely but it will cost the Mets. No, it won’t cost Reyes, Wright, or Beltran but it could cost a Daniel Murphy, a Jon Neise, or perhaps even a Fernando Martinez. The Mets are going to have to give up something to get quality in return.
If the World Series does end tonight, in fifteen days, free agents will begin filing then the hot stove will officially begin. It should be an interesting winter and with the Phillies at least being the National League champions, the pressure will be on the Mets to improve and get to the next level. For them, that means making the playoffs.
Notes: In 1986, game 7 is often considered anti-climatic after game 6 but the Mets did need to win the World Series final game in order to secure a championship.
Game 7 was played twenty-two years ago tonight. The game at Shea Stadium was delayed a day because of rain which made everyone nervous that the momentum gained by the Mets victory after game 6 would have dissipated two days later. When the Red Sox scored three in the second off of Ron Darling and the Mets could not do anything offensively for five innings, it appeared game 6 may have gone for naught.
However, in the bottom of the sixth, with the bases loaded, Keith Hernandez singled in two runs. A fielder’s choice from catcher Gary Carter plated the third run tying the game. In the seventh, Ray Knight hit a homerun to give the Mets a 4-3 lead but they were not done. They mounted a rally and scored another two runs. After seven, the Mets held a 6-3 lead.
In the top of the eighth inning, Daryl Evans doubled in two runs cutting the Mets lead to one. In the bottom half of the inning, Daryl Strawberry homered as he is just now rounding third. Straw sure took his time circling the bags that night. The Mets got another run setting up the ninth inning for Jesse Orosco.
With an 8-5 lead, Orosco got the first two outs. The game was delayed a few minutes after a smoke bomb was thrown on the field. Finally Jesse got Marty Barrett to swing and miss at a slider striking him out to end the game giving the Mets their second and last world championship.
The Mets made it to the World Series one more time. That was in 2000 when they lost to the Yankees in five games.
I first posted this last year and decided it would be fun to do again. Twenty-two years ago today was maybe the most memorable game in Shea Stadium history. How much has changed in two decades and two years. The great Bob Murphy is no longer with us. Gary Thorn works for ESPN and is the voice of the Baltimore Orioles. And the broadcast both where this account emanated from is being torn down soon as the Mets franchise prepares to move into their new home. And like 1986, today, October 25th, is on a Saturday night. Where were you then? I was at a Halloween party dressed in full costume as I watched the most unbelievable ending to a baseball game I have every seen. The following is the word for word account of the bottom of the 10th inning of game 6 as told on radio by Bob Murphy and Gary Thorn. more»
There was a story last week in the New York Daily News in regards to the Yankees needing an additional 366 million dollars more in tax exempt bonds to complete their new stadium.
According to the article, the city may have inflated the cost of new Yankee Stadium by hundreds of millions of dollars. Investigators are saying that the stadium may have been over estimated by 500 million dollars. If city officials are found to have lied about the cost of the stadium, they could be charged with perjury.
As the two new ballparks rise in New York, the question I have posed to many has been why Citi Field’s construction cost is so much less than Yankee Stadium. Citi Field will cost 800 million dollars when it is complete. 600 million was put up by the Mets with tax exempt bonds. The rest is being kicked in by the city and state of New York for the cost of infrastructure. By comparison, the new Yankee Stadium was originally estimated to cost 1.2 billion dollars. Unlike the Mets project the Yankees are already over budget and will require more money to finish the project. The question is why?
Why were the Mets so accurate in their cost analysis and the Yankees could be so wrong? I don’t have the answer but it’s hard for me to believe that 7000 additional seats in Yankee Stadium would make the Yankees new park twice the price as Citi Field.
The footprint of both ballparks is about the same. Citi Field will have a cozier seating bowl but the overall square footage of the building is about the same as Yankee Stadium. A side by side overhead diagram confirms that. Perhaps it’s more restaurants and martini bars in Yankee Stadium but again, it seems obscene that the new Yankee Stadium will be twice as much as the Mets new digs.
In fairness to the Yankees, the Mets had the luxury of building Citi Field in Shea Stadium’s east parking lot. The Yankees had to acquire park land away from MacombsDamnPark to build their stadium. That undoubtedly added to the cost or was that money coming from the state anyway as part of infrastructure costs?
If the Yankees over estimated the cost of the stadium, why is it they need more money? Never the less, it appears that the Yankee deal was no way as clean as the Mets deal. I wonder if the reason the Yankees have chosen to wait till next spring to raze the old Yankee Stadium is because they may need an insurance policy if the new stadium is not ready in time. What a mess that would be but I honestly doubt that would happen.
According to David Howard, the Mets executive vice president of business operations, the Mets will not require additional funds. Citi Field is ahead of schedule and on budget and will open next April 13th.
Notes- There are some great photos of Citi Field and the Shea Stadium demolition on the web. Here are some sites to visit if you have not already found them on your own…
On this date in 1986, the Mets were heading into game 4 of the World Series at Boston’s FenwayPark. In 1969, on October 22, the Mets had already won the World Series and had their ticker tape parade. On October 22, 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers had been world champions for 18 days already. And here we are on October 22, 2008. The World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies facing the Tampa Bay Rays will finally start around 8:30 this evening. Next year the World Series will not start until October 28th. A game seven would be played on November 5th! Soon we will be fighting over the TV on Thanksgiving, whether to watch the football game or the World Series.
The only saving grace this year is that potentially four of the seven games will be played in doors protecting the players and fans from cold weather. Ironically however, the one place they could play outdoors comfortably is in Tampa. This weekend’s weather in Philadelphia should be wonderful for baseball. Friday and Saturday’s forecast is for rain with night time temperatures in the upper 40’s. Monday appears clear but the temperature will be in low 40’s. Perfect!
The summer game’s most critical games are being played later and later every year. Baseball was designed for warm if not hot weather. But as we have seen in recent years, inclement weather has become the norm for the playoffs and World Series.
In years gone by, the good ole’ days, the World Series started right after the regular season. It was played in the daytime and by the end of the first week of October, the series was over. In 1969, the playoff format was added delaying the Series by a week or more. In 1972, night games were introduced. First it was one night game, then three. In 1973, the Mets hosted Oakland in the middle three games of the World Series at Shea Stadium, all at night in cooler temperatures. A couple of years later, a day World Series game became the exception. Now all games are at night starting at roughly 8:30PM Eastern time. In 1995, the wild card playoff round was added pushing back the Series later into October. It’s no longer unusual during the World Series to see players on the field with turtleneck shirts under the jerseys and ski caps under there baseball hats.
Does playing these games in poor weather conditions affect the game? Since baseball is making mountains of money these days, you would have to say no, it is not. But the quality of play has to suffer to a degree (no pun intended). If you ever hit a ball with a wooden bat in cold weather, you know it has to be something hitters do not enjoy. We Mets fans look back on 1986 with such fond memories. Recently, Ron Darling mentioned one of the things he hated most about that series was how cold it was, how difficult it was to grip the ball. Gee, does it matter if the pitcher can grip the ball properly or not?
There have been a lot of ideas bantered about to fix the problem of cold weather play. Reduce the regular season so the playoffs could start in mid September. Play more double headers so the season could end sooner. Start the season earlier with a schedule favoring warmer climate locations and ballparks with roofs. Shorten the playoff series to three games in the first round and five in the second. Move the Series to a warm weather neutral site like they do with the Super Bowl. Play all the games during the day.
Every one of these options could help but it creates a bigger problem for the owners, loss of revenue. Shortening the season will not fly. Owners will not be willing to give up the gate revenues lost with a shorter schedule. More doubleheaders—forget it, the players union would fight it and the owners would only accept the idea if they were day-night affairs with seperate gates. And how many doubleheaders would be needed to seriously shorten the schedule.
A neutral site just won’t fly in baseball. The baseball post season is a regional event. The World Series rarely enjoys the TV ratings the Super Bowl, with its national audience appeal, receives. Wait till the ratings for this World Series come out. You know Fox must be upset that neither Chicago team, LA team, nor the Red Sox made it to the Series. A Tampa Bay-Philadelphia series is a ratings nightmare for the network. The point is fewer would watch and possibly fewer would attend a World Series at a neutral site.
Finally, playing all the Series games during the day would at least insure better temperatures but the advertising cost during the day does not come close to what it is during prime time. You know what folks, there is no answer. Throw another log on the fire and let’s play ball.
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.
A lot of fans are upset that Citi Field, the new Mets stadium opening next season, will seat 12,000 fewer people than Shea Stadium. But understand, this trend of smaller capacity ballparks is not something new. It has been going on since US Cellular Field debuted in 1991.
There are a number of reasons why capacity is smaller in the newer parks. One reason is that the new seats are wider with more leg room. Another is the great deal of square footage devoted to more luxury suites. Also, the new parks have one or more restaurants that overlook the field. The more suites and restaurants, the less room for traditional seating.
Another reason for less capacity is improved site lines. Fans are bound to have a better view of the game if there are fewer seats in the ballpark.
The older stadiums like Shea, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and ThreeRivers in Pittsburgh were designed as multi-purpose stadiums. They were basically football stadiums where baseball could be played too. Football stadiums capacities begin at around 60,000. The problem with stadiums with so many seats is that they are seldom filled to capacity during the long baseball season.
Even during the 1980’s, when it was a rock concert like atmosphere night after night at Shea Stadium, seldom was every night a complete sellout. And during seasons when the Mets did not play too well, Shea Stadium’s cavernous character was never more obvious when thousands upon thousands of seats were empty.
The point is that today’s ownership groups do not want to maintain 5000 to 10,000 seats that are seldom filled except for those special events like fireworks night. These mostly empty seats are supported by bathrooms and concession stands that must be kept up as well. When the talent on the field is such a huge expenditure, owners will look to eliminate expenses elsewhere. If a contending team is averaging 45,000 a game, it makes no sense to play in a stadium with 57,000 seats.
There is also a psychological aspect to fewer seats. It creates demand. If fans feel it will be tougher to get tickets because there are fewer seats, they will purchase early, insuring more sellouts. The Boston Red Sox play in FenwayPark which has a seating capacity of fewer than 40,000. The combination of the small capacity and the talent on the field helped Boston set the consecutive game sellout record at well over 400 games. As good as the Red Sox have been over the last several seasons, they would not have had so many consecutive sellouts if they played in a stadium like Shea.
The one exception to this rule is Yankee Stadium that holds over 57,000. Their continued excellence over the past decade has drawn huge crowds to Yankee games. The Yankees have had many sellouts but nowhere near the consecutive sellout streak the Red Sox enjoyed. But the Yankees usually bring in more than 50,000 fans nightly which justifies their decision for the new Yankee Stadium to hold 52,000. That’s a larger seating capacity than any of the new ballparks that have opened in the last 17 years.
As long as the Mets continue to put a winning product on the field, Citi Field will likely be sold out every night or very close to it. With standing room, Citi Field holds 45,000. The Mets drew roughly that amount of fans routinely since 2006. So, the number of seats decided on by the Wilpons at the new park was likely correct. If the Mets remain contenders and win a few championships then the demand for tickets will be even greater. The Mets will have a nice problem on their hands. I’m sure the Wilpons, who have made their fortune in building development, can get their architectural engineers to figure out how to add more seats to Citi Field.
Below is a table of capacity comparisons of new and old ballparks. The last column shows the difference between the newer and older parks. Note that only Texas Ballpark has more seats in the new yard than the older one. The stats were compiled from the Ballparks by Munsey and Suppes website. The capacity used in the table shows the last capacity listed for baseball. The one exception is Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium that shows a capacity of 39,000 the last year opened. But that was due to a third of the stadium being been razed because of construction of the Reds new ballpark
after game 6 but the Mets did need to win the World Series final game in order to secure a championship. 
runs cutting the Mets lead to one. In the bottom half of the inning, Daryl Strawberry homered as he is just now rounding third. Straw sure took his time circling the bags that night. The Mets got another run setting up the ninth inning for Jesse Orosco. 
According to the article, the city may have inflated the cost of new Yankee Stadium by hundreds of millions of dollars. Investigators are saying that the stadium may have been over estimated by 500 million dollars. If city officials are found to have lied about the cost of the stadium, they could be charged with perjury.
Pictures of the scoreboard laying in right field can be found at 