A
trip to Shea Stadium. Folks… it ain’t as bad as people tell you.
Really.
Is
it beautiful? No. Is it unique... quaint... in a baseball
crazy neighborhood? No... no... and... no. Does it deserve
it's poor reputation? No.
The
beauty of Shea Stadium falls into two distinct areas. Number one…
it’s cheap. Ok, maybe not cheap. But not nearly as expensive as
other stadiums. Check out this chart from the 2005 regular season
prices:
| Team
- Stadium |
Highest |
Cheapest |
| Mets - Shea
Stadium |
$60 |
$12 |
| Yankees -
Yankee Stadium |
$95 |
$12 |
| Red Sox -
Fenway Park |
$85 |
$12 |
| Padres -
PetCo Park |
$40 |
$12 |
| Devil
Rays - Tropicana Field |
$85 |
$5 |
Now
understand that this chart is far from perfect. For instance,
the actual seating locations are difficult to compare. So sure,
it looks like most of the fields are comparable for the cheapest
tickets. But when you get into the number of cheap seats available
and where those seats are located… nope, not too comparable at
all. And secondly, teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox also
have “legends suites” or other types of packages and seating options
available. For this comparison, I tried to find and use just the
best box seats you could buy. And are you seeing the results?
Beyond the glitz, stripped down to basics, the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays actually might charge you more to sit indoors at Tropicana
Field than the Mets do to sit you outside at Shea. I know. And
on top of all this, the parking at Shea costs $10. (I’ll pause
for a moment while my friends that are solely familiar with the
cost of parking two miles away from Fenway recover from that news.
See, the cost of parking at that two-mile mark is roughly $30…
more if you don’t want to be blocked in... and my prices are probably
dated for Fenway.)
Number
two… it’s fairly easy to get to. My first time traveling out to
the ballpark in Flushing I was amazed. Down 95 south, off at the
exit for the Whitestone Bridge, and on in to the stadium parking.
When heading home, make a quick loop back to the highway. All
you need to remember is to pay attention for the New England signs…
because the 95 north entrance hits you very quickly if you aren’t
watching for it. But really, without a doubt, I have never been
to a sporting event or a major concert of any type where the parking
was this easy. (I’ll reserve my story of Opening Day 2002 at Shea
for now. Funny story… horrible arrival… exception to the rule.
Same for my final game of 2001 story, which was amazing considering
what some of the parking lots were being used for and my first
time driving past the city since the World Trade
After
the parking and travel and ticket purchase though… well… it’s
nice, but nothing too special. There is absolutely nothing to
see around the stadium. Nothing… zilch… nada. And anyone that
tells you differently has never seen the carnival atmosphere,
sense of community, and general event status given to home games
at Fenway, Wrigley or Camden Yards. You walk to the game… you
walk to your car. No neighborhood bars. No real street vendors
nearby. At least nothing that would even connect with you if you
have visited these other parks.
Here
is my best “Shea Stadium is nothing special” evidence…
(Ahem)
Out
in right-center field… more center than right… between the 410
and 396 foot markers on the outfield wall, there is a top hat.
On that top hat is the wording “home run.” When a Met hits a home
run, an apple with the Mets logo on it rises out of the hat.
Hit
a home run... win a kewpie doll! Or... umm... at least
set off the celebration of the big apple.
I
could try to tell you about the skyline in the scoreboard. Maybe
even tell you about how I saw Mark McGwire break a light or two
in that scoreboard. I could tell you about the Keyspan energy
sign or the retired numbers or anything else… but the simple fact
is that these things are in some way a part of every ballpark.
Different special things at each park... same basic idea. But
they don’t compare to the Ted Williams seat in the bleachers of
Fenway or the flags for a win or a loss at Wrigley.
Top
hat with an apple.
I
rest my case.
Another
quick funny story from Shea, and one that completely tells the
story of the 2005 Mets. We arrived, and along the outside wall
of the stadium was a souvenir stand. I stopped because I thought
it would be great to bring my hat and program the twenty steps
back to the car and leave it there. (Yes, we parked two rows away
from the stadium. I regularly get worse parking spots at the mall.)
In one of the cases was a special figure of Mike Piazza. Right
next to that was a small statue of Goofy wearing a Mets uniform.
Cost of the Mike Piazza figure: $10. The cost of Goofy: $23.
Photographic
evidence of why... in July... I knew Mike Piazza would
not be returning to the Mets. Folks, when your bobblehead
is a bargain compared to Goofy’s...
The
game? Oh yeah… the game…
“Mientkiewicz
give us our God damn ball back!”
I
have seen some good games at Shea Stadium. I’ve been there to
see Mark McGwire hit home runs and Mike Piazza hit a grand slam.
Good stuff.
Hey...
is that Rhode Island’s own Davey Lopes coaching at first base?
Yes... yes it is.
On
this July day, I watched Kaz Ishii throw 49 strikes out of 97
pitches and leave after six innings of shutout baseball. Yup…
50 percent strikes and throwing a shutout. Jake Peavy started
for the Padres, threw 70% strikes (70 out of 104), and got shelled.
Ishii can’t find the plate and he leaves the game with a 5-0 lead
that became a 12-0 lead before the next New York pitcher threw
a ball from the mound.
Ishii
needed a map, translator and neon sign... and still
had trouble finding the plate. Those are Ishii’s pitching
numbers, listed under Nady’s information, a third of
the way into the top of the sixth inning.
Actually,
I’m making fun of the game and I shouldn’t, because our group
had a blast. But with nothing much to add about game specifics,
I’ll turn to a story about my friend Don…
We
got to the game long before it started, and the Mets players hadn’t
even taken the field for warm-ups. Our seats were only a few rows
from the field, just beyond the first base dugout. Don is a huge
Red Sox fan. (Our group consisted of my Dad… another Red Sox fan
for life, and my stepson, Justin.) He had agreed to go to the
game only if I allowed him to heckle Pedro Martinez if he started
for the Mets. I agreed, but then Don said he probably wouldn’t,
since he couldn’t blame a guy for leaving to take $50 million.
Anyway…
Doug Mientkiewicz came out to play catch.
I
turn around to Don…
“Hey,
Don, there’s…”
“Mientkiewicz
give us our God damn ball back!”
The
entire section started laughing hysterically. It was really pretty
humorous, with Don continuing to make all sorts of comments about
Mientkiewicz, while at the same time explaining to Justin why
Mientkiewicz was a jerk and Dave Roberts was a hero. Then, in
the bottom of the third, Mientkiewicz led off the inning with
a home run. Later, he scored after walking. On the day he went
2 for 3, scored 3 runs and had 2 RBIs. Those might all be single-game
career highs for him, but I decided not to look it up. For good
measure, Mientkiewicz also cranked a foul ball that came on a
line at us and missed Don by about ten rows after going directly
over our heads.
And
the game was full of Boston-related surprises… like Jose Offerman
hitting in the bottom of the sixth (yes… he’s still playing).
In
the presence of greatness... Dave Roberts makes a plate appearance.
In
the top of the eighth, another treat came around when all of us…
all four of us… were able to stand up and give an ovation to Dave
Roberts. Those of you that would appreciate our efforts need no
explanation about how great that was to do.