For several years, I have been insisting that the Mets should name their new stadium — partly paid for by the owners, the Wilpon family, with infrastructure mostly subsidized by the city — after a legitimate New York sports hero who would not embarrass everybody down the line.
The most obvious name would have been Jackie Robinson Stadium, but if the standard were somebody who wore the Mets uniform, then what about Gil Hodges Stadium?
Meantime, I persist in calling it New Shea, in honor of the lawyer who helped bring the National League back to New York, whose name was proudly affixed to the old dump that is being torn down.
Mets Police support “New Shea” or a more proper “Shea Stadium.” Let us not forget the man who got us this team. “Jackie Robinson Stadium” – enough already. Let the Dodgers honor the Dodger.