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="metirish":1t09bdlu]... I'm betting though it will be some suit from Citi.[/quote:1t09bdlu]
That'll be a real crowd-pleaser
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seawolf17
Mar 05 2009 07:42 AM
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="metirish":1rivug6s]Ralph would be fine , Seaver too...I'm betting though it will be some suit from Citi.[/quote:1rivug6s]
You're probably right, sadly.
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soupcan
Mar 05 2009 07:47 AM
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| ="metirish"]...I'm betting though it will be some suit from Citi. |
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MFS62
Mar 05 2009 07:50 AM
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Who threw out the first pitch at Shea?
If that person is still alive, it would make for a nice touch. (and, if they're still alive, it would also probably make for a lousy throw).
Later
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themetfairy
Mar 05 2009 07:56 AM
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We all know it's going to be a Lincoln Mercury dealer.
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G-Fafif
Mar 05 2009 08:09 AM
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="MFS62":1j64xqvw]Who threw out the first pitch at Shea?
If that person is still alive, it would make for a nice touch. (and, if they're still alive, it would also probably make for a lousy throw).[/quote:1j64xqvw]
Bill Shea. I hear he has relatives. And that the National League baseball he brought back to New York is still here.
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soupcan
Mar 05 2009 08:14 AM
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I vote Seaver.
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Lundy
Mar 05 2009 08:25 AM
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They should have Seaver and Piazza walk in from centerfield, in a reverse of what happened the last day at Shea.
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G-Fafif
Mar 05 2009 08:25 AM
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Jeff Wilpon has already nominated someone for the second game, says today's [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/sports/baseball/05stadium.html?_r=1]Times[/url]. That and other weird Met-like quotes bolded; and good news about Seaver, Hodges and Stengel being honored by having suites named for them. Baseball, as ever, the game of the people. (The Times, meanwhile, gives off the impression it was offended it ever had to cover games in the former facility.)
| ]Mets’ New Home Is the ‘Anti-Shea’
By KEN BELSON and RICHARD SANDOMIR
For those fans who hated Shea Stadium, fear not: Citi Field is nothing like its predecessor, the last bits of which lie in ruins a few hundreds yards away.
The Mets’ new park, which will open its doors for a Georgetown-St. John’s baseball game March 29, is far more intimate than Shea and corrects some of Shea’s worst faults.
Citi Field will hold about 42,000 fans, 15,000 fewer than Shea. The park is enclosed and many seats wrap around the outfield, so it feels much cozier than Shea’s open-ended bowl, which favored watching football.
During an extensive tour of Citi Field on Tuesday, Jeff Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer, spoke in the Acela Club, a restaurant in left field that will have 550 seats, table service, a bar and wine cabinets for frequent patrons.
“There’s all this light and air, and then you’re looking back at the field,” Wilpon said. “We want to make people feel they’re in a living room.”
The seats throughout the stadium are angled toward the center of the infield, reducing the need for fans, particularly on the field level, to crane their necks toward home plate.
Sitting in their seats, few fans will see the chop shops in Willets Point, the cars roaring past on the Van Wyck Expressway, the subway yards to the south or the U-Haul sign. They will still get a crystal-clear view of the planes on their final approach to La Guardia Airport. Some things never change.
Citi Field has many nooks and crannies that are nothing like Shea’s tired symmetry. The grandstand that hangs over right field, for instance, was inspired by the old Tiger Stadium, which Wilpon visited with his grandparents as a child. Fans in center field will get a bull’s-eye view of the bullpens, with Aaron Heilman only in the visitors’ half, which is on a slightly raised level, with some protection from fan saliva.
The 16-foot wall that rings much of the outfield means an Endy Chávez-like catch is unlikely, though.
Going for food or a bathroom break will be a lot easier. The concourses are far wider, bathrooms are more numerous and beer drinkers will not have to wander far for a microbrew. Gabila’s knishes will return thanks to convection ovens. (The old knishes were fried, which helps explain the heartburn they generated.)
The chance of a plumbing malfunction has also been reduced: the Mets have installed waterless urinals, an eco-friendly touch.
The walk from the subway station to Citi Field’s front entrance will take about as long as it took to reach Gate E at Shea, but an acre of planters, trees and other landscaping will usher fans to the new park’s brick exterior and ornate rotunda named for Jackie Robinson. Bricks embedded in the capacious plaza include inscriptions from fans who paid $195 to $345 for the privilege. Several applications were rejected because the language was deemed insulting of New York’s other baseball team.
Citi Field’s exterior is a splendid architectural response to the dullness of Shea, while the inner bowl is muted. Shea’s candy-colored plastic seats are gone (along with generations of chipped paint on the handrails) in favor of dark green seats everywhere.
“Dark green is the color of a classic ballpark,” said Dave Howard, the team’s executive vice president for business operations, as he stood ankle deep in snow. “And we thought the other team in town would use blue.”
Citi Field, with 28 different seating categories, also feels more fragmented than Shea, which had sections of box and reserved seats that stretched from one foul pole to the other. The collection of far smaller blocks of luxury suites, party rooms, restaurants and exclusive box seats spells exclusivity or exclusion, depending on your point of view.
Everything has a new name, as well. There’s the Ebbets Club, the Delta Sky360 Club and the Caesars Club. Seaver, Hodges and Stengel have their names on three of the five party suites. The name game is not done, either.
“In this economy, you don’t turn down sponsors,” Wilpon said. “Anyone who’s willing to pay. ...”
The suites, apparently, will not be just for baseball. Howard said that the club had already booked bar mitzvahs in the Caesars Club. A 150-seat auditorium could host corporate events.
While all the major construction is finished, many little touches remain. The kitchens are filled with refrigerators and even French fry baskets, but much of the equipment is unplugged, out of position and covered with layers of dust.
The much-improved sound system and scoreboards were getting a workout. A version of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” played loud and clear. The LED scoreboards that line the facades were ready for June. One read: “David Wright .320 AVG 15 HR 66 RBI.”
Wilpon said the team had not decided who would throw out the first pitch on opening day April 13. But he said it would be great if President Obama did it on Jackie Robinson Day two nights later.
With the sun setting, dozens of employees were waiting in the parking lot next to the park before their orientation sessions. Gary Brown, who worked at a concession stand for two years at Shea, said he and his friend Faruk Stokes were looking forward to their new workplace.
“Any type of progress is a good thing,” said Brown, who lives in Corona, Queens. “It’s a beautiful facility. I just hope the team is more successful here.” |
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Frayed Knot
Mar 05 2009 08:34 AM
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="Lundy":1vf8pk5q]They should have Seaver and Piazza walk in from centerfield ...[/quote:1vf8pk5q]
Backwards!
(talk about your blasts from the past -- another long-time, no post)
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G-Fafif
Mar 05 2009 08:37 AM
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="Lundy":3r2bl7rv]They should have Seaver and Piazza walk in from centerfield, in a reverse of what happened the last day at Shea.[/quote:3r2bl7rv]
Actually, they should have them materialize from the third base stands to give the impression that they just kept walking from center field at Shea straight into Citi Field.
Yes, Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza are so awesome that they can walk through brick.
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metirish
Mar 06 2009 12:09 PM
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I have an idea, the winner of the CPF song parody throws out the first pitch.
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Centerfield
Mar 06 2009 12:17 PM
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Tom Seaver should throw out the first pitch. Piazza should catch it. Angel Hernandez should be invited to call it a strike, and then Rickey should turn around from the batter's box and explain to Angel why it wasn't.
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Benjamin Grimm
Mar 06 2009 01:40 PM
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Some of the 1964 pitchers have been unofficially lobbying for the honor. I'd give it to them, since they seem to want it enough to ask.
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Centerfield
Mar 06 2009 02:36 PM
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"First pitch? Wow, gee...um...I hadn't thought about that at all. Well really that would be great if they were to ask, I mean, I could get there in ten minutes from here in Islip...and Jesse could catch it kind of like a reverse of 1986 and I could throw my glove up in the air, but yeah, I would love to do it if they asked. A lot. I would love it a lot. I think I would even pay money."
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Kong76
Mar 07 2009 01:49 PM
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Lundy: They should have Seaver and Piazza walk in from centerfield, in a reverse of what happened the last day at Shea <<<
Best idea so far.
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attgig
Mar 09 2009 09:19 AM
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it'll be a wilpon before it's anyone from citi.
maybe it'll be Kucinich to get him to shut up about citifield being named citifield
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metirish
Mar 15 2009 08:17 PM
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Not opening day but John Franco will have the honor of throwing out the first pitch before the St. John's and Georgetown game on the 29th.
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seawolf17
Mar 15 2009 08:39 PM
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="metirish":a4o5epd1]Not opening day but John Franco will have the honor of throwing out the first pitch before the St. John's and Georgetown game on the 29th.[/quote:a4o5epd1]
You think they're telling him it's really Opening Day just to make him go away?
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Gwreck
Mar 15 2009 09:17 PM
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Apparently he's on better terms with the organization these days -- he just got done doing a stint as a guest instructor in Port St. Lucie.
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metirish
Mar 30 2009 06:36 AM
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Seaver to Piazza the Daily News says.
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metirish
Mar 31 2009 08:06 PM
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Carter thinks Mets snubbed him twice
| ]
Gary Carter indicated in an interview with WFAN Tuesday that he was disappointed not to have been chosen to catch either the ceremonial last pitch at Shea Stadium or the first pitch at Citi Field.
In both cases, Mike Piazza was selected to catch Tom Seaver's pitch.
Asked by Boomer Esiason whether he was surprised he was bypassed for the Citi ceremony, Carter said: "Yeah, a little bit. I was a little surprised at the closing of Shea last year. I don't understand it.''
The Ducks manager wondered whether the organization's view of him soured when he rejected their Double-A managing job two years ago.
"When I turned it down, it's almost like they turned their backs to me,'' he said, adding that catching the final pitch at Shea or first at Citi "would have been very special.''
Carter, who unlike Piazza won a championship with the Mets, was invited to participate in the closing ceremonies at Shea.
It didn't help Carter's image when he appeared to lobby for the Mets' manager job in a radio interview last year before Willie Randolph had been fired.
Carter accused the media of "throwing him under the bus'' and said he and Randolph had discussed the incident. "He knows there were no malicious intentions of trying to take his job,'' Carter said.
-- NEIL BEST
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metsguyinmichigan
Mar 31 2009 08:48 PM
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I can kind of see where Gary's coming from.
No disrespect to Mikey. But Carter's already in the Hall with an acne-free back, has a championship ring. With he and Seaver, you'd have both championships represented.
He's become a goofball, but he's our goofball.
I think they should retire his number, too, but that's just me. Had the Hall of Fame not tried to preserve the Expos in some way by making sure there was at least one player on a plaque, and Carter was in as a Met, No. 8 would probably have been on the wall already.
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Edgy DC
Mar 31 2009 09:01 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Mar 31 2009 10:01 PM
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There's 20 people ahead of him on the list of potential retired numbers.
| ]"Yeah, a little bit. I was a little surprised at the closing of Shea last year. I don't understand it.'' |
Piazza was better than you. He did more than you. It's easy.
| ]"When I turned it down, it's almost like they turned their backs to me,'' he said |
You turned down a job --- a promotion ---- and they moved on. Happens all the time. You've since been welcome back in ceremonial opportunities, but offering you a job has to be taken in the context of your previously expressed expectations.
| ]adding that catching the final pitch at Shea or first at Citi "would have been very special.'' |
It was special. And they gave it to someone else. It's no reflection on you. Only one guy could have the honor.
| ]Carter, who unlike Piazza won a championship with the Mets, was invited to participate in the closing ceremonies at Shea. |
Danny Heep "won a championship" too. It's still a team sport.
| ]It didn't help Carter's image when he appeared to lobby for the Mets' manager job in a radio interview last year before Willie Randolph had been fired. |
It certainly reinforced the image established by similar statements in the past.
| ]Carter accused the media of "throwing him under the bus'' and said he and Randolph had discussed the incident. "He knows there were no malicious intentions of trying to take his job,'' Carter said. |
Ugh. Enough with that metaphor. Where was he misquoted? Were his words splashed across the front page?
Minaya was the one thrown "under the bus" by the media. After Carter threw Randolph under the bus.
I can't think of too many New York athletes with a better ratio of
<table align="center"><tr><td align="center">good publicity<hr>(actual produtivity) - (clearly self-interested quotes)</td></tr></table>
I just don't know why a publicist hasn't made this clear for him yet.
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batmagadanleadoff
Mar 31 2009 09:16 PM
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="Edgy DC":2i6srwvp]There's 20 people ahead of him on the list of potential retired numbers.[/quote:2i6srwvp]
I'm kind a strict-ler for retiring uniform numbers. Carter was a Met for five seasons and he outright sucked for two and a half of those. I've had enough of him already. He's a Hall of Famer and he deserves to be there. In an Expo hat. No one has an entitlement on a major league managerial gig - especially someone who's never managed in the majors. There's only 30 of those to go around and probably about a thousand guys who think they deserve to be one. Carter should do the math.
I like your Danny Heep quote ... because I agree with it. If Piazza doesn't have a World Series ring, it's probably because his teammates, collectively, weren't as good as Carter's. And maybe because one particular asshole didn't feel like running the bases the way they're supposed to be run. But that's another story, based on a whole lot of unfair assumptions --- but also about teammates.
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Edgy DC
Mar 31 2009 10:01 PM
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The media is the best friend Gary Carter ever had. His next best friend is the bus.
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LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 01 2009 08:41 AM
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| ]I like your Danny Heep quote ... because I agree with it. If Piazza doesn't have a World Series ring, it's probably because his teammates, collectively, weren't as good as Carter's. And maybe because one particular asshole didn't feel like running the bases the way they're supposed to be run. But that's another story, based on a whole lot of unfair assumptions --- but also about teammates. |
Seconded heartily.
Something occurs to me: If Pearlman's book and the clubhouse anecdotes are at all accurate... in a clubhouse full of arrogant tough guys who consumed enough cocaine to literally support the nation of Colombia, how in the course of 162 games and three weeks of playoffs did Gary f-ing Carter avoid getting hit in the face once or twice?
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seawolf17
Apr 01 2009 08:51 AM
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Gary, cut it out. Seriously. Just stop. Nobody likes a whiner.
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Edgy DC
Apr 01 2009 08:54 AM
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="batmagadanleadoff":15oqruaq]="Edgy DC":15oqruaq]There's 20 people ahead of him on the list of potential retired numbers.[/quote:15oqruaq]
I'm kind a strict-ler for retiring uniform numbers. Carter was a Met for five seasons and he outright sucked for two and a half of those.[/quote:15oqruaq]
Yeah, I sort of meant that ironically, as in "There's 20 guys ahead of him and the line isn't getting shorter and nobody's staffing the window, and I'm OK with that."
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batmagadanleadoff
Apr 01 2009 08:56 AM
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="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"]| ]I like your Danny Heep quote ... because I agree with it. If Piazza doesn't have a World Series ring, it's probably because his teammates, collectively, weren't as good as Carter's. And maybe because one particular asshole didn't feel like running the bases the way they're supposed to be run. But that's another story, based on a whole lot of unfair assumptions --- but also about teammates. |
Seconded heartily.
Something occurs to me: If Pearlman's book and the clubhouse anecdotes are at all accurate... in a clubhouse full of arrogant tough guys who consumed enough cocaine to literally support the nation of Colombia, how in the course of 162 games and three weeks of playoffs did Gary f-ing Carter avoid getting hit in the face once or twice? |
I have no problem going off on Carter. Why does this guy --undeservedly-- get so much disproportionate credit for the Mets success under Johnson? Why is his old uniform number in hibernation? World Series rings? There's about 50 Mets in team history with one of those. I can easily name 10 ring-owners who had Met careers that blow Carter's away. Cleon Jones has a ring. So does Tug. Doc and Darryl. Keith. Ron Darling and Sid Fernandez had better Met careers than Gary.
Why is Gary supposedly near the top of the list of Mets under consideration to have their numbers retired? If his days as an Expo never existed ... if Carter was instead, a promising 1985 rookie who petered out two years later due to a career-damaging injury, would anyone ever be campaigning for Gary's number to be retired? Of course not. So is this all about Carter's Expo days getting mixed in with his Met accomplishments? Are the Mets supposed to be the torch-bearers for Gary's Expo legacy? Are we supposed to retire uniform numbers (officially or unofficially) based on the player's accomplishments with Mets opponents? I never understood the Carter hype.
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batmagadanleadoff
Apr 01 2009 08:58 AM
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="Edgy DC":182rnt2d]="batmagadanleadoff":182rnt2d]="Edgy DC":182rnt2d]There's 20 people ahead of him on the list of potential retired numbers.[/quote:182rnt2d]
I'm kind a strict-ler for retiring uniform numbers. Carter was a Met for five seasons and he outright sucked for two and a half of those.[/quote:182rnt2d]
Yeah, I sort of meant that ironically, as in "There's 20 guys ahead of him and the line isn't getting shorter and nobody's staffing the window, and I'm OK with that."[/quote:182rnt2d]
I understood. I wouldn't campaign for the Mets to retire Kranepool's 7 or Tug's 45 or Cleon's 21, but they also have Mets WS rings, and Met careers that were better than Carter's.
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