Remember this? June 14th, 2008. The game would ultimately be rained out and the Texas Rangers would play Slip ‘N Slide on the tarp. Some WFAN callers would then criticize the Mets for not getting out there.
Hot Dog Eating Contest At Shea Stadium
Banner Day 1988
Banner Day is this Sunday, but Banner Day existed back in 1988 as well. Recently my aunt shared with me some photos she took of her banner that year and it’s a great look back at the Mets and Mets fans of 1988.
Can’t go wrong with a crossword.
Click the picture above to head over the MetsPolice where I’ll have more non-familial banners and Shannon will have other Banner Day info.
Shea Stadium: Random Photos From Final Game
Here’s a dose of nostalgia for you: Random photos from the last game at Shea Stadium 9/28/2008.
Continue reading “Shea Stadium: Random Photos From Final Game”
Views of Citi Field
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.
What Was Left Of Shea Stadium
Waiting On Line (Not Online) For Mets Tickets
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.
Random Stuff About the Mets
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.
1969 World Series Tickets
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.
Official Sponsor of the ’69 World Champion Mets
My in-laws owned a deli in Brooklyn in the ’70s. One of the beers they sold was Rheingold, and a result they had this display board hanging in the deli, and then collecting dust in the basement until this weekend. The bottom reads: “Enjoy Rheingold here, and at the home of the World Champions”. Well, in 2011 that deli, and Shea, are gone, The Mets are no longer World Champions, and you cannot get Rheingold at their home. (Check out the Citi Field Beer List for what you CAN get)
Letters to the NL East, Part 3, Dear Marlins…
To read previous letters, go here.
Letters to the NL East, part 3
Dear Florida Marlins,
Like most embarrassing franchises, you didn’t do anything real exciting this offseason. Oh sure, you signed John Buck, a very nice catcher, but he’s not going to fill the void left by Uggla in his contract year. You paid too much for Javier Vazquez, who was basically terrible last year and was looking for a cozy place to pitch himself into oblivion, and you won’t even get draft picks for him if he does have a good year and bolts.
Kudos though for spending more money this year, if only slightly. Obviously we all know it’s an attempt to garner a little bit of interest going into a new stadium in 2012. I can’t help but wonder if you even care how well the team does this year, as long as it looks like it’s going to be better in 2012. The Mets set attendance highs leaving Shea Stadium, but it looks like the Marlins may set attendance lows leaving Sun Life Stadium. The only question is if you’ll have more fans in the stands than names for the stadium.
You did a good job revamping the bullpen, which from what I can remember was terrible. Still, you look a team with some nice players, some passable prospects, and some just not very good ones. In the end, you’re just boring. you’re good enough to win games, not bad enough to be schedule-fodder, but there isn’t much hope for anything else. At least it doesn’t look like you’ll drag us to Puerto Rico this year.
Your bored “rival”,
Optimistic Mets Fan