Negativity envelops Shea Stadium’s sad ending
Posted: Monday, September 29, 2008 4:47 PM
It’s a dump, but it was my dump.
As I sat at Shea Stadium for the final time Friday night, that line kept flooding my head. I had thought of it in 1999 as I watched thousands come to decrepit Candlestick Park in its last year as the Giants’ home.
Shea Stadium was where my dad took me to my first game in 1964. It was where I came of age, allowed to take the train to games with friends in the early 1970s, enjoying an early teen’s first taste of freedom. And it was where I had a chance to fulfill a dream, spending four years broadcasting for your childhood team.
What struck me most Friday was the negativity. Florida scored two runs in the first inning and the rest of the night was mired in a cloud of gloom.
Yes, the economy is part of the reason. Shea Stadium crowds are always littered with Wall Streeters and last Friday night seemed to have a large percentage of those who were blowing off steam and getting Heinekenized and Budweisered.
Before the game I saw Mets general manager Omar Minaya and told him something that appeared in this blog last September -- I believe the Mets would have made the playoffs last year if they had played the final week on the road. I still believe that and double down on the thought this year.
By Sunday, I was back in California for the best seat available on baseball’s best day -- my couch with DirecTV. As I flipped between games at Shea Stadium, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Chicago, I was struck by the enthusiasm in three parks. Only Shea Stadium didn’t offer its team an obvious home-field advantage.
No need to rehash the results. I was moved watching Milwaukee party after the Brewers watched the Mets’ loss. I have an affinity for the Midwest cities that love baseball. It was bred in me through six years of broadcasting for the Twins. The heck with the curse of the Cubs. Milwaukee had gone 26 years without a single playoff game. And three million fans attended games in a Milwaukee metropolitan area with a population of two million.
A part of me was thrilled for those fans and the owner in Milwaukee, who has cared and invested in the local area and then had the stones to trade for one of the game’s premier pitchers and finally fire his manager with two weeks to go!
It worked. CC Sabathia was a stud and the Brewers made the playoffs. The biggest baseball story of the final week was the return of old school starting pitching. Sabathia made his last three starts on three days rest, winning the final two with a complete game Sunday. The bullpen never stirred. He made himself a ton of money heading into free agency but for now the Brewers benefit. And Johan Santana gave the Mets the start they desperately needed, shutting out Florida Saturday on three days rest. Veterans and former players across the land had to smile as they saw that these standout pitchers had their own definition of a quality start.
After the shock at Shea Stadium, there was an awkward pause before the ceremony commenced to close the stadium. Friday night, I went through the bowels of the ballpark one last time, connecting with friends, longtime Mets employees and former colleague Tom Seaver as well as Darryl Strawberry (who looks like a 30-30 guy today) and Bud Harrelson. No one expected Sunday’s ceremony to be held under such circumstances.
Watching on television with my wife, we flashed back to the September night on which Barry Bonds hit home runs 71 and 72. The game that night lasted four and a half and the Giants lost, eliminating them from postseason contention. A celebration to honor Bonds had been planned for months. Despite the obvious blow of the team’s season ending, the ceremony to honor an individual achievement would be held. It was painful for many but went as planned.
The Mets were no different, staging a ceremony after the staggering blow of missing out on the playoffs. They had brought back 43 former players, including the first return for Dwight Gooden. Mike Piazza made his first public appearance in retirement while Hall of Famers who had stints as Mets – Willie Mays and Yogi Berra -- were also there.
The show had to go on. And it was graceful and dignified. A stadium whose character was defined by its occupants rather than its structure was closed in grand style. The Mets lone member of the Hall of Fame, Seaver, and his eventual partner in Cooperstown, Piazza, teamed as the battery for the final pitch and walked together out the centerfield gate.
All the while most of the sellout crowd stayed and cheered. It was wonderful, yet bizarre. They love their team, the National League heritage started by the Dodgers and Giants when they played in New York, and the great players who have worn the orange and blue. But the fans seem to love the players more after the fact, more after they are through playing.
During my years as a broadcaster for the Mets, I wondered why the booing at Shea Stadium was so vicious. I have heard such booing often during the final Mets games of the last two seasons. After Sunday’s game – which turned out to be the last ever at Shea Stadium -- I heard cheers. And I can’t help but wonder why over my years of watching the Mets I had not heard them more often.
