Ricky Bones Interview, Caption Contest, Bobby V And More Tweet This Post
Mets news is starting to pick up a little, with Spring Training on the horizon.
Nick Diunte of examiner.com caught up to Ricky Bones at the Joe DiMaggio Legends Game this weekend and asked him some questions.
Metspolice posted a picture of an old Shea van parked in the Citi Field parking lot and asks you to caption it.
Bobby Valentine may be headed to SNY. Would love to see this; Valentine’s an intelligent baseball guy who I could listen to talk baseball for hours.
Sadly, one of the Mets depth pickups at Catcher, Landon Powell, lost his baby daughter.
Mets VP Jay Horwitz started using Twitter. So far he’s been tweeting some interesting old stories, and is definitely worth a follow.
Tags: Mets, metsopotamia, mtes news, shea van
Shea Stadium: Random Photos From Final Game Tweet This Post
Here’s a dose of nostalgia for you: Random photos from the last game at Shea Stadium 9/28/2008.
Views of Citi Field Tweet This Post
I like to call this spot the Subway Section because it’s reminiscent of view from the subway platform outside of Shea Stadium where you could peek into the stadium. These photos are taken from just behind the right field scoreboard, next to the entrance to the Excelsior level inside corridor. You can watch replays on one of the televisions directly to your left.
It affords you a view right into the Pepsi Porch as well and if you look down, the World’s Fare Market concourse. In my eye this section includes the walkway to the Pepsi Porch, which doesn’t afford much in the way of real viewpoints of the game, but still offers a tease as you walk between sections.
Here’s a shot of the original “Subway Section” from Opening Day 2007.
Tags: Citi Field, Mets, mets pictures, Shea Stadium, subway section
Junk Drawer Mets Games Tweet This Post
Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times recounts some odd and interesting Mets games over the years in what he calls “50 years from the Mets junk drawer”
Check them out, some random oddities in there that are entertaining. Here’s a couple of random games I can think of. What have you got?
6/14/2008 against the Texas Rangers. I don’t know if this counts since it ended up being a rain-out, not a game. It did lead to the second-to-last true Mets doubleheader played at Shea Stadium though, on Father’s Day. Nathan’s did a hot dog eating contest before the game, and then the Texas Rangers used the Shea tarp as a slip-n-slide.
Another fun one was a game against the Orioles in which David Wright hit a Grand Slam into the Shea visitor’s bullpen off of Adam Loewen and the Orioles left-fielder mis-played a ball that ended up bouncing up his sleeve and getting caught in his jersey.
Tags: Mets, mets games, mets junk drawer, mets memories, mets50, New York Mets
What Was Left Of Shea Stadium Tweet This Post
It was sort of surreal at the time. I don’t know if I fully grasped that Shea Stadium was no more when I took this shot heading into the game against the Padres on April 16th, 2009.
Tags: Citi Field, demolition, Mets, mets stadium, new york mets home, Shea Stadium, shea stadium rubble
Waiting On Line (Not Online) For Mets Tickets Tweet This Post
It was winter 2000 and New York was in the middle of a freezing cold stretch of weather. Wind chill estimates had the temperatures at subzero on the day that the Mets started selling tickets. This was before you could buy them online, and me and a couple of friends decided to camp out at Shea Stadium to buy tickets for the 2000 season.
We bundled up with blankets and layers and thermoses of coffee and hot chocolate and drove to Shea Stadium. We made record time since it was the middle of the night, parked, and got on line. We were by no means first; there were dozens of people already there, maybe as many as 200. It was frigid and we were basically standing around shivering with hundreds of dollars in our pockets because you had to pay cash. The warmest part was when you got to move a little bit to use the bathroom.
Eventually they moved most of the line inside. It cut down on the wind a little bit, but it wasn’t any warmer. As it got closer to the time tickets were actually on sale a couple of players, and manager Bobby Valentine, came out and were shaking frozen hands and signing autographs as the line started to move. Someone, presumably with WFAN, was handing out the keychains in the picture here. Eventually we were able to purchase our tickets, which included tickets to the epic 8th inning comeback against the Braves on Fireworks Night, climbed back into the car, blasted the heat and drove back home and fell asleep.
Nowadays online ticket sales have done away with this camping out, which is definitely a good thing for those of us that aren’t 17 anymore with free time to wait outside a baseball stadium for hours, but there’s a certain nostalgic machismo to having braved the elements to root for your team.
Tags: 2000 mets, mets baseball, mets tickets, New York Mets, Shea Stadium, Tickets, waiting on line for tickets
The Sporting News Outlook for the 1993 New York Mets Tweet This Post
Below is scans from The Sporting News 1993 Baseball Yearbook previewing the 1993 season. It’s not real positive. There are even a lot of parallels you can draw to this year. The Mets are hoping Dwight Gooden and Bret Saberhagen can fully recover from surgery and return to Cy Young form. The Mets needed to cut payroll after having the highest one in MLB history in 1992 yet finishing 5th. GM Al Harazin is hoping most of the 1992 failure was due to injury.
Other interesting tidbits:
It’s due or die time for Todd Hundley. (Perhaps the same for 2012 Josh Thole?) The 1992 Mets trust Hundley’s defense, but are unsure if he’ll ever be a good hitter after hitting just .209 in his rookie year.
Harazin is still happy with the David Cone for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson trade.
The Mets depth in the minors includes Jeromy Burnitz, Brook Fordyce, and Bobby Jones.
The Mets bullpen, besides John Franco, will also feature Mike Draper, a Rule V pick they took from the Yankees. Imagine how that’d go over these days?
The Mets open the season at Shea Stadium to play the newly minted Colorado Rockies.
Tags: 1993 baseball yearbook, 1993 Mets, 1993 new york mets, al harazin, bobby jones, bret saberhagen, brook fordyce, Colorado Rockies, dwight gooden, jeff kent, jeremy burnitz, john franco, mike draper, New York Mets, ryan thompson, sporting news
Random Stuff About the Mets Tweet This Post
This is from last week. Why is there a phantom NYY on the out of town scoreboard?
There are plenty of parts of Citi Field that remind me of Shea Stadium. Being able to watch fans wind their way into or out of the stadium is one of them.
I always love taking random shots of things and areas around the stadium. Citi Field doesn’t create standing pools of water like Shea did, but here’s a part that does accumulate some water.
Tags: Baseball, bill gallo, Citi Field, citi field rain, Mets, mlb, New York Mets, Shea Stadium
1969 World Series Tickets Tweet This Post
Not trying to step on the toes of Metspolice’s ’80s week, but I came across these 1969 playoff ticket stubs (Not mine, I wasn’t alive) and figured the Thursday before the second half would be the perfect time to post them. (And a much longer post I have planned complaining about FIP is lazily unfinished)
That’s the clinching game of the NLCS, which I’d forgotten was only a five game series. Game 3 of the World Series, presuming they mean game 3 and not home game 3, would’ve been the Agee catch game and the first World Series game ever at Shea Stadium.
Tags: 1969 mets, 1969 new york mets, 1969 ticket stubs, 1969 world series tickets, Baseball, baseball ticket stubs, mets nlcs ticket stubs, mets ticket stubs, Shea Stadium, tommie agee, world champion new york mets, world series ticket stubs
Mr. Mets Landing and Pyrotechnics Tweet This Post
The Mets announced this weekend that they will have Pyrotechnics night again this year. They also announced that they renamed the last two sections of the Left Field Landing seats to Mr. Mets Landing, and will be discounting them.
Mr. Met’s Landing is a new, specially priced area of the ballpark.
Sections 338 and 339 in Citi Field’s Left Field Landing are priced at $10 for kids 12 and under and $20 for adults ($20 and $30 respectively for four Marquee game dates)
Mr. Met will visit both sections during every home Mets game.
I sat in the future Mr. Mets Landing section late last year. That post has some pictures, and I’ll share some here as well. What I was most shocked about was how much I actually enjoyed the seats. I’d previously been under the assumption that the Landing may have been the worse section in the ballpark due to the overhang above you making it tough to see the scoreboard, and the Landing itself blocking you from seeing the left fielder. This is still probably the case if you’re beyond rows 5-6 or so, but otherwise I think Mr. Mets Landing will end up being pretty popular. You get a view of the game from nearly dead center, which is similar to the view you get on the TV cameras at home. You get the view from behind the pitcher as he throws his pitch, as opposed to watching from behind the batter. You’re more a part of the team on the field than the team at the plate, and I think this is one of the best things Citi Field has going for it that we didn’t get to experience at Shea Stadium.
I was at the inaugural Pyrotechnics night last year, and I had a good time. I was initially skeptical; Fireworks night had been my favorite promotion growing up and I was sad to see it go. I turned out to be pleasantly surprised; given the name change I did not expect fireworks, but the Pyrotechnic display that we did get was pretty good. Not that there weren’t issues with it, but it was new and exciting and I had fun. I’m planning to go again this year.
Tags: 2011 pyrotechnics nights, best sections at citi field, centerfield viewpoint, Citi Field, good citi field sections, left field landing, Mets, mets discounts, mets landing, mets outfield seats, mets promotions, mets pyrotechnics, mets sections, mets ticket discounts, mets tickets, mr met, mr mets landing, mr.mets section, New York Mets, pyrotechnics, pyrotechnics night, pyrotechnics night 2011, Shea Stadium, Tickets