A week in baseball history

This was a big week for our United States. Children all across the country watched the first black president sworn in to the highest office in the land. Whatever happens, that one moment has already changed everything.

Yesterday, the Yankees baseball team moved offices from one Stadium to another. The stadiums are across the street from each other.

Last week I took a trip down to Shea stadium, the stomping ground for The New York Mets. Shea stadium is being torn down brick by brick in the coming months so that the Mets, like the Yankees, can move into a brand new, state of the art baseball park. If you are interested, this is a nice summary of Shea's great history.

I love Shea stadium. I have been a mets fan since 1993. The day camp I went to took us to a Mets game, where they became, for me, the most lovable losers. That first day, the Mets lost to the expansion Florida Marlins. I started rooting for John Franco's painfully hanging change up, Butch Huskey's slow hussle, and Todd Hundley's big swings. The Mets did sign guys with amazing names, Butch Huskey might be the best sports name period. Rey Ordonez might have been the worst hitting, best fielding short stop you have ever seen. So of course he found a home on the Mets. If Yankee stadium is the house that Ruth built, Shea stadium is the house to which Mike Piazza added an addition. Mike was the first big signing that actually panned out. In 2000, Mike hit a three run home run against the Braves that made Shea stadium shake something special. He was the first player in Baseball to bring some sense of happiness to the country, hitting the game winning home run in the first game after 9/11.

I will always love Shea stadium for its hot dogs, color seats, the huge neon men on the side of the circular stadium. The semi circular nature of the stadium allowed cars driving by on the neighboring roads to catch a glimpse of the game. Shea fit.

The new stadium is called Citi Field. Named in honor of a private bank. The name is a clever one as it integrates itself with the greatest city, as if it was New York Citi and not New York City. The catchy nature of this name troubles me most. Especially in our troubling economic times, it seems odd that we have a local stadium attached to a failing and corrupt economic community.

I am sure I will go to games at Citi Field and love the Mets again. But Shea stadium will always be home for me and I am going to miss it.

Shea and Citi

Citi Field

Shea in its final days

Our Beloved Shea

A joke at every end:

A man walks into a bar and orders 12 shots of vodka.
The bartender pours them all and places the drinks on the bar.
The man starts taking the shot one after the other. Two, Four, Six, Eight shots.
The bartender finally says, "hey buddy, slow down. Why are you drinking so fast?"
The man gets quiet and slowly says "you would too if you had what I have."
The bartender becomes very serious and asks solemnly, "what do you have?"
The man responds, "Seventy five cents!"