Shea Stadium

[NJTankMets]

They should.

[BillDuff]

Some Grainy photos of Shea taken by ShyFoxHD today --> http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/0902...um_Demolition#

If you look at the last picture, they are already preparing for the parking lot.

[LINYUSA]

Thats all she wrote:

Thought I would add an Ebbets Field picture for historical sentiment.

[jimmyjimjimz]

My new guess, after seeing those pics from Fox, is that by this comming Friday, (Friday the 13th of Feb, 2009), none of Shea Stadium will be standing.

[Gary Dunaier]

OK ..... WHO do we personally know that's skinny enough to fit thru THIS opening?
We can have them stand on Big Man II's shoulders & squeeze right THRU this gap!

If you look closely you'll see the actual gate is unlocked. Although there's a barrier in front of it, you could, conceivably, open the gate. In fact I did open it maybe another inch or so to get a better picture of the sign.

Anyone planning on visiting Shea on Sunday? Judging by Gary's photos from last night, I think there'll still have some piece of her to look at & photograph on Sunday ... based on how much it still there. Gary, were they working there last night, or was that big light just on for security purposes?

Don't know.

Those pictures were taken from the platform next to the token booth. I planned to get more from the actual subway platform after getting my Citi Field photos, but as I was walking back those lights were turned off, so no more pictures of Shea that night.

[Gary Dunaier]

On another note, I'm pleased that the pitcher is the last neon man standing on the outer facade. That one was always my favorite.

[WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST HAS ABSOLUTELY NO BASIS IN FACT. WE WILL NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYONE WHO CHOOSES TO BELIEVE THE FALDERAL THEY ARE ABOUT TO READ. THANK YOU.]

That was done deliberately, to honor Tom Seaver, the first person to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the basis of his merits as a Met.

[Gary Dunaier]

A few photos from yesterday morning...









As the train passes 111th Street and goes even further away from Shea, the light towers of Citi Field become more dominant, as shown in the last photo.

It's scary to realize that the vantage point from where I took this photo no longer exists...


(Photo taken June 14, 2008. © Gary Dunaier. Link to upload on Flickr.com: here.)

...although the top of the ramp does - at least for the time being...

[NJTankMets]

The Batter is gone wow

[Gary Dunaier]

mmm... batter...

[RichardK]

grrrr.... wife batter...

[DallasGoon]

World Series Champion batter...

[Mary Ellen]

The remaing part of Shea is the corporate office entrance and the Diamond Club entrance. I went there many a time with my family for breakfast with Mr. Met. Tough to look at that photo from fox.

Gary that ramp photo is fantastic. I have great memories of leaving Shea and the fans chanting down the ramp.

[Ralf]

World Series Champion batter...

...and wife batter.

[GordonGecko]

Interesting, the citi bank building is peering through shea to Citi Field:

[JohnCropp]

Interesting, the citi bank building is peering through shea to Citi Field:

The kind of information you could only find on BF!

Nice job!

[metsforever7515]

Interesting, the citi bank building is peering through shea to Citi Field:

Wow, I would have never noticed that had you not pointed that out. Pretty ironic if you ask me.

Btw, 500th post

[RichieA13]

[WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST HAS ABSOLUTELY NO BASIS IN FACT. WE WILL NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYONE WHO CHOOSES TO BELIEVE THE FALDERAL THEY ARE ABOUT TO READ. THANK YOU.]

That was done deliberately, to honor Tom Seaver, the first person to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the basis of his merits as a Met.

Personally, it's fitting for me that the pitcher neon will be the last one to fall. During games at Shea the past two seasons, I would park in the little parking lot that they popped in along the Gate E side. This lot didn't exist until they broke ground for Citi Field & they had to scramble to create parking spaces where none existed before due to the spaces that were lost to the ground that the new ballpark was being built upon. I LOVED this lot because it only served a couple hundred cars, so getting out of it was never a problem. You were back on the streets in seconds! Few fans knew it even existed!

Fast forward to the last game on 9/28 .... & I got the park a little later than I usually do. "My" lot was closed because it was already filled. I was bummed. So, they directed us (my son & I) to the next lot, which is the lot around the Diamond Club Entrace (the neon pitcher). We had to park WAY in the back ... one row from the fence. We'd parked there once before during the season (on 8/24), so I had my son pose in/around a spot where I had taken a photo of him earlier in the season. After the game, we existed Gate A & walked all around the stadium back to where the car was parked. My son was getting a kick out of picking up the little pieces of orange & blue metallic 'confetti' that they shot from the roof of Shea during the 'fireworks' celebration. As he picked up the confetti, I took some final shots of his last visit to Shea. This way, he'll have those memories preserved long after I am gone & long after his early memories of childhood begin to fade.

When we left the stadium, the sun was setting. By the time we reached our car my son said he needed a bathroom break. (FYI---this after I missed the last out of the LAST GAME EVER because he needed a bathroom break then, too ...... ooooooh ..... the JOYS of being a parent!! ). Being we have a 45 minute car ride home, we headed to the port-a-potties set up outside of GATE E. I recall that by the time we got there, he did his business & we opened the door to leave, it was much darker out ... almost felt like night. It reminded me a little of "Dawn of the Dead". The sky was kinda creepy looking with the sun just set & eerie cloud formations in the sky, yet it was also dark out, too. The ground was wet from the rain earlier in the day. The people were were milling around the parking lot just like zombies, taking photos & just walking aimless around. I don't recall many people smiling, or happy. It was really a somber feeling.

We continuted back to where the car was parked & I noticed there were two young guys taking photos of each other with Shea Stadium behind them. I offered to take a photo of them together. They were grateful & then offered to return the favor for us as well. I recall standing there trying to smile while inside I was anything but happy. I'm actually GLAD the guy who took the photo experienced a little 'camera shake' when taking this photo. It gives the photo a surreal or 'ghostly" feeling to it ... which was EXACTLY how I felt at that moment. My son was sad that the place was going to be torn down. I was sad that the place was going to be torn down. On top of it ALL, we couldn't beat the F*****G MARLINS, so we missed (another) chance of going to the playoffs for the second straght year on the last F*****G game of the year! This would be my final trip ever to Shea Stadium to see a Mets game, after coming to this place, season after season for my entire life. I choked back a tear as best as I could & faked a brave smile for the camera, but a little piece of me died that day. Lets just hope Citi Field can fill Shea Stadium's shoes. For my son's sake more than mine .... as that will now have to be his "Field of Dreams". Mine is a section away from being a total memory ..............

PS----When I go to Shea tomorrow, I am going to try to take ONE MORE photo from this spot ... then eventually I'll take one from the same spot when the building is totally gone, as well.

[Mary Ellen]

Richie those are wonderful photos. Your son will be very grateful for them when he is older and talks about the good old days at Shea.

[RichieA13]

Richie those are wonderful photos. Your son will be very grateful for them when he is older and talks about the good old days at Shea.

Thank you, Mary Ellen.
We ALL knew that SOME DAY Shea Stadium would have to be replaced with a newer (& hopefull better) facility.
.... and when that day came, saying goodbye for some of us was not going to be easy.
I'm actually almost glad at this point & time that the demo work it's almost finished.
I feel like I've been sitting at a wake for FIVE STRAIGHT MONTHS now!
Comparing Shea to a friend/relative slowing dying with an incurable condition with only days to live is exactly how it feels for me. When the last section is down, the suffering will (hopefully) be over.

[GordonGecko]

Hey Richie that's great, I can't wait til my boy is old enough to take to a game. He was born last year and I got him a brick on the fanwalk with his name and date on it. I'll be going there with him on his birthday to take a picture

[NJTankMets]

I just found this on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7xjS...ture=rec-HM-rn

[RichieA13]

Hey Richie that's great, I can't wait til my boy is old enough to take to a game. He was born last year and I got him a brick on the fanwalk with his name and date on it. I'll be going there with him on his birthday to take a picture

I missed out on the fan walk bricks. Can you still buy them, Gordon? Taking my boy to his first game had to be one of the BEST days of my parenting life. You're going to have a BLAST, Gordon. Even though we had back row seats in the Loge, Boomer Wells tossed a great game against us during his first start as a Dodger & the air in the stadium was like a sauna ... we STILL had a ball! My son still doesn't follow the whole game yet, so I'm looking forward to the quality of baseball questions getting better as the seasons go by & as his baseball knowledge expands.

[Oct251986]

I just found this on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7xjS...ture=rec-HM-rn

Wow. Between this video and the picture with the flood light from Gary the other day it reminds me of the inscription above the General Post Office in the city.

Neither snow nor rain nor dark of night...

Thanks for the link

[RichieA13]

I just found this on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7xjS...ture=rec-HM-rn

There's one word uttered in the entire video at the end that sums it up perfectly ........... and it's "WOOOOOOOOW!".

[GordonGecko]

I missed out on the fan walk bricks. Can you still buy them, Gordon? Taking my boy to his first game had to be one of the BEST days of my parenting life. You're going to have a BLAST, Gordon. Even though we had back row seats in the Loge, Boomer Wells tossed a great game against us during his first start as a Dodger & the air in the stadium was like a sauna ... we STILL had a ball! My son still doesn't follow the whole game yet, so I'm looking forward to the quality of baseball questions getting better as the seasons go by & as his baseball knowledge expands.

They sold out last year and I missed out but all of a sudden couple weeks ago someone here posted that they opened up sales again. By the time I called they sold out out again (within 2 days) and I put my name on a waiting list. I got a call this week and was able to get a brick. I don't know if they'll have any more but it can't hurt to get on the waiting list:
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ball...nwalk_form.jsp