Bill's Journal Entry #25

Shea Stadium

Date: September 4, 2002

Location: New York, New York

Opponent: Florida Marlins

Travel companion: none

Link to my photos

Game Result: Venus Williams defeated Monica Seles, 6-2, 6-3; and Andre Agassi defeated Max Mirnyi, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. Oh wait, those are the results from the U.S. Open tennis matches taking place at the same time as the baseball game, across the subway track from Shea at Arthur Ashe Stadium. On the north side of the "7" tracks, the Mets had just ended their 15 game home losing streak the night before, and this night they set out to extend the home winning streak. Things started well for the Mets, as they put up three in the bottom of the first, including a two-run Mike Piazza homer. However, the Fish answered with a three-run homer by Mike Lowell in the top of the second. But that would be the end of the offense for the Marlins. The Mets, on the other hand, would put up eight more on the night, including home runs by Edgardo Alfonso, Jeromy Burnitz, and Ty Wigginton. Final score: Mets 11, Marlins 3.

Stadium Summary: When you hear references to the "cookie-cutter" baseball stadiums, people are usually referring to Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium, Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field, Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, and St. Louis's Busch Stadium. After visiting Shea Stadium, I'm surprised that it isn't also included in that list. True, it's not a completely round, enclosed stadium like those others. Instead, it's only like that from foul pole to foul pole, and then is primarily open in the outfield. Maybe it's three-fourths of a cookie-cutter. But it still has a lot of that feel. And that's not good. The concession walkway is dank and poorly lit-it feels more like a bad subway station than a stadium. Seating areas, while colored by level like Dodger Stadium, were uninteresting, and I saw several seats that were in serious need of repair. And what's with all the box seat sections that are only four seats wide? It was like every seat had its own aisle.

From the outside, though, Shea is actually quite sharp. The walls are decorated with massive multi-color neon designs of baseball players in various action poses. And the monstrous American flag hanging directly below the main Shea Stadium sign not only is patriotic, but looks beautiful. So much so that I wish it had been there well before 9/11.

Overall, Shea Stadium isn't a bad cookie-cutter, but it's still a cookie-cutter.

Best baseball-related reason to visit The Met: For those of you not up on the New York museum lingo, that's "The Metropolitan Museum of Art". And part of their collection is a section on baseball cards. Their collection isn't very large, especially when compared with, say, the one in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, but it's nice, including one of the original Honus Wagner cards. My dad would also get a kick out of the fact that one of their cards in the Met is the team photo of his beloved 1956 Milwaukee Braves.

Most noteworthy scoreboard change as a result of 9/11: For years, the top of the Shea scoreboard has been adorned with a cut-out silhouette of the Manhattan skyline. Once it gets dark enough, that silhouette is lit with a continuous neon blue outline. That silhouette, of course, included the World Trade Center. Now, the towers section is covered with a large red, white, and blue ribbon, and that section remains completely dark when the neon comes on.

Ball #5: Prior to the game, during batting practice, I was sitting in the second deck, minding my own business, and typing some notes into my cell phone. (Those notes are what I use to write these reports.) No one was anywhere within 50 yards of me. Suddenly, I heard a whizzing sound coming my way, and WHACK!-a foul ball from batting practice slammed into the empty seat right next to me. I bent over, picked it up, and had my fourth ball from a stadium on my trip. (My dad got one in Cleveland, making this the fifth overall.) With my last one going to my niece Angela, this one immediately got earmarked for my niece Emily. With this many baseballs coming my way, especially with as much heat as this one had, I may need to start wearing a batting helmet.

Second-smallest crowd on my trip: Announced "attendance" was 28,473. But that, of course, is actually the number of tickets sold, not the number of people present. By my estimates and those of the ushers I was talking with, roughly 75% of those were no-shows. Actual attendance couldn't have been more than about 7,500. It was far and away the smallest crowd I had been part of since my trip started in Miami. But you know, it's hard to find many regular baseball fans in these small markets. At least the fans who were there were very devoted, boisterous, and friendly. And the ushers were great to talk to, especially when compared with their Yankee Stadium counterparts.

Best name for an overgrown hot dog: Shea's trademark concession item is a foot-long, three-inch girth (or so the concession vendor claimed) hot dog, known simply as "Dogzilla". I would have loved to try one; however, the stands were sold out, and were not expecting any more in 2002. But it's still a great name.

Stadium grade: C-  Nice on the outside, but shabby and uninteresting on the inside.

Overall grade of my experience at the game: D  The fans that were there were fun, but the pathetically small crowd really hurt the overall atmosphere. The U.S. Open might not have been a bad option this night.

-- Bill Verkuilen  biggbill@hotmail.com 

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