I just gave the Skill Sets $1,155 for 4 tickets for each of the seven games of the “SHEA GOOD-BYE” package.
I bought this package out of sheer emotion and nothing to do with whom ever Omar gets to fortify the pitching staff this deal is between me, my wife and kids, and a tenement of a ball park.
I went to Shea with my late father and brothers back in 1964 when believe it or not Shea was a brand new state of the art stadium. Both Ebbits Field and the Polo Grounds were all brick and mortar structures from a bygone time. Shea was all steel and shiny with plenty of parking and access from all the suburbs where the white flight landed.
As a 6 year old kid who just started to fall in love with the concept of hitting and catching and hanging out with the leading men of family, Shea will always hold a big spot in my heart and soul. Sure I bitch and moan about the leaks in the over head pipes and the constrictive leg room in the seats and the world famous puddles of urine, beer and other bodily juices on the men’s room floors but still as much as I anticipate the opening day of $iti Field, the date the bulldozers knock down Shea will leave me weeping.
If September 28th 2007 does become THE last day ever of Shea (and I really, really hope it’s not) I know I’ll be emotional. Not just for the fact the Shea era will be over but I’ll be at the game with my wife, son and daughter. Did I ever think forty three years ago that someday I would attend a game with my own kids and spouse? Are you kidding? My biggest problem that day was not to eat too many hot dogs and popcorn (does anyone remember the popcorn that came In the Mr. Met meg- a-phone?) so I’d be able to eat more junk food at the Worlds Fair across the street after the game.
What a cycle life is. When the renewal notice came in the mail and I was bitching and moaning about the increase I could see my son was a little worried that I wouldn’t renew them. He knows that before he was born I had season tickets to the NY Rangers but as the price rose and with the responsibility of husband and daddy making it more an more difficult to get to as many games as I wanted, I gave them up. So he thought I was going that route again.
But I can’t. I wouldn’t want the Skill Sets to know this but this franchise is now part of my DNA. Even before I started blogging about the team I lived and died with them but because of this blog, I have not only gotten in deeper with the trails and tribulation of the team but I have met so many fabulous people along the way. You can’t put a dollar sign on that.
As I said my dad is gone fourteen years an done of my brothers lives in Virginia and the other still lives in NY but we don’t get to many games so instead I will be with my wife, son and daughter who will cheer that the KISS CAM puts mommy and dad on the Diamond Vision. I’ve come along way since that Mr. Met meg-a-phone and so have the Mets.
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This post was written by kranepool on December 18, 2007
Great Post.
I am going to try and savior every homegame this year. It finally seems a reality that after this year, every opener will be somewhere else. I hope I can get up to New York one more time this year to say goodbye.
I won’t even try to out Met-fan you, but I too will be a bit weepy when Shea goes down. I’ve already started working on my wife to cut me loose for a solo run to NY in late September. Even if I can’t get to the last regular season game, I’d like to see one of the last few games there.
The only wrench in my plan is that I’m already going with the family for mid-August. I’ve already penciled in Aug 7 for the family trip to Shea next summer. Not sure if I can justify the second trip.
I wish I could remember my first trip to Shea more clearly than I do. It was July 1970. The Mets lost to Montreal. My father wasn’t much of a baseball fan, so I had to convince him to bring me to Shea. We sat in the Loge (the only time - after that it was strictly Upper Deck). He brought me and my two brothers. The only clear memory I have is of a foul ball smacking off the empty seat next to my brother (who was 4) and his shock that they were using a hard ball. He never moved to pick up the ball, unfortunately.
I was at the game in 1973 when Don Hahn and George Theodore collided on a Ralph Garr hit fly ball (inside-the-park home-run). When I returned to NY as a college student in the 1980s I went to many games, including Opening Day 1983 & 1984.
When I got married I brought my Irish wife to games many, many times. In 1990 we probably went to 20 games because we lived in Astoria and I used to just come home from work and say, “Let’s go to Shea”. In her mind, Sid Fernandez was pitching every game (she couldn’t stand his deliberateness).
The first time I held my oldest daughter, I looked up at the t.v. and David Cone was warming up for his start against Houston (June 14, 1991) at Shea.
Oh, there’s a whole year to write memories and no doubt more will come back. A bitter sweet season ahead.
Interesting stuff, guys. My best memory is that I went to all 1986 post-season home games. I guy I worked with went to college with a guy who became a Mets scout (he’s now a scout with the O’s). He hooked us up for the whole post season. Being there on 10/27/86 is a memory I will have on my death bed. I always took potential girlfriends there, too. It was my version of the Colts test from Diner. If they could tolerate my passion for the Mets, they were worth considering. And one more, taking my daughter in 1998 wen she was 5 for her first game. I created my own monster. Where I live in CT, it is 90% Highlander fans, they are everywhere with the jackets and hats. My kid, now in high school, sports her Mets gear every day and deals with the shit they dish out.
But in the name of progress, it is time to say good bye. Thanks God above it is not the 1958 Dodgers, going forever. It is just a new place where we’ll build new memories. Hopefully, good ones!
Shea is a holy shrine. Is the vatican next?