A Lovable Dump

When I last ranked the stadiums, I had the following stadiums behind Shea Stadium:  Coors Field, Miller Park, Chase Field, Progressive Field, Turner Field, Minute Maid Park, Marlins Park, US Cellular Field, and SkyDome.  Objectively, all of those except for maybe SkyDome are clearly better than Shea Stadium was (yes, even US Cellular Field).  But Shea Stadium was the stadium that I grew up going to.  I attended games there over the course of 20 seasons, from 1989-2008.  I might not have gone to a game every single season, but most seasons I probably went to more than one.  I would guess than I went to an average of at least two games per season.  That would be 40 games.  There were definitely seasons when I went to more than that, possibly four or five, but there were also probably seasons where I only went to one game or even none.  My guess is that I went to something like 50 games at Shea Stadium.  I wish I had a complete list of games I went to.

There really was nothing all that special about Shea Stadium except for the home run apple.  The seats were these awful colors.  The field level was orange, the loge was blue, the mezzanine was green, and the upper deck was red.  The whole stadium just should have been blue.  I even would have put up with blue and orange seats just because those are the Mets' colors, but the four different colors was pretty silly.  I definitely sat on every level.  I wish I knew where I sat for my first game, but I have no idea.

So let's get to some memories of games at Shea Stadium:

September 4, 1988- This could have been my first game.  It was a Sunday and we went to the stadium, but the game was rained out.  The Dodgers went 1-10 against the Mets in the regular season, but they beat them when it mattered.

August 18, 1989- I've written about this before.  It was my first game.  David Cone against Orel Hershiser.  Eddie Murray hit the first home run that I saw in person, but it wasn't enough as the Mets won 3-2.  The one thing that I remembered wrong before looking this game up was that I thought both starters threw complete games.  Hershiser pitched an eight-inning complete game, but Cone only pitched eight before Randy Myers finished it off.  It was a 7:35 start.  When did they switch from 7:35 or 7:40 to 7:10?  Because that was a good move.  Attendance for my first game was 46,143.

At some point in the early 90s, I definitely walked the track for a Banner Day, but I have no idea when that was.

September 4, 1996- I'm pretty confident I went to this game and sat down low down the left field line.  It would have been my first day of seventh grade.  I didn't remember any of the details of the game.  Apparently the Mets won in 12 innings.  Also, John Franco blew a save in the eighth and pitched two and a third.

July 24, 1999- I actually remember this one pretty well.  My dad and I went to see Sammy Sosa.  The only runs in this game were scored on solo home runs.  Sosa hit one for the Cubs.  Edgardo Alfonso and Robin Ventura hit home runs for the Mets.

April 8, 2000- I'm fairly confident that I went to this game.  I definitely remember going to a Mets-Dodgers day game in April.  My dad and I went, but not my brothers.  They would have been in college for this one, so it makes sense.  We sat up high and it was really windy and cold.  This seems like the only possibility.  The Dodgers won 6-5.

June 22, 2001- I think I went to this game.  I remember going to a Mets-Braves game with my brothers and some of their friends and it was supposed to be for Aaron's graduation, but he didn't come.  I also remember it being a night game, so this seems like the only possibility.  The Braves blew the Mets out.  I remember that when they were doing that thing where they shoot t-shirts into the stands, they shot one right over my head.  I was sitting down eating something.  If I had been standing up, it would have hit me in the chest.  Paul was mad at me for not catching it even though he was not a Met fan.  I definitely also went to another game that season that was a day game where they gave away Mets 2000 NL Championship hats.  I think it was late spring/early summer because I remember talking about how I achieved my goal of finishing second in the Honor Society presidential election and hence becoming vice president (there were four people running).  But I have no way of figuring out which game that was.  They did have a weekend series with the Dodgers from May 18-20.  It could have been one of those games.

August 18, 2002- I'm not sure about this one.  I remember going to a late summer Mets-Dodgers day game somewhere in the early-mid 2000s.  This would have been the weekend before I left for college.  The Dodgers won 2-1.

I don't think I went to any Mets-Dodgers games in 2003.  They played in early May when I was finishing up my freshman year of college.  I might have gone to some other game that year, but I don't remember.

August 28, 2004 and/or August 29, 2004- These are other possibilities for that late summer Mets-Dodgers day game that I'm pretty sure I went to.  The Dodgers won these two 4-2 and 10-2.

July 22, 2005, July 23, 2005, and/or July 24, 2005- I must have gone to at least one of these games, but I don't remember any of them for sure.  July 23 is my dad's birthday and it was a Saturday.  I'm guessing I didn't go on July 22.  That was a Friday and I probably went to some camp party.  The Dodgers won that one 6-5.  The Dodgers lost on my dad's birthday 7-5.  The Dodgers lost 6-0 on July 24.

In 2006 the Dodgers came to New York in September.  I was at Notre Dame for my final semester.  If I went to any games at Shea Stadium that year, I don't remember them.

April 20, 2007- What I remember about this game is that we were in the bleachers out in left field.  It was pretty cold.  The Yankees were playing in Boston and they were leading for most of the game.  Right as we were leaving the game, the out of town scoreboard showed that the Red Sox had either tied it or taken the lead against Rivera.  I was able to figure out which Met game I went to by looking up that Yankee-Red Sox game.  The Mets lost 7-3 against the Braves and the Red Sox beat the Yankees 7-6.

April 24, 2007- Stubhub used to let people auction off tickets.  Somebody put up two tickets for this game with a minimum bid of one cent each.  I put in a maximum bid of one dollar each.  Nobody else ever bid, so I got the tickets for one cent each, but the fees made the total cost about $8 each.  It was scoreless after nine.  The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the 10th.  Damion Easley tied it with a home run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th.  Endy Chavez drove in the winning run with a bunt single in the 12th.

August 24, 2007, August 25, 2007, and/or August 26, 2007- I probably went to at least one of these games.  Why wouldn't I have?  I don't remember anything about them if I did go, though.  The Mets won the first game 5-2 and the second game 4-3.  The Dodgers won the last game 6-2.

May 29, 2008- This was Joe Torre's first game back in New York after being run out of town by the Yankees.  I remember Blake DeWitt hitting a home run for the Dodgers.  Apparently Jeff Kent also hit one and David Wright hit two.  The Mets won 8-4.

My view for Joe Torre's first game back in New York after managing the Yankees

June 1, 2008- My last Dodgers-Mets game at Shea Stadium (also everybody's last Dodgers-Mets game at Shea Stadium).  Johan Santana against Hiroki Kuroda.  We sat up high.  It was a Sunday night game.  I also remember that it was the night that Game 7 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals would have been if the Celtics hadn't won it in six.  I was ready to skip this game to watch the Celtics, but fortunately they took care of business in Game 6 (and then they beat the Lakers and it was wonderful).  Santana was excellent and the Mets won 6-1.  I think this game tied the all-time series between the Dodgers and Mets at Shea Stadium, but I can't find that anywhere.  Attendance was 50,263.

My last Dodgers-Mets game at Shea Stadium and my last time in the upper deck

July 12, 2008- I had forgotten about this one.  I found it when I was going through pictures on my old camera.  We sat in the left field bleachers.  The Mets won 3-0 against the Rockies.

This picture is pretty much the only reason I know I was at this game.

July 27, 2008- My final game at Shea Stadium.  I went with my brothers and my dad.  There was a rain delay, but they played.  We sat in the last row of the loge, where you couldn't see fly balls because of the overhang (I guess that was good with the rain).  Kind of appropriate for my last game at Shea Stadium.  It was Johan Santana against Kyle Lohse.  Santana pitched a complete game.  David Wright, Fernando Tatis, and Ramon Castro hit home runs for the Mets (so Castro's was the last one I saw at Shea Stadium).  Santana also hit a ball off the wall that went for just a single because he didn't run.  The Mets beat the Cardinals 9-1.  Attendance was 53,691.  I knew that would be my last game at Shea Stadium.  It got a little dusty as I was leaving.

My view for my final game at Shea Stadium

So that was Shea Stadium.  It was a dump, but it was the dump where I grew up going to baseball games.  Citi Field is much much nicer, but I doubt I'll ever feel the same connection to Citi Field that I felt to Shea Stadium.

Shea Stadium.  1964-2008.  Rest in Peace.