SHEA STADIUM

'William A. Shea Municipal Stadium', usually shortened to 'Shea Stadium', is an American baseball stadium in New York City. It is the longtime home of the New York Mets Major League Baseball club, and one of the oldest ballparks in the National League. It is located in the Flushing section of Queens, on Long Island. The stadium is to be replaced in 2009 by Citi Field, which is currently under construction.

Contents

History and design

Home of the New York Mets

League Division Series

League Championship Series

World Series

Non-baseball events

Football

Other Sports

Other events

Distinguishing characteristics

Location and access

Citi Field

External links

History and design

In 1960, the National League agreed to grant an expansion franchise to the owners of the New York franchise in the abortive Continental League, provided that a new stadium be built. Mayor Robert Wagner, Jr. had to personally wire every National League owner and promise that a new park would be built.
The Mets' inaugural season was played in the Polo Grounds, with original plans calling for them to move to a new stadium in 1963; however construction was delayed, and they played at the Polo Grounds a second season.
It was originally to be called "Flushing Meadows Stadium" – similar to the name of the public park south of Shea – but a movement was launched to name it in honor of William A. Shea, the man who brought National League baseball back to New York. (Earlier, New York City official Robert Moses tried to interest Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley in this site as the location for a new Dodger stadium, but O'Malley refused, claiming that if the Dodgers played anywhere but Brooklyn, they would cease to be the Brooklyn Dodgers.) After 29 months and $28.5 million, Shea Stadium opened on April 17, 1964.
Shea is a circular stadium, with the grandstand forming a perfect circle around the field and ending a short distance beyond the foul lines. The remainder of the perimeter is mostly empty space beyond the outfield fences. This space is occupied by the bullpens, scoreboards, and a section of bleachers beyond the left field fence. Shea can be converted into a football stadium using two motor-operated stands that allow the field level seats to rotate on underground tracks. This has not been done since the New York Jets football team moved to Giants Stadium in 1984. After the Jets left, Shea Stadium's exterior was painted blue, and neon signs of baseball player silhouettes were added to the windscreens.
The stadium was originally designed to be expandable to 90,000 seats, simply by completely enclosing the grandstand. In late 1964, a plan was floated to add a dome and expand capacity to 71,000. This idea was dropped after studies concluded that the stadium's structure would be unable to support the weight of the dome; the area around the stadium is a swamp.
Originally, all of the seats were wooden, with each level having a different color. They were replaced with plastic seats before the 1980 baseball season.
The stadium is located close to LaGuardia Airport, and in recent years, flight patterns have been altered to alleviate the jet noise that plagued Shea for much of its existence. Previously, interruptions for planes flying overhead were common at Shea, and the noise was so loud that radio and television broadcasts couldn't be heard.

Home of the New York Mets

Shea Stadium has been the home of the New York Mets since its inception in 1964, and hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game that same year, with Johnny Callison of the Philadelphia Phillies hitting a home run in the 9th inning to win the first and only Mid-Summer Classic held in the ballpark in Queens, NY.
The New York Yankees played their home games in Shea Stadium during the 1974 and 1975 seasons while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. The move to Shea had been proposed earlier in the decade, but the Mets, as Shea's primary tenants, refused to sign off on the deal. However, when the city stepped in to pay for renovating Yankee Stadium, the Mets had little choice but to agree to share Shea with the Yankees.
Incidentally, on April 15, 1998 the Yankees also played one "home" game at Shea[1] after a beam collapsed at Yankee Stadium two days before, destroying several rows of seats[2]. Former Mets star Darryl Strawberry, then playing for the Yankees, hit a home run during the game. This prompted the famous New York "apple" (noted below) to briefly, but not fully, emerge from the upside down "top hat" in center field, much to the delight of the crowd present.
The stadium has often been criticized by baseball purists for many reasons, even though it was retrofitted to be a baseball-only stadium after the Jets left. There was no permanent bleacher section until early in the 21st century, in part because the park was originally designed to be fully enclosed. A small portable bleacher section was installed in left field around 1981, but it was only available to picnic groups. The upper deck is one of the highest in the majors. The lower boxes are farther from the field than similar seats in other parks because they are still on the rails that swiveled the boxes into position for football.
On the plus side, seats added over the years have greatly reduced the size of foul territory, making Shea somewhat more intimate. At one time, Shea's foul territory was one of the most expansive in the majors. Currently, 70 percent of the seats are between the foul poles; at one time, 75 percent of the seats were in foul territory. Also in the park's favor, Shea has never had an artificial playing surface, unlike ballparks such as Three Rivers Stadium and Riverfront Stadium, which were also used for football and built in the same era and style.
Shea Stadium hosted postseason baseball games in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000 and 2006; it hosted World Series games in 1969, 1973, 1986, and 2000. Shea Stadium has the distinction of being the home of the 1969 "Miracle Mets" -- a team led by former Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges that defied 100-1 odds and won the World Series, this after recording 7-straight seasons in last or next to last place. Tommie Agee, Lenny Dykstra, Todd Pratt, Robin Ventura, and Benny Agbayani have all hit post-season, game-winning home runs at Shea.
Tommie Agee is the only player in the history of the ballpark to hit a home run into the upper deck in left field. The spot is marked with a sign featuring Agee's number, and the date of the event, April 10th, 1969. Teammate Cleon Jones says the ball was still rising when it hit the seats, so it very likely could have been the longest home run ever hit at Shea Stadium.
For over 40 years, the Mets' theme song, "Meet the Mets", has been played at Shea before every home game.
As of June 10, 2005, the Mets have played more games at Shea Stadium than the Brooklyn Dodgers did at the legendary Ebbets Field.
A capacity crowd of 56,438 fans saw the Yankees play the Mets on May 20, 2007.

League Division Series

Three National League Division Series have been played at Shea Stadium.

★ '1999' against the Arizona Diamondbacks⁺-Mets win 3 games to 1

★ '2000' against the San Francisco Giants⁺-Mets win 3 games to 1

★ '2006' against the Los Angeles Dodgers⁺- Mets win 3 games to 0
⁺The Mets have never lost a Division Series at Shea Stadium.

League Championship Series

Seven National League Championship Series have been played at Shea Stadium.

★ '1969' against the Atlanta Braves-Mets win 3 games to 0

★ '1973' against the Cincinnati Reds-Mets win 3 games to 2

★ '1986' against the Houston Astros-Mets win 4 games to 2

★ '1988' against the Los Angeles Dodgers-Dodgers win 4 games to 3

★ '1999' against the Atlanta Braves-Braves win 4 games to 2

★ '2000' against the St. Louis Cardinals-Mets win 4 games to 1

★ '2006' against the St. Louis Cardinals-Cardinals win 4 games to 3

World Series

Four World Series have been played in Shea Stadium.

★ '1969 World Series' against the Baltimore Orioles-Mets win 4 games to 1

★ '1973 World Series' against the Oakland Athletics-A's win 4 games to 3

★ '1986 World Series' against the Boston Red Sox-Mets win 4 games to 3

★ '2000 World Series' against the New York Yankees-Yankees win 4 games to 1

Non-baseball events

Football

The NFL's New York Jets played at Shea for twenty seasons, from 1964 to 1983 (excluding one 1978 home game played at Giants Stadium. The stadium hosted three Jets playoff games: the American Football League Championship in 1968 (beat the Oakland Raiders, 27-23), an AFL Divisional Playoff in 1969 (lost 13-6 to the Kansas City Chiefs) and the 1981 AFC Wild Card Playoff game (lost 31-27 to the Buffalo Bills).
The Mets used their status as Shea's primary tenants to force onerous lease conditions on the Jets. Until 1978, the Jets could not play their first home game until the Mets' season was finished. Even after 1978, the Mets used their status as Shea's primary tenants to force the Jets on long road trips. The stadium was also not well maintained in the 1970s. The Jets moved to Giants Stadium for the 1984 season, after the Mets pressured the city into offering lease terms similar to the pre-1978 conditions. Fans ripped Shea apart after the last game of the 1983 season. Even the scoreboard operator had a field day, displaying the home team as the "N.J. Jets". In the end, New York City could not compete with the additional 15,000+ seats Giants Stadium offered.
It was at Shea Stadium in 1973 that O.J. Simpson became the first running back to gain 2,000 yards in a single season (and, to date, the only player to do it in 14 games or less).
The Jets' final game at Shea was a 34-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 10, 1983. The game marked the final appearance of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who was 5-of-8 for 77 yards and two touchdowns during his brief stint. Earlier in the 1983 season, a Jets game against the Los Angeles Rams featured an 85-yard touchdown run by rookie Eric Dickerson, as well as a brawl between Rams offensive tackle Jackie Slater and Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau when Slater blindsided Gastineau after the Jet performed his infamous "Sack Dance" over fallen Rams quarterback Vince Ferragamo.
The NFL's New York Giants played their 1975 season at Shea while Giants Stadium was being built. The Giants were 5-9 that year. Their coach was Bill Arnsparger and their quarterback was Craig Morton. That year, Shea served as the home field for four teams: the Mets, Yankees, Jets and Giants.
The football field at Shea extended from around home plate all the way to the outfield. Bleachers filled left and right fields.

Other Sports

The first soccer game held at Shea Stadium occurred during tournament play from the International Soccer League in 1965. New York United of the American Soccer League called Shea home in 1980. Recently , the Colombia national football team played a number of exhibition games at Shea.
In 2003, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the Argentina national football team and the Peru national football team would play in New York City’s first (and subsequently last) “Fiesta Cup” soccer game to be held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The Latin media in NYC asked the mayor why the game would not be held at Shea, since the majority of the fans attending the game would be coming form the neighborhoods of Astoria, Elmhurst, Corona, and Jackson Heights, all of which are served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's #7 line. The mayor replied that a scheduling conflict with both the Mets and Yankees existed, thus Giants Stadium was the only feasible option.
There have been recent talks about building a Soccer-specific stadium for an expansion Major League Soccer team next to Shea in Willets Point. Although neighboring Flushing Meadows Park is one of the biggest soccer hotbeds in the country, no concrete plans are currently in place.

Other events

One of the most significant concerts in music history occurred at Shea Stadium on Sunday, August 15, 1965, when The Beatles opened their 1965 North American tour at Shea Stadium to a record audience of 55,600.^[1] It was the first concert to be held at a major outdoor stadium and set records for attendance and revenue generation, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable, and led the Beatles to return again to Shea for a very successful encore in August 1966. The stadium has hosted numerous concerts since, the most recent being a three-night engagement by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in early October 2003. Other acts that have headlined at Shea are The Police/R.E.M., Simon and Garfunkel, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jethro Tull, Grand Funk Railroad, The Who/The Clash, and the Rolling Stones/Living Colour.
During his tour of America in October 1979, Pope John Paul II was also among those hosted by Shea Stadium. On the morning of the Pontiff's visit, Shea Stadium was awash in torrential rain, causing ankle-deep mud puddles, and threatened to ruin the event. But as the Popemobile entered the stadium, the rain stopped. The soggy crowd claimed to have witnessed a minor miracle.
'The Lawnmower Of Doom:'
On December 9, 1979 as part of the halftime show of the Jets-Patriots game, a model airplane group put on a remote control airplane display. The grand finale was a red 40-pound lawnmower, the blade of which was used as a propeller and flew in the air. The lawnmower plane malfunctioned and plunged into the stands hitting John Bowen, from Nashua, New Hampshire. He died six days later. On November 17, 1981 a $10 million damage suit was filed by the man’s father in the Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Named as defendants in the negligence suit were the New York Jets Football Club, the Radio Control Association of Greater New York, and the man who designed, built and furnished the model airplane.
In 1987 Marvel Comics rented Shea Stadium to re-enact the wedding of their two characters Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.

Distinguishing characteristics

Because of the large plot of land it is situated on, Shea did not have to conform to the surrounding streets like its brother across town, Yankee Stadium, and has a very geometric shape. Unlike most stadiums, which keep the color of the building material, Shea is blue and white, two of the Mets' team colors. Square sections which hold the ramps from level to level pop out of the stadium's perimeter. Between some of these bays, huge neon lights form the figures of baseball players. In 2003, large murals celebrating the Mets' two world championships were put up, covering the two ends of the grandstand. The 1986 mural was removed after the 2006 season, but the 1969 mural still remains as of 2007.
The apple, representing the City of New York, emerges from the Mets Magic Top Hat, a giant upside-down black top hat, and flashes whenever a Mets player hits a home run. Located beyond the center field wall, just to the right of the 410 foot mark, the hat features the words ''home run'' in big letters. Prior to 1984, the hat featured the words "Mets Magic" in honor of the slogan used in 1980 declaring that "The Magic Is Back."
The scoreboard is topped by a representation of the New York Skyline, a prominent part of the team logo. Since the September 11th Terrorist Attacks, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center have been kept unlit, a red, white, and blue ribbon placed over them.
For the 2007 and 2008 seasons, the construction of Citi Field is visible beyond the left and center field walls of Shea.

Location and access

Located adjacent to the neighborhood of Corona in the New York City Borough of Queens, Shea Stadium is given a Flushing mailing address with a Corona ZIP Code.
Shea Stadium can be reached via mass transit systems such as the New York City Subway using the 7 train at the Willets Point-Shea Stadium station, and the Long Island Rail Road at the Shea Stadium station, in addition to several highways including the Grand Central Parkway, the Long Island Expressway, and Northern Boulevard.
It is adjacent to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the annual US Open grand-slam tennis tournament is held.

Citi Field

:''Main article: Citi Field''

On June 12 2005, Mets officials announced plans to build a new Mets ballpark in the parking lot of Shea Stadium to be opened in time for the beginning of the 2009 baseball season, with ground breaking on November 13, 2006. The new ballpark's name comes from the Mets' agreement with the financial services company Citigroup Inc., a 20-year partnership that will be worth an average in excess of $20 million per year.
Originally the plan was to use the stadium for the 2012 Olympics with the Mets playing at the New Yankee Stadium in The Bronx for the 2012 season. This would have put the Mets in a similar situation that the Yankees were in 1974–1975 when they played in Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was renovated. The Mets and the City of New York continued forward with the building of the stadium despite the 2012 Olympics being awarded to London, with construction beginning in July 2006.
Citi Field is planned to seat 45,000 and have an exterior façade reminiscent of Ebbets Field with an interior that many have stated evokes design features of newer ballparks, most notably Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The projected cost of the new stadium and other infrastructure improvements is $620M, with the Mets responsible for $420M. The agreement includes a 40-year lease that will keep the Mets in New York until 2049.
Shea Stadium will be dismantled, rather than imploded, in accordance with New York State law.

External links

★ Ballpark Digest Visit to Shea Stadium

★ Google Maps view of Shea Stadium

★ Shea Stadium Opening Day 2006 Photo

★ Virtual Tours of Shea Stadium, by Newsday.com