Sunday, July 13, 2008

Remembering Shea: A Sunday evening with Baseball Tonight


I felt like storing up on some real baseball before the circus comes to town. So I lowered my standards and decided to listen to Joe Morgan for the evening. This week's feature game is the Rockies vs. the Mets. So naturally, the subject of a new Shea stadium came up. This is the second time I've heard the news today. I had not know previously that they were building a new Shea. I started to wonder and it turns out the Mets are entirely local news. According to google the new Shea story didn't get much reach, especially when compared to the mega-story of the New Yankee Stadium.

Anyway, here are some notable Shea Stadium moments, courtesy of the Baseball Tonight crew on ESPN. Oh, by the way that's the New stadium as seen from the current Shea.

  • Beatles Perform in 1965 &1966
  • Jets beat Raiders in AFL Championship 1968
  • Mets win World Series 1969 & 1986
  • Pope John Paul II 1979
  • 3 comments:

    1. That's it Mets win! Real baseball is over until Thursday. Red Sox start a West Coast trip on Firday. Enjoy X.

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    2. It is time for a new Shea. I really have no idea why they are building a new Yankees Stadium.

      Shea is terrible despite some renovations. It is dirty, and old, and the upper deck seats are ridiculous. Seriously, the design is awful. You are so far removed from the game you may as well be at home.

      Yankees Stadium is still pretty nice. It is big, has great acoustics...seriously, you can "hear" why teams may be intimidated as a visitor in that park. I don't care what they say about Fenway and the fans being so close...The loudest at Fenway is nothing compared to the Bronx. Might have something to do with the fact that it holds 20+ thousand more than Fenway, but it is a bowl and holds and echoes more sound, too.

      That brings me to Fenway. If the Yankees can destroy Yankees Stadium (which doesn't NEED to be replaced), then the Sox can build a new Fenway. It's time. They've won two more championships there and gotten rid of the ghosts.

      There's also no more "How can we get rid of such a piece of history" argument. Not when you can move on from a place where Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Berra, Ford, etc...played. That is not to diminish or compare past Sox players. I am just pointing out that Fenway sucks, and the limited seating makes the tickets way too expensive.

      And don't try the "It won't sell out approach"...that won't fly. There are a ton of Sox fans to fill the place.

      To boot...the Sox ownership is cross-selling everything to make extra money to put a "quality product" on the field. I am tired of having each game have a theme. And each pitch being sponsored by a different organization. And I am also tired of home games being Super Bowl-esque in that "So and so just happened to be at the game tonight...". Then the next half-inning is spent with a camera in the booth focused on some Boston "icon" (by the way, the dude from Yes, Dear is not an ICON!!! Nor do I care about what he has to say), and basically just getting back to the pitch as it is thrown (if you're lucky)...Then there is no commentary on the play...you just watch it.

      Not to mention when someone stands up at Fenway, you can't see...Half the seats don't face the field. There are still obstructed view seats...Etc, etc, etc...

      Seriously, a new stadium gets them (hopefully) cutting back on annoying to the fans revenue streams (but probably not). At the very least, one could buy tickets to a game at least once a year, and not go bankrupt from one trip to the park...

      So that's a rant. Feels good.

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    3. Grieves it is nice to have you back. I haven't read a rant like that since 2006!

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