This Week’s Category: Top Ten Things Buried Under the Former Shea Stadium

Sept. 03, 2011; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Fans in David Letterman masks celebrate after the Ball State Cardinals defeated the Indiana Hoosiers at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory credit: Michael Hickey-USA TODAY Sports

You may recall that earlier this month, British archeologists confirmed the identity of the remains of King Richard III, who died during the War of the Roses in 1485. They found Richard’s skeleton in the most unlikely of places: buried under a parking lot in Leicester, England. It got me thinking about the Citi Field parking lot that used to be Shea Stadium. Here now, we’ve put together a list of ten things they may find when they dig up that old parking lot in 500 years. So here we go with the first Rising Apple Top Ten:

Top Ten Things Buried Under the Former Shea Stadium

10. Richie Ashburn’s Spanish language phrasebook (complete with “Yo la tengo”)

9. Marvelous Marv Throneberry’s compass from his ill-fated triple in ’62

8. Cincinnati-style chili recipe the Reds threw in to get Tom Seaver in ’77

7. Steve Phillips’s little black book

6. Roger Clemens’s ego after Shawn Estes had his way with it

5. The lost rosin bags of Turk Wendell, including craters where the pitching mound used to be

4. Storefront and inventory of Crazy Vince Coleman’s Firework Emporium (complete with “West Coast Blowout Sale” ads)

3. Talent levels of Jason Bay, Francisco Rodriguez, Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn, Bobby Bonilla, George Foster, Doug Flynn, Jim Fregosi, and countless other high-priced imports

2. Recording studio that spawned “Get Metsmerized” (and “Dr. K,” and “Chocolate Strawberry,” and God knows whatever Ed Hearn recorded that year)

1. Skeletal remains of the black cat of ’69 (explains the first four years of the new ballpark, doesn’t it?)

Check back next week for another Rising Apple Top Ten.

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Usually, the walk down the ramps was ordinary.  On special days and nights, though, they were a place of euphoria and electricity.  After big wins, the thick crowd on the ramps would scream “Let’s Go Mets” in unison, followed by a collective “woo!” The sounds of the cheers would echo throughout Shea’s structure, the noise becoming deafening at times.

After the Mets won Game 5 of the 2000 NLCS, punching their ticket to the World Series, I remember standing outside and watching as the stadium emptied out by way of the ramps.  Over the celebratory screams and honking horns in the parking lot, I could hear the chants coming from the ramps.  They were one of the parts of Shea that made it special, and one of the reasons why we miss it so much today.

Four years ago, on February 18th, 2009, the last section of those ramps came down.  It was the last twist of the knife that first pierced Mets fans right after the closing ceremony on September 28th, when Shea started to get dismantled piece by piece.  That day, when I watched the clip of the ramps coming down, I felt sick.  I won’t repeat the familiar thing people often say about Shea.  If you’re a Mets fan, you know what it is.  To me, and countless others, Shea was home.  On February 18th, 2009, my home crumbled.  It felt like a piece of my childhood went with it.

February 14, 2013; Port St Lucie, FL, USA; A view of a baseball sitting in a puddle in the dirt during New York Mets spring training at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

The person responsible for making me a Mets fan was my Grandfather.  He was a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan who was heartbroken when the team moved west.  When the Mets arrived in 1962, he had a National League team again.  From then until his death in August of 2008, he watched or listened to pretty much every Mets game.  My Grandmother used to say that if he was sitting on the couch watching the Mets game and the roof caved in, he wouldn’t have noticed.

As Citi Field was rising in the parking lot next to Shea, I’d casually mention it to my Grandfather from time to time.  He would often comment that he didn’t think he’d make it to the new ballpark, and it turned out that he was right.  The night before he died, the last unprovoked words he uttered to me were “how’d the Mets do?”  He was of course referring to that day’s game.  The next day, he passed away.  I went outside to collect myself, and the first thing I saw out of the corner of my eye was a huge Mets flag flying from a house across the street.  It gave me a momentary sense of peace.

Six months later, when the ramps came down, I thought about my Grandfather and how he wouldn’t be around to make that trip to Citi Field.  I thought about my first memories of being inside Shea, about how it looked from the highway.  To me, Shea was always magical, it was just the level of magic that varied from game to game and season to season.  According to my father, the first time I went there was when I was two years old – the summer of 1986.  It was so hot that we had to take refuge in one of the small food places on the field level.

As I got older, my trips to Shea became more frequent and my love of the place more intense.  It was the walk up to and through the gates, the trip up the ramps, and the trek through the dark corridors on the way to your section.  After finding your section, you’d walk through the dark portal out into the seating bowl, often blinded by the sight of the sun and the field.

During the years when the Mets were contenders, the noise that would fill Shea was deafening.  They weren’t cheers as much as they were slow building eruptions that would last and last.  Shea engulfed you, swallowed you up.  If you were fortunate enough to be in the upper deck during a postseason game, you would feel the entire level shaking.  The moment after Endy Chavez made his catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, it felt as if the upper deck was about to collapse.  This isn’t an exaggeration.  People were standing and going absolutely insane, while at the same time being shaken by the movement of the stadium.

When you were at Shea for a Mets game, you were doing one of two things – watching the game, or rushing back to your seat from a food or bathroom break.  There was simply nothing else to do.  Being that you were there to watch a baseball game, that’s exactly as it should have been.

I have nothing against Citi Field.  After four seasons and the first no-hitter in the history of the franchise, it’s almost starting to feel like home.  It’s just not the same as Shea, nor will it ever be.  The Mets have yet to have a winning season while playing at Citi, and it’s difficult  to envision what the place will feel and sound like when we get to watch the Mets contend there.  Citi Field is a vastly different place to experience a game when compared to Shea.  Seemingly, there’s a different type of fan that’s been inhabiting it as well.

At Shea, the focus was the game.  At Citi, it often feels like people are paying half attention.  Perhaps that’s a byproduct of the fact that the team has been out of it by August each season the Mets have called the new place home.  Being that I’ve been yelled at and/or given dirty looks for standing when there’s two strikes on an opposing batter, or asked to be quiet when attempting to start a chant, I can’t help but feel that the magic and camaraderie we experienced at Shea went down with the old place.

I hope I’m wrong.  I hope that when the Mets have a team worthy of screaming our lungs out for, those of us who fill Citi Field will lose our voices rooting them on.  I hope that during a late September game with playoff implications, the place is filled to capacity and impossibly loud – but with every seat actually taken (instead of there being people strewn about the place making small talk).

The new place will never be Shea, but it truly is the fans who create the magic, not the structure.  If we display the same passion at Citi that we had at Shea, we can ensure that the place we called home until 2008 lives on.  If we make enough noise, it’ll travel all the way to the parking lot, where the last remnants of Shea reside.

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The 1990 New York Mets have been fighting an uphill battle for the majority of the season. After starting off 20-22 in their first 42 games, Manager Davey Johnson is let go, replaced by 3rd base coach Bud Harrelson. While the Mets don’t immediately turn it around, they go on a 20-3 run, including an 11-game winning streak,  that puts them right in the thick of the National League East hunt. After a 10-1 win against the Cardinals on September 10 at Shea, the Mets enter the 2-game series finale 3 1/2 games behind the Pirates with 21 left in the season.

On the mound for the New York Metropolitans is Julio Valera, the 21-year-old, 6’2″ right-handed September call-up from San Sebastian, Puerto Rico. He was effective in his Major League Debut on September 1, earning himself his first Big League win, but got shelled in his next start, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits in only 2 innings. He will first face the left fielder for the Red Birds, Mr. Milt Thompson. On 6 pitches, Valera puts Thompson on 1st with a base on balls. Up next is the Wizard, shortstop Ozzie Smith. On the 2nd pitch he sees, Ozzie flies it high in the air to short center field for the 1st out of the ballgame. Center fielder Ray Lankford walks to the plate looking to get something going early for the Cards. Thompson takes off for 2nd, but catcher Charlie O’Brien, brought over in a trade with Milwaukee in August, guns him down to put a damper on the Red Birds’ plans. Valera does not comply, however, handing a 2-out walk to Lankford. While 1st baseman Pedro Guerrero singles up the middle, sending Ray to 2nd, right fielder Felix Jose flies out to his position to end the inning and the threat.

On the mound for St. Louis is Ken Hill, the 6’4″, 24-year-old right-hander from North Adams, MA. He will first face 3rd baseman Gregg Jefferies, who flies out to center on the 2nd pitch he sees. While both 2nd baseman Tom Herr and 1st baseman Dave Magadan get their counts to 3-1, they unfortunately ground out to 1st and line out to center, respectively, to end the inning.

The score is scoreless no more as Cardinals 3rd baseman Todd Zeile leads off the 2nd with a homer to deep left-center. Valera sets the next 3 batters down, though, to limit the damage.

The Mets respond in the bottom half with a couple of their own. While right fielder Darryl Strawberry leads off by popping up to 2nd, left fielder Kevin McReynolds singles to left-center to get something going for New York. Though Howard Johnson, who is at short today, strikes out swinging, McReynolds steals 2nd with center fielder Daryl Boston at the plate, who gathers up a Base on Balls. Time for the catcher to shine once more, as O’Brien sends one to down the right field line, scoring both runners for the first 2 Metsie runs of the day. Valera flies out to center, but the Mets have handed him a 1-run lead.

In the top of the 4th, it’s that Zeile guy again. After a Felix Jose single, Todd sends it down the right field line for a double, scoring the baserunner all the way from 1st to tie the game. Valera settles down and sends it into the bottom half still tied.

The Mets open the frame up with 3 straight singles by Straw, Mac and HoJo. Though Boston grounds into a force at home, O’Brien picks him up with deep sac fly to straight-away center,  moving all runners up as well. The Mets take a 3-2 lead. With 2 out and Valera up at the plate, he delivers for his own cause with a single to right-center. Jefferies pops up to short, but they leave the inning with a 5-2 lead.

Julio makes it into the 6th having only allowed those 2 runs, but Bud removes him from the game after he gives up a lead-off single to Guerrero. Bob Ojeda enters looking to hold it for his new teammate, but unfortunately, the bottom falls out. It only takes a double, a groundout, a single, a groundout, a single, a single and another single for the Redbirds to have a 6-5 lead. Bobby certainly isn’t in the O-zone (badum CHA!!!) Lankford mercifully ends the inning by just missing a home run to deep right field.

It doesn’t take long, though, for the Mets to strike back. Mac leads off the bottom half with a No-Doubt-About-It game-tying home run to left field. The rest of the batters in the inning cannot follow suit, however, and it ends with a 6-6 tie.

Ron Darling enters the game in relief of Bobby O and does his job in the top of the 7th, working around a Felix Jose walk (whom he picks off) to give the Mets a chance to take the lead in the bottom half. Though Zeile has been a thorn in the Mets’ behind all day, he helps them out to begin the frame by mishandling a Jefferies grounder at 3rd. Manager Joe Torre heads on out for a double-switch, sending Terry Pendleton to 3rd and putting Frank DiPino on the mound to face Tom Herr. The move backfires on the Brooklyn native, though,  as Herr comes through with a double, plating Greg to give the Mets a 7-6 lead. They go rather quietly the rest of the inning, however, and with the way the game has been, this certainly doesn’t leave the 25,126 Shea fans feeling like they’re on Easy Street.

After another shutdown inning by Mr. Darling, the Mets score an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th. They hand the ball over to John Franco, who has saved 17 straight games dating back to July 1. Today, though, isn’t his day. No big blow. Just a double, single, single and groundout, and the patrons who left early are cursing John on the Grand Central Parkway. The game is tied, Darling’s win is gone, and Lee Smith is on his way in, trying to send the game to extra innings for St. Louis.

” ‘Anytime I get a two-run lead and I blow it,” Franco said. ”I think I stink.’

When he returned to the dugout, Franco walked up and down telling everyone that he did indeed stink.

‘He was walking all over the place,’ said Strawberry, trying to suppress a smile.”

–Jack Curry, September 12, 1990, New York Times

Herr gets things going against the closer with a lead-0ff walk. Though Magadan pops out to the catcher trying to bunt Herr over, Straw, the Mets MVP, walks up to the plate with a very specific strategy against the regularly dominant pitcher:

“Strawberry noticed that Smith…did not have his exploding fastball. Strawberry said Smith’s heater usually sails away from a left-handed hitter. It wasn’t… so Strawberry looked for a fastball that was inside. He got it.”

On the first pitch he sees, Straw crushes the ball into the Mets bullpen, sending Shea, the remaining fans and the Mets’ bench into a frenzy. They all start chanting, “Daaaarryllll…Daaaaarrylllll….”

“…(it’s hard) for the front office to ignore their reaction or what the unsigned Strawberry can do for a team.”

“Franco left the dugout and went to the clubhouse (after his performance). He threw two tables, a chair and a can of deodorant. He did not witness the dramatic home run.

‘I was in here drinking a can of beer because I was so ticked off at myself,’ Franco said. ‘I’m still ticked off at myself. Straw picked me up.’ “

–Jack Curry, NYT

It is the Mets’ 9th straight Shea win and the 34th in their last 44 Flushing games. They stay 3 1/2 out as the Pirates come into town for 2. They beat the Bucs both times to pull within a game and a half of 1st with 19 to go. Though they are a half-game out as far into September as the 18th, they lose steam and end up 5 games out with 4 to play. Still, Harrelson leads the franchise to its 7th straight winning season, and will certainly get another chance come 1991.

Now, hopefully, they will keep a hold on to their star right fielder…

The 1990 New York Mets.

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