Bye-Bye Shea - 4 Things I Love (and Hate) About Shea Stadium

The Mets may give us a few more chances to watch games at Shea Stadium this season, but either way, Shea is going away. The stadium comes down, and gets replaced in 2009 by Ciitfield. Here's just a few reflections on Shea and my (and many Mets fans') love-hate relationship with the place. Got more?

1. My first visit to a major league ballpark, as a 6-year-old, the flash of orange and the green of the field, after coming through the the teeming crowds and endless parking lot.


2. That Apple, that Homerun Apple, that's going to moved to the new Citifield? It's hard to believe that 80s cheese is going to survive. Must be part of the whole 80s revival.


3. 1986. Game 6 of the World Series. The Mets down to their last out, less strike, last chance. That miracle couldn't have happened in Fenway, nor anywhere else but Shea.


4. That its name is Shea Stadium, not Tostitos Field or Coca-Cola Park, but a simple non-corporate name. I don't feel like advertising for some company every time I give directions to the ballpark.

Photo (c) - J. Roleke - Shea Stadium seen from #7 subway walkway.