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Short random Shea thoughts

Kong76 May 05 2010 04:53 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 05 2010 05:23 PM

The last game at Shea I went down the ramp that ended up being the exit to the press gate. The ramps often confused me, ya ever want to go two levels and back and end up doing more walking than you intended? Anyways, I was going to take a pic- ture of my foot half in and half out as I left for the last time and ended up not doing so. I regret that.

themetfairy May 05 2010 05:05 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

My favorite Shea memory is the time I had a press pass. I wasn't actually working for the Beanie Babies magazine yet, but I was covering a Beanie giveaway game in 1999. The Powers That Be gave me a press pass. I had D-Dad stay by me with the actual game ticket until I got in, because I didn't believe they'd really let me in. Even when I was on the field, I kept expecting security to tap me on the shoulder and remind me that I didn't really belong there. Another great little memory was the day that I bought my D60 SLR in August 2008. I went to a day game at Shea with the new camera, and got this beginner's luck shot of Wright homering -

G-Fafif May 05 2010 05:25 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Field Level seats mostly sucked. Mezzanine was fine. Four seating levels is all you needed.

Ashie62 May 05 2010 06:22 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 05 2010 06:46 PM

Mine is walking the field on banner day with my brother and parents in 1969.

seawolf17 May 05 2010 06:28 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

What was the deal with the sign man? We were there for Fan Appreciation Day in 1985 (the Floyd Youmans game), and I distinctly remember a sign man in left field with us. Was that the same sign man from the old days, or did he have another guy carry the mantle in the 80s?

themetfairy May 05 2010 06:35 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

I had a Tuesday/Friday plan in 1987. One Tuesday that year, after a bear of a day at work, I showed up for a game. I bought something at a concession stand, and only had a $20, so I apologized. The little old lady working the stand said, "That's ok. Harry M. Stevens always has plenty of change!" That sweet old lady totally turned my day around.

Ashie62 May 05 2010 06:45 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

seawolf17 wrote: What was the deal with the sign man? We were there for Fan Appreciation Day in 1985 (the Floyd Youmans game), and I distinctly remember a sign man in left field with us. Was that the same sign man from the old days, or did he have another guy carry the mantle in the 80s? Karl Erhardt "retired" in 1981 but was invited back in 2002 sporting a "The Sign Man Lives" placard. He was totally kool and awesome.

seawolf17 May 05 2010 07:19 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

And yet, there was the sign man, or a sign man, anyway, in 1985. I want to say he was going by the moniker "Kraze The Sign Man," but it was 25 years ago, so my memory might not be too slick.

G-Fafif May 05 2010 07:34 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

A vendor on Field Level, first base side, final game of 1995 gave me a free soda.

Ceetar May 05 2010 07:44 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Last home stand of 2007, had random picnic area seats. Remember being amused at getting a souvenir 2006 soda cup and looking at the Apple from the back.

Fman99 May 05 2010 07:52 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

At the last game I attended in 2008 Citi Field was almost totally done. This was game #161, the "Johan game." Our parking space was literally right next to Citi Field, maybe 5-6 feet from the building. I told my wife to savor it as we'd never get to park that close to Citi Field again.

Edgy DC May 05 2010 07:53 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Nothing cooler than randomly meeting a friend or aquaintance on the concourse. It's such another world of fantasy, it was surreal to see someone from your daily world. It was like, "Kenny? Holy shit, Kenny Wolf! You made it into Heaven too!" Another cool thing was watching cars blow up and being completely detached from it because you didn't drive, heh-heh.

Ceetar May 05 2010 08:08 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Edgy DC wrote: Nothing cooler than randomly meeting a friend or aquaintance on the concourse. It's such another world of fantasy, it was surreal to see someone from your daily world. It was like, "Kenny? Holy shit, Kenny Wolf! You made it into Heaven too!" Another cool thing was watching cars blow up and being completely detached from it because you didn't drive, heh-heh. You run into people a lot more in Citi Field if you're looking I feel like. Maybe I just know more people through blogging for three years now. Citi Field, and this is something Greg noted in his book if I recall, isn't as open as Shea, so in a way you're actually more enclosed in the baseball experience. You don't really see the expansive sky, the U-Haul sign, the parking lot, the crowds of people coming off the subway.(I kinda miss the subway view) You can get some really neat views if you look for them though. (But I'll save that for a short random Citi thoughts thread). The parking situation is odd. Actually, I probably parked for the Johan game really close to where fman did. I remember walking by Citi, taking pictures into the rotunda with the zoom lens, walking around the fences and towards Shea. Although as far as parking close, I've parked really really close to Citi Field a couple of times already. It's weird how they do the parking lots, I'm not quite used to it yet.

seawolf17 May 05 2010 08:15 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

I was in the Picnic Area at Shea twice. Once, a high school friend who I had a crush on got tickets through her dad's office; I was sure that was going to be a huge turning point for our relationship. (It wasn't.) The second time, a Pepsi Wednesday night freebie, my wife went apeshit on this kid who kept standing right in front of us and almost stabbed him in the neck with her scorebook pencil. (Intentionally.) I miss the picnic area.

Nymr83 May 05 2010 08:28 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

I like Citi, but I miss Shea. There aren't any seats at Citi (i've walked around the joint more than i've sat down so far) that quite have the same great baseball feeling as the upper deck behind the plate at shea. and it was just so OPEN up there, the sharply angled seating bowl helped i'm sure, was it the highest seats in the majors?

seawolf17 May 05 2010 08:32 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Nymr83 wrote: the highest seats in the majors? I believe they were, yes. I'm hitting Citi three times this year, after not going at all (save the "open workout" before Opening Day) last year. So maybe I'll have a chance to build some comparison.

Ashie62 May 05 2010 08:45 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Citifield sux by comparison, to me at least.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 05 2010 08:52 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Incredibly bright sun on the field; incredibly cold wind on my neck at the Bobby Jones Game.

Ceetar May 05 2010 09:24 PM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

seawolf17 wrote: Nymr83 wrote: the highest seats in the majors? I believe they were, yes. I'm hitting Citi three times this year, after not going at all (save the "open workout" before Opening Day) last year. So maybe I'll have a chance to build some comparison. Were they? RFK seemed really really high. Maybe higher. (And Coors field is a mile high! hahahahah) I was at the NLCS in 2006, I don't remember if it was game 1 or game 2 (because the rainout flip flopped them and I always get confused and I was at both) but I was in the back row of the Upper Deck and it was windy and that was probably the coldest I'd ever been at Shea sans the January in '99 when it was like -30 and I camped out for 6 hours for tickets.

Nymr83 May 06 2010 04:31 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Incredibly bright sun on the field; incredibly cold wind on my neck at the Bobby Jones Game. i had "back row loge" for that game so no wind... and no view of anything in the air.

G-Fafif May 06 2010 05:19 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Incredibly bright sun on the field; incredibly cold wind on my neck at the Bobby Jones Game. Shea felt like it was plotted on several completely different latitudes depending on where one sat. I'm surprised you didn't have to reset your watch to Eastern time once you made your way from the Upper Deck to the exits. Last row, Mezz, fair territory, left field Bobby Jones game THE COLDEST I have ever been at a Mets game. Exceeded previous champion, a night that April -- Griffey's first at Shea as a Red -- when Manny bleeping Aybar took 20 minutes (more or less) between each pitch. That one edged Jackie Robinson Night. (I think the wind is worse at CF, however, at least in April and May.) Was very cold on a Saturday afternoon in early 2006, but we got rained out after sitting around for an hour, which made total sense since it was too disgusting to play. When the game was called before it ever started, it was like early parole.

themetfairy May 06 2010 05:20 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Shea was even colder during Jets games. Brutally cold.

Benjamin Grimm May 06 2010 06:03 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

I can remember two especially cold days that I experienced at Shea. Both featured memorable home runs by a catcher, one good (Gary Carter, Opening Day 1985) and one bad (Mike Scoscia, 1988 NLCS).

Frayed Knot May 06 2010 06:28 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Ceetar wrote: seawolf17 wrote: Nymr83 wrote: the highest seats in the majors? I believe they were, yes. I'm hitting Citi three times this year, after not going at all (save the "open workout" before Opening Day) last year. So maybe I'll have a chance to build some comparison. Were they? RFK seemed really really high. Maybe higher. (And Coors field is a mile high! hahahahah) My first thought was 'The Vet' in Philly - that place was huge (and ugly). The highest (700 level?) seats there were REAL high and from the ones in CF (admittedly not used all that often for baseball) the game must have seemed like a rumor. Although now that I remember looking down at the top of the RF foul pole from seats at the Todd Pratt/Arz game it's possible that those Vet seats weren't necessarily higher than the top row at Shea but I bet the combination of height and horizontal distance probably made them further from the field.

Edgy DC May 06 2010 07:05 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

RFK is saddle-shaped. It was the first thing that popped into my my mind for possibly higher seats, but only perhaps for a section or two at it's highest points. And only for the years it operated concurrently with Shea (1962-1971, 1005-2007). For what it's worth, Nationals Park climbs ridiculously high also. You'll hear Keith complain about a super high press box. I imagine that it's now the highest. Comiskey II/US Cellular Field looks pretty high to me also, but that's guesswork.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 06 2010 07:13 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Thje stadium I associate with height is old Memorial Stadium in baltimore. Not sure if it was the highest ever, but had to be the steepest. Felt like a sneeze could send you 30 rows down the concrete steps. The Dbaggs park has some very high seats just because they need to maintain the shape for the roof to close.

bmfc1 May 06 2010 07:26 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Sitting in 1st base field box seats with my father on a Saturday afternoon--watching Keith skillfully make a play and my father, not one to often reminisce about baseball, say "he's the best first baseman I've seen since Gil Hodges."

Centerfield May 06 2010 07:30 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I can remember two especially cold days that I experienced at Shea. Both featured memorable home runs by a catcher, one good (Gary Carter, Opening Day 1985) and one bad (Mike Scoscia, 1988 NLCS). My memory is shot. I would have bet my life that this game was played at Dodger Stadium. Had I thought for a second, I would have realized this couldn't be true since I clearly remember Games 1 and 7 being in LA. I guess in my mind, the Dodgers had home field advantage the whole series. Blech.

bmfc1 May 06 2010 07:35 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

Speaking of the height of the upper deck... my friend Seth S. once fell down the steep steps and lost several teeth. From that day on, whenever I was going to a game and told my Grandfather that I was buying upper deck tickets, he handed me a few dollars (and you only need a few back then) to buy better tickets.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr May 06 2010 10:23 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts Edited 2 time(s), most recently on May 06 2010 10:54 AM

Thanks to mom's work, had sweet Loge box tickets to a handful of games in 1989 just on the first-base side of the home-plate netting; in a game against the Padres, I twice missed foul balls (one from Elster, another from Keith Miller) hit into our box because I was turned away from the action for a pitch or two. The second one actually landed below my seat; shocked and delighted, I reached for it, only to have the tubby middle-aged man across the aisle shoulder-check 11-year-old me to get his meaty hands on it. My aunt Annie, who brought me to the game, said sharply, "That's awful; you're awful." The guy ignored her, and avoided eye contact-- hers and mine-- for another 2-3 innings before leaving early. All good though-- Mets 7, Pads 2, thanks to 2 HRs from Straw. That and a new white hat cure a lot of ills. Never did catch a foul ball, though.

Gwreck May 06 2010 10:35 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

I never once caught a foul ball at Shea, owing mostly to the fact that I can count on one hand the number of times I ever sat on the field level. The one game we sprang for the really fancy tickets though (during the final season), we went all out and I nailed a lot of Shea firsts (sitting right behind the dugout; having a waiter bring me my food, etc.) and was hopeful that I could also add "catch foul ball" to that list. The foul ball wasn't to be, but I did however have a t-shirt shot directly at me, so I stood up, reached up and snagged it clean, oblivious to the four or five people (not children, either) who were right behind me and also wanted it. One even put his hand on the shirt as I was bringing my arm down and I turned around, gave him the death stare as he says "oh, nice catch" and walked away.

metirish May 06 2010 10:41 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

My last game at Shea during it's last week had me sitting all the way up top above home plate in the last row.....I loved going up there....it was so high. I remember thinking that I'll never see a baseball game from this high up again.....my first ever game there I did the rookie mistake of not dressing appropriately for an April game.

seawolf17 May 06 2010 10:44 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

metirish wrote: My last game at Shea during it's last week had me sitting all the way up top above home plate in the last row.....I loved going up there....it was so high. I remember thinking that I'll never see a baseball game from this high up again.....my first ever game there I did the rookie mistake of not dressing appropriately for an April game. I did the same thing my last game. Got there right when the gates opened and circumnavigated the whole place, top to bottom.

Farmer Ted May 06 2010 11:18 AM Re: Short random Shea thoughts

My last game at Shea was in the nose bleeds with yous guys.