For the second year in a row the Mets season came down to the last day and again they are not going to the post season. In the early season I hated when people would say a loss it just one loss and it is a long season. Without that thinking one could make the argument that the Mets lost the season in April in a tough loss rather than today. But no matter how you spin it, having the same thing happen two years in a row is tough to take. One more win and you get another day for a playoff, but to only score five runs in the final three games doesn't get it done. Don't blame the bullpen. The offense went to sleep. Another loss season. And once again we say, "Wait 'til next year".But to add to the sadness of the day is that it was the final game at Shea Stadium. Forty five years of games. It was more than a two tissue day watching the ceremony and all the highlights and all the past players. Maybe it was the two glasses of wine I had, or the 162 games I suffered through this year, or all those years of highs and lows at the stadium, but it was very moving. So many memories of games I attended. Games with my father and brother Bob including Jim Bunning's perfect game, games with Pat, games with Pat and the kids, one opening day with Kevin, games with guys from work, and games with my brother Rick which included the greatest game of all, the sixth game of the '86 series. Such good times, such good memories. Somehow the closing ceremony cushioned the end of the year collapse a bit by deflecting some of the sadness to more of a happy memory sadness, if that makes sense.
So, as numbers 41 and 31 walked to centerfield and through the gates, then turned and closed the gates, it was very moving, and very final. The end of a year, the end of an era. Shea is gone, but the memories will remain.
So, as numbers 41 and 31 walked to centerfield and through the gates, then turned and closed the gates, it was very moving, and very final. The end of a year, the end of an era. Shea is gone, but the memories will remain.
16 comments:
i really wish we were able to see it out here.
We were only able to see yankees stadiums closing because it was on ESPN.
As soon as the mets made the last out...and security started lining the field...MLB Extra Innings went off. (morons)
I would have really liked to see it. Being that I did grow up with the Mets and a big part of learning about baseball and enjoying it was with you watching them, or listening to them on the patio on hot summer nights. (on the radio i ruined) I remember attending a lot of games with you and actually going many times with Uncle Rick, especially the 'Banner Days'. Walking on to that field from center field is something i will never forget. (THE METS AND YOU PUH-FECT TOGETHER!)
I am sure if I did see it, I would have used a few tissues or more.
And it pains me even more that I was not able to make it home last month to go to a game with you.
But I will be honest, it's the memories that make me feel that good thing inside..not the building itself...heck I haven't been back there in ages. Yeah the building will be gone next year...but the way i have thought about ALL those games and being a part of it with you...will still be the same, and something I will cherish forever.
oh and one more thing...
I just don't get this entire NEW stadium thing...for any team in fact.
Isn't being a baseball fan about going to a game and watching a game from the stands.!??!?!
It's not about having multiple bars or restaurants there to eat at...or play areas for kids....or conference rooms for lease/rent.....not about having more suites for corporations to rent out.....
Have teams corporate offices forgot what the fans really want!??! they want a team to play good baseball and win games....no amount of amenities can replace the feeling of being a fan of a down and out team.
were there structural issues with shea or yanks stadium? or half of the replaced stadiums out there?!
sometimes i wonder where baseball is going.
Kevin I agree with you about the whole stadium thing. Even here in NJ at Rutgers stadium they bought in these expensive luxury boxes---ridiculous.
Oh, and I recorded the post-game show and if I can figure out how to put it on VHS I can send it to you, of course if you have a VCR anymore.
Kevin I agree with you about the whole stadium thing. Even here in NJ at Rutgers stadium they bought in these expensive luxury boxes---ridiculous.
Oh, and I recorded the post-game show and if I can figure out how to put it on VHS I can send it to you, of course if you have a VCR anymore.
Thanks for bringing up these memories. Yes I remember those many games with Dad, and a few with Uncle Tom and Tommy. Back when they actually had double-headers that only required one ticket!
And I am grateful that Ethan and I got to go to a game last year with Ray and Rick, it having been over 30 years since I had been there.
Hey, I was at the Bunning game too!!!
And Kevin, do you remember what the banner said on our second trip to Banner Day?
Some memories of games that I attended that I've thought of since watching the closing ceremonies, and my memory may be a bit foggy as to the players or the years....
I think it was '73, late in the year, there was a crucial game and I think Cleon caught a fly carom off the wall and threw home and nailed a runner. Huge play and turned the game around.
In mid 80s when they were bad, might have been early in the year, long extra inning game, Mets were short on relief pitchers and outfielders. They rotated McDowell and Orosco as pitchers and while one was in the outfield not pitching they would shuttle back and forth between LF and RF with Rusty depending if a righty or lefty was at bat.
When I was truly a fan(atic) I used to go up to the stadium alone all the time via the subway and sit up in the upper deck for $1.35.
When I had the Sunday Ticket Plan, always going out there with someone and barbequing at the car at that Marina parking. That was one of the few places where you could park for free. No one knew about it.
And for the very few times it happened (LOL), always a good place to take a girl for maybe the 2nd or 3rd date. Find out if she was worth continuing to date!! If she didn't like the Mets, then well, see ya, hun!
Yes Rick, I apologize for not mentioning you at the Bunning game. I just want to know why we never had a BBQ when I went with you all those times on Sunday. I do recall the time you locked your keys in the car though. And you must have a Ralph Kiner memory when it comes to baseball games because I couldn't tell you what happened on the field in any one game I ever attended.
And I can't believe it but I have no recollection of you and Kevin going to Banner Day. What years? Did you two go alone? Who played the Mets? What was the score? What was the guy sitting next to you wearing?
as crazy as this sounds i think i remember that McDowell/Orosco game Uncle Rick mentions.
Uncle Rick - for the life of me i can not remember the other banner we made....i do remember making another one besides 'Puh-fect' and i can actually visualize us on my parents patio doing so, but i can't recall what it said....a little hint?
dad...i remember parking in the marina and YOU locking the keys in the car :-).
I would assume parking in the marina will still be an option for Shea games being that the new stadium is so close.
what happens when all these banks (Citi, Comerica, PNC) go under and need bailouts? do the stadiums close as well!?!?
one of the reasons why i like the steinbrenners.
I don't know why we didn't BBQ. Maybe we took subs?
I left the "locked keys" game out because we discussed it and all the other things that happened a couple of months ago (and you didn't remember any of it). There was also the clinching game in 88 that you I went to where the guys behind us were eating sushi that they brought to the park.
The Kevin banner day games must have been in the mid to late 80s. I have pictures of only the latter one and I have the Honda.
For some reason (did I drive by it?) I think the marina is no longer available for parking or it's not free anymore. It would be a longer walk to the new stadium now anyway.
And the other banner was......drum roll please......
"Hey Mom look at me, I'm not on TV this year"
HA! that was it.
wow...forgot about that one.
ah good times.
Had three more recollections over night. 1) when I worked at Prudential, a group of us in the office would pick a day game every year, take a half day at work, and drive out to take in the game. This mostly occurred in the mid to late 80s, and as the date of the game got closer and closer we tried to figure out who the scheduled pitcher would be and whether it would be Doc or not.
2) The next two are foggy memories, but I remember a night game when I was with the Cliffwood Beach entourage. I think Ray got tickets from somebody he knew and the seats were RIGHT behind home plate. I remember how the aisles were askew down there and there was even a seat that was all by itself because of two rows diverging at an angle. It might have been the Padres because Gaylord Perry is in that memory. Also, late in the game, I remember the Mets loading the bases with no one out and they failed to score.
3) Again, a foggy memory. I was at Shea; with whom I cannot recall. But Ray was at the same game and came over to say hi. Same game and in the same vicinity in the park. How's that for a co-inka-dinkle!!
wow uncle rick, your memory is almost scary.
Mets loading the bases with one out and they failed to score? cmon...that is unheard of!!!
Oh and also Uncle Rick, as per my first post here to my Dad, our sunday trips to the game, just you and I are cherished memories as well. I recall one time driving up in your car, and you asked me a question in the car, i think you quizzed me. (odd i know) We were listening to the radio, forget what broadcaster it was, but you asked who is favorite pitcher was...and i answered Sandy Koufax, which was correct, but i don't remember the details.
also i remember on the way home from one of the sunday games, we were on the grand central pkwy right at the point of an incoming landing plane at la guardia and it was LOW, and i remember you getting freaked out a swerving thinking it was lower than usual.
Wow, your memory is scarier than mine. I don't remember either of those happenings. And I always enjoyed going to the park with you or your father. Too bad you had to go over to the darkside. LOL JK
i don't think i really went over to the dark side.
Even though the yanks have become my team, i didn't become the yankee fan that hates the mets. As crazy as it sounds...i still enjoy and root for the mets. I never stopped liking them. (the 2000 series was really tough)
It was the strike that turned me off of baseball altogether....and when i got back into it, i was hanging around all yankee fans and it just sorta happened.
But my admiration and love for the mets never died.
i hate to say it...but the older i get the more i want to go back to being more of a met fan than yankee fan, maybe it's a whole nostalgic thing. especially with gary cohen doing play by play on sny. I remember him on wfan with gary thorne i think.
It is weird, but i love both teams. I think part of that has to be how i was brought up.... I WAS raised a met fan but I was not raised as a yankee hater.
so...people can say what they want....but I enjoy both teams. But all in all, baseball really aint what it used to be and I am scared to see what it turns into.
I enjoy watching the mets, because it brings back all these great memories.
correction, i think it was bob murphy and gary cohen, then it was bob murphy and gary thorne.
correct me if i am wrong
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