My Last Days At Shea - Part 4 - In My Life

This is part 4 in a 4 part series on my last days at Shea Stadium. This is the story of the "Shea Goodbye" ceremony.

So the season is over. Playoff hopes are gone. And all in the blink of an eye. A day that started with a bit of uncertainty now has a concrete ending. Shea Stadium has seen its last official pitch, and all that was left was the closing ceremony. A bit of a wait to set up the field. Not a good wait. Most fans stayed around after the loss to see this. It looked like a few couldn't bear to watch the rest.

Mr. Met came out to tear down the last number to reveal a Citi Field logo at the end of the countdown. Boos, but not for Mr. Met, but rather what his actions revealed (oh what a telling sign that was).


There was a great parade of former Mets and those affiliated with the club since the opening of Shea. A good mix of the different winning eras and some of the losing eras. Howie Rose read with excitement each name as the player came out from a bullpen down the side warning track to the edge of the infield grass. Quite a collection of the different white Mets jerseys. I could sense an order towards the end when they got to what I call the Mets dignitaries (Strawberry, Piazza, Koosman, Gooden, Seaver). They're all a bunch of names who's numbers belong painted on the outfield wall with the other retired numbers. There were a few players that I felt should have been included and names mentioned in their absense (such as the only manager to take the Mets to the playoffs and not be represented in some way, the first basemen from the greatest infield ever, or the "ace" of the staff before they got good again a dozen years prior to this parade). There also should have been something for the other teams that played at Shea, especially the Jets (the program from the final game had all that). Imagine Tom Seaver and Joe Namath on the same field together.

The best name to appear in terms of sentiment was Doc Gooden. A long time in absence from the Mets and Shea (he last appeared at Shea in a day-night doubleheader pitching for the Yankees against the Mets the same day that Clemens beaned Piazza in the other now-defunct ballpark). That felt really good to see him back in the good graces of Mets fans.

A video tribute to Mets baseball at Shea. A great scene of former Mets and former teammates coming together behind 2nd base from their different respective entrance lines and embracing. Doc and Darryl together in Mets jerseys for the first time in about 18 years.



The players came off the field towards home plate to touch the plate one last time, each to more ovation, and then one last pitch. Tom Seaver, the "franchise", and best pitcher the Mets have ever had, throwing to Mike Piazza, the greatest catcher that the Mets have ever had. Then they walked into the sunset together and out through the centerfield fence (the same place that I entered the field myself the day before) to the music of The Beatles' "In My Life" (and briefly before it, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". I will never be able to listen to "In My Life" again without thinking of this moment. I started to break down into tears when the song came on. One year later, listening to the song typing this, the same thing is happening.


The lights went off, it was close to sunset, fireworks went off, and that was it. At 6:22pm on September 28, 2008, Shea Stadium was closed for business. Nobody rushed the fans out of the ballpark. I got to stay for some time before I felt like I had to get my dad home. I walked slowly out for the last time.

"In My Life" was a very fitting song. I vaguely remember it on a history of the Mets video from the 1980s. And of course the Beatles connection to Shea. I think "In My Life" came on right when Seaver and Piazza hit the spot where the Beatles stage was for their first Shea concert behind 2nd base.

But the lyrics. Click that link and read the lyrics and tell me that it isn't the best set of lyrics for that moment.

Photos from the day:



Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


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My Last Days At Shea - Part 3 - Shea Goodbye

This is part 3 in a 3 4 part series entitled "My Last Days At Shea", celebrating the first anniversary of the closing of Shea Stadium. This is my story of the final game at Shea.

This was a tough ticket to get. Every real Mets fan wanted one. I got mine through the luck of the draw. Since late in the 2006 season, I was part of a group that split up season tickets (4 seats in the Mezz box, first base side, just out from the camera well). We had enough people in the group so that everyone had tickets for 4 games. We also had a rule for the premium games that you could only take 2 tickets instead of 4 (with the tradeoff being 2 tickets to another game at the end of our draft, meaning probably a weeknight in April against the Nationals). For whatever reason, 10 people ahead of me passed on the finale. That made it kind of easy to get.

To gameday itself, I had my dad with me. We had been going to games together at least once per season since my first game in 1986. We arrived at the ballpark around 10am. In all the years of going to games at Shea, including a few opening days and playoff games, I had never seen the place so crowded that early. Lines to get in at every gate. People just kind of looking around. And it started raining, so batting practice was more of a quiet time for fans to walk around and reflect on however many years they had spent there. More chances to walk around taking pictures of "empty Shea". More time to have one last walk down each concourse.

I saw a bit of commotion in the Loge concourse where the MeiGray group was selling for the first time Shea memorabilia (I have many posts accounting my delivery of these items and visiting the warehouse a few times). I figured in order to get what I wanted, I needed to stop, look through the catalog, and figure out what I had written down in the past on my "wish list". I wish I had known they were going to be there selling things.

Rain delay and just too much time to kill before starting the game. You can only walk around slowly so many times. The Mets had a very important game to play. They could clinch at least a tie for the Wild Card, possibly making the game acutally not the last game at Shea (either a playoff game or the playoffs). Confusing. But the Mets by the 7th inning simplified matters, as did the Brewers in their game against the Cubs.

Just like many other games for what Gary Cohen called "team tightrope", the Mets had an early lead, things were looking good, and it didn't last. After the rain delay, the Mets game started around the same time as the Brewers game. Both games ended around the same time. Both games' results were set at about the same time a few innnings earlier.



The season was over. Shea was closing. And then a way for the closing act.

I've decided to make this a 4 part series

Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


Leave a comment or drop me a line at DyHrdMET [at] gmail [dot] com.
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