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Beautiful Baseball

Edgy MD Aug 21 2014 07:21 AM

I have to say, there's no baseball quite as delightful to my eyes as day baseball at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. Watching Lucas Duda chase a popup and start relaxing his legs after 10 strides before realizing he's not even halfway to the railing, the goofy roof, the green paint everywhere accentuated by the yellow shirts in the crowd, the ramps between wonky mis aligned sections, the maintenance ladders beyond the outfield wall that seemingly climb from nowhere to nowhere, the on-the-field bullpens that (unlike Wrigley) almost never come into play because there's just so much room, the sense that Willie Mays is going be introduced any moment. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so: in the rush to embrace nostalgia, they replaced so many ballparks, that the most nostalgic feeling I get is from the one that has escaped the purge. And, while it's a wasted and largely pointless thought, I think everybody would have realized Shea could have offered the same, only better, had they stepped back a stride or two and thought it through.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2014 07:34 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Course, you can't step back and think through changes to a stadium when you haven't first stepped back and thought through what it means to own the team that plays there.

Edgy MD Aug 21 2014 08:26 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Interesting point and, while I certainly know the eggs can never be unscrambled with regard to Shea, I'd be curious to hear you elaborate some.

G-Fafif Aug 21 2014 09:02 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Oh, what might have been.

Edgy MD Aug 21 2014 09:15 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

I like that. A lot. I like to think that the re-write of the 2006 post-season wouldn't have been necessary for the re-write of the stadium rebuild --- that the right thing was the right thing was the right thing no matter how things turned out on the field. But as long as you were re-writing, I understand the appeal.

G-Fafif Aug 21 2014 09:23 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Thanks. I'd actually forgotten the motivational role the happier-ended Game Seven provided. But as long as history was changing, what the hell?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2014 02:10 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Edgy MD wrote: Interesting point and, while I certainly know the eggs can never be unscrambled with regard to Shea, I'd be curious to hear you elaborate some. It isn't anything you haven't heard me elaborate on a million times before but I think the general dysfunction of the franchise over the last decade+ could be boiled down to the Wilpons' seeming failure to grasp the very meaning of owning a baseball franchise inasmuch as it is more than building or a development or a toy but a *living thing* with meaning to its fans so deep-seated as to be a part of their very identities as people. It can't be operated cavalierly or selfishly or irresponsibly or reactively or paranoically because it matters. Yet they can't even run it as a business successfully. I know there were about a million good reasons including biz ones, to do-over Shea. What I regret is not having played a bigger role in getting the team to understand how they did it actually mattered. I trusted them to do it right!

Zvon Aug 21 2014 04:25 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

I've said it belore. 50 years from now Shea could have been the Fenway of cookie cutter stadiums with all kinds of rich history. I didn't really consider her a cookie cutter because they were closed in, but she was lumped right in there with them. So which is the only stadium from the 1960's-70's that has survived? What ballpark will represent that period of time in the future? Dodger Stadium? Beautiful park but not a typical one during those years.

Edgy MD Aug 21 2014 04:29 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

It wouldn't have taken 50 years. But amirght? Was yesterday's ballgame just a bea-yoo-ti-ful thing to watch or what?

Zvon Aug 21 2014 04:37 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Edgy MD wrote: It wouldn't have taken 50 years. But amirght? Was yesterday's ballgame just a bea-yoo-ti-ful thing to watch or what? Yea it was. But to me it was more the time of day that made it beautiful. The bright sun playing off brilliantly green grass under a deep blue sky. It doesn't really matter where, though a day game at Wrigley would top my list. Caught a day game there in the early 90's and that's an experience everyone should have. Time stands still there.

Mets – Willets Point Aug 22 2014 08:16 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

When I went to Dodger Stadium in 2007 I was amazed by how similar this hallowed, beautiful ballpark was to Shea Stadium. The only things about Dodger Stadium that I thought were better than Shea are the open concourses (so you can still see the game from the concessions stands) and that there was a full set of bleachers in the outfield.

Zvon Aug 22 2014 10:49 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Mets – Willets Point wrote: When I went to Dodger Stadium in 2007 I was amazed by how similar this hallowed, beautiful ballpark was to Shea Stadium. The only things about Dodger Stadium that I thought were better than Shea are the open concourses (so you can still see the game from the concessions stands) and that there was a full set of bleachers in the outfield. Considering those two big differences what made them similar to you? I've always thought of Shea & Dodger stadium as night and day. The two things you mention (kinda big differences) and Dodger Stadium seemed lower to the ground, more spread out, I thought. I've never been there though so I could be wrong. Dodger Stadium should be on my stadium list. It really does look beautiful.

Mets – Willets Point Aug 22 2014 11:46 AM Re: Beautiful Baseball

They're both big and cavernous, semicircular, with the 60s modernism flair. I guess the other big difference is that Dodger Stadium is built into a hillside while Shea rose to dramatic heights around it's relatively flat surroundings, but you don't notice that so much when inside watching the game.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 22 2014 01:27 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

It seems that architecture has to go through an "old and outdated" period before it advances to "quaint and charming" and ultimately "beloved." Fenway and Wrigley are obvious examples. Sadly, it didn't quite work out for Tiger Stadium. The challenge is to survive that first phase. Buildings that do that can end up having a long life. I was hoping that Shea Stadium would be able to do that. I guess none of the multi-purpose stadiums of that era are fated to see that happen. Is Oakland the last of them? What about Kansas City? Dodger Stadium doesn't really count because it was built just for baseball, so it's in a somewhat different category. Oh, and that reminds me: Candlestick Park has a date with the wrecking ball coming up.

G-Fafif Aug 22 2014 02:05 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Benjamin Grimm wrote: What about Kansas City? KC was notable for being baseball-only while the multipurpii were riding high. Recent facelift to make it a bit more quaint-ish ensures its longevity. It's placement in a parking lot off the Interstate (adjacent to football-only Arrowhead) probably detracts from its aura.

d'Kong76 Aug 22 2014 02:19 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

I've been to Fenway probably fifteen times, and like it. My Sawx friends who go there fifteen times a year hate it and wish they'd bite the bullet and build a more modern place. But they're Patriots fans, so what the fuck do they know.

themetfairy Aug 22 2014 03:49 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

Kansas City is everything they say about Dodger Stadium, but with fountains. Just gorgeous!

Zvon Aug 22 2014 06:03 PM Re: Beautiful Baseball

I forgot that a number of stadiums mentioned here were built around the time that Shea was. I was thinking of Riverfront, Three Rivers, the Vet, big bowls like those. I guess that would be a more 70's flair. Can't say I miss any of those. And I went to many games at the Vet. Veterans Stadium was okay. I didn't like artificial turf at all, as was the case with all above.