Remembering Shea - all together now

I think I've covered everything that I saw at the Shea site yesterday. I met a bunch of people. Others that I wanted to meet were also there. One I didn't mention yet, who also got some good shots of both ballparks from the subway platform was "The Flushing Fotographer", who sent some images to metsblog.com. I also found photos from Chris Swann himself. I wish I got more shots of the crowd and I wish I made it over to the 1B side of Shea to see it (although the slideshow from the subway ride out covered it).

If anyone knows the name of the local Queens newspaper that was interviewing people (myself included), I'd love to know what it is so I can post to it and see what I said.

Between the different reporters I talked to, I got asked about Citi Field (at a Shea rememberance event) and a lot of my memories from Shea.

I know I've spent more time writing about Saturday's event than I did actually being there and getting there (even with 4 hours of travel included). Keep following baseball-fever.com for discussion (I'll post there too if I can get my account fixed).

If you've been following my blog since yesterday (and thanks to Chris to linking to me on baseball-fever.com and Kingman on Loge13.com for linking to me as well, plus NYSportsDog and anyone else I'm forgetting about), please check all the pages again. I've updated most of them with something since the original post.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - recaps from other Mets blogs

Lots of people were there yesterday, and lots wrote about it. I'll be updating this page during the day as I come across more recaps from bloggers.

• Pick Me Up Some Mets! (Zoë Rice)
• Loge13.com has several posts from the day, including this one where he notes that he was quoted in the New York Times (by the same reporter that interviewed and didn't quote me)
• Long Island Met Fan's recap
• metsblog.com's recap
• One last link to baseball-fever.com, who was key in helping to get the word out on Saturday's event. It looks like there are about 10 pages of posts since the first picture from Saturday went up.
• NY Sports Dog also has a recap and a video
• I don't know how I missed linking to StadiumPage.com. Apparently, lots of other sites got him.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - recaps in the media

Updated with a link to the Daily News

Well, I was expecting to be quoted in the New York Times today (maybe the print edition has more stories than the online edition). But no. I was interviewed by a reporter coming off the subway just before 12 noon, and probably many people were too, and only some of it, the good stuff, made it into the article. I heard there were 3 reporters from the Times at Shea on Saturday, but I can only account for 2 pieces online.

Here's what I found so far (I'll keep updating this post as I come across more coverage of Saturday's event):
• On a Mound of Debris at Shea Stadium, Mets Fans Kiss That One Goodbye - New York Times
• On Own Terms, Fans Gather to Say Goodbye to Shea - New York Times "Bats" (baseball) blog
• Fans get last licks before fall of Shea - New York Newsday (includes video)
• Fans weigh in on the new stadium's name - New York Newsday
• WCBS-TV had one of their anchors at Shea filing a report that aired on the 6pm newscast, but there is no video to post from their site. In reading blogs and forums, the WCBS-TV report was the best one. Update: I got the video in good quality on YouTube
• NY1 was there and filed a short report with a video
• SNY was there. I missed the report and can't find a video on their site
• Loyal Mets fans Shea goodbye - New York Daily News
• SNY's Ted Berg was there (I saw a few people got pictures with him) and has a story on SNY.TV

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - all together now - final thought

Thinking about the turnout. 200 to 400 people showed up to look at a destruction site (at least that's how some people would view it).

I look at it like this. There's a small herd of people that are passionate about something, and they show it. It may not quite seem normal to most, but it's what matters to us.

I saw it when the NHL returned from its season-long lockout in the summer of 2005, when the New Jersey Devils hosted a "Welcome Back Draft Party", inviting fans to come to the Meadowlands Arena on a Saturday afternoon to watch the NHL draft on the arena's video screen, meet a couple players and get autographs, and buy some hockey equipment. The Devils and arena staff were overwhelmed with the turnout and had to bring in more staff to man the concession stands (they had food for us, with a ticket to get a free hot dog and drink). It was just a lot of people (more than expected) who missed being around hockey for that year coming out to purge what I called the "repressed hockey". It wasn't something that appealed to most but it mattered to us.

Saturday was that at Shea Stadium. Nobody knew if we'd get enough to fill out a lineup card. And despite the very cold weather, and the long commute for some, there was quite a turnout just to come say goodbye to the big blue ballpark in Queens.

Thanks Chris Swann for deciding to organize the un-organized to come out and do this. Looking at everyone who came out today, and all those with their own Mets-themed blog, the Mets have quite a fan base.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - all together now - part 4

One thing about today's visit to Shea was seeing Citi Field. There was much discussion about the naming rights. I noted to a few people that just from a practical perspective, IF the naming right had to change, they couldn't just change the signs to a new name as if you were writing on a blackboard (the comparison I came up with now). Those signs are big, and as people pointed out, several of them. Chris also noted that the rows of seats alternate with a Mets sticker or a Citi Field sticker (which are already starting to peel - what an omen). Lots of logos to change - or in my estimation, just covering up the "Citi" logo and calling the place "Field" (as in, we're going to "Field" to see a Mets game).

From being there, I managed to get these photos of what's still called Citi Field.

The full album is here on webshots


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - all together now - part 3

One of the items of the day that came up on some of the other blogs was that there was an impromptu press conference with Chris Swann and some of the reporters that came out, just asking questions about what we're doing (I don't really remember any questions being asked, but I was photographed on another blog standing next to a cameraman from Newsday.com). This is Chris in the middle of the photo with the '69 on the sleeve.



At the end, someone suggested that we sing both "Meet the Mets" and then chanting "Let's Go Mets".

My videos cover just a piece of each. That is partially because I didn't know it was coming, and partially because I had gloves on (it was below freezing today) and couldn't operate the camera buttons (to change from photo to video and start/stop) fast enough.

Meet the Mets


Let's Go Mets



Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - all together now - part 2

Updated 9:04pm with photos and another item

While I'm working on organizing my photos and videos (a massive 219 photos and 7 videos taken today) into small/manageable chunks and posts, I do want to point out a few things that I noticed today.

I get the feeling that the crowd today was a group who would rather watch a game from Shea Stadium than Citi Field.

A lot of people seem to think that the name on Citi Field really may not be there on Opening Day. One of the reporters asked me more about Citi Field than Shea Stadium for some reason.

When specifically asked, the few people I asked did not like the names "Promenade" and "Excelsior" of the levels at Citi Field.

People brought their kids there, in the freezing cold. I saw one dog who was named for Mike Piazza (MikeP I think was the name), and saw photos of another dog named Shea (not Chipper Jones's kid either).

People wanted to take pictures and just talk. I think that was the intent.


I did get a few tidbits from people (and please correct me if I'm wrong)

1. The concrete and steel removed from the Shea Stadium structure must be salvagable, with the concrete actually to be recycled into the pavement for the parking lot replacing Shea. Take a minute and process that concept.
2. The outline of the old traffic circle outside the fence of Gate A is still visible in the new sidewalks, including what looks like a gateway to the new ballpark's Left Field corner.
   
   
3. There will be a ticket office for Citi Field on 126th Street, to the left of (right field side of) the "main" outfield entrance (I noticed the signs when I was leaving)
   
   
4. I also heard that the highway signs are going to be changed to reflect the new ballpark.
   
   

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Remembering Shea - all together now - part 1

First, I want to say that I came up with the name for this blog long before today's event. It was sometime back in the fall. Considering I started all this a few months after Shea's final game, I never expected to post on anything "current". But here I am, and there I was. Remembering Shea with what was estimated to be as many as 400 fans braving the cold and icy ground to look at a pile of rubble over a fence and at a structure, that at times was made to crumble right before our eyes, which held so many memories for all of us.

I was interviewed by the New York Times, MySN.TV (My SocialSports Network), and a local paper in Queens (damn, I can't remember the name of it).
I got to meet other folks taking pictures and sharing stories.
It was a way to give us better closure to the stadium than what we got back in September (I heard someone say that, or something similar. It may have actually been our great organizer, Chris Swann, but I'm not sure).

I'm so glad I went. I can't remember the last time I was at Shea when there wasn't a game going on (not counting going to the U.S. Open). And we all got to remember together

I got some great photos and videos. They're still uploading to Webshots and YouTube, and I'll organize them into a few different posts on RememberingShea in addition to a big slideshow.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Final thought | Recaps in the Media | Recaps in other Mets blogs | All together now

Shea Stadium Fan Farewell

So much to say. WCBS's report is going to air soon on the 6pm news. This will be the first of at least a few posts on today's event, while I thaw out and organize my pictures and videos.

Major kudos to Chris Swann for pulling this together. It was quite a turnout. I talked to a bunch of fans who came out. I was interviewed for 3 different reports.

More on all of that later, but Chris deserves his own post in my recap of the day.

If you follow the blog, stay tuned throughout the night and maybe even into tomorrow for more on the day. I'll update this post with links to my other posts and posts from other blogs on today.

Nice work Chris, and don't forget about all the other goodies on RememberingShea.blogspot.com (MeiGray warehouse, walking on the warning track, and more).

Related Links:

• Remembering Shea - all together now - part 1


• Remembering Shea - all together now - part 2


• Remembering Shea - all together now - part 3


• Remembering Shea - all together now - part 4


• Remembering Shea - all together now - part 5


• Remembering Shea - all together now - part 6


• Remembering Shea - all together now - final thoughts


• Remembering Shea - recaps in the media


• Remembering Shea - recaps from other Mets blogs


• Remembering Shea - all together now


• One last video of Shea's Farewell



• A series of posts from loge13.com


• The recap from metsblog.com with links to a few pictures


• Long Island Met Fans' recap of the day

I expect to see some articles from the New York Times, New York Post, Newsday on Sunday, as well as finding links and video clips from WCBS TV and I heard WWOR Channel 9 was there as well as SNY - the recaps from the media will be on this page.