A guest post:
We were at Sunday’s Pirate game, Excelsior level (Left Field Landing), sec
334, row 7, next to the Acela club windows.
We were in shade as the sun hit at about row 4-5.
Could not see the big scoreboard which is usually not such a problem. There
were several flat screens which appeared to show either the big scoreboard
or the SNY feed but they were behind us so you had to look five rows back
and over to the next section if you really wanted to see the scoreboard.
The field was partially obstructed. We could not see the warning track or
back wall in left or center field. We could see Beltran and Murphy in
position but any ball hit in back of them was lost to view.
There were two balls hit off the wall by Delgado and Beltran that went for
doubles. I was an outfielder for 10 years and have a pretty good grasp of
when home runs are going out right off the bat. At Shea these would have
been home runs but from where I was sitting there was only confusion because
we just didn’t know what was going on. While I think that extending the
height of the wall makes for more exciting play I was very disappointed that
I couldn’t see it.
Excelsior level is sort of like its own isolated club. Blocked on one side,
you can only get up there from the CF food court, nobody checked tickets and
we had a constant stream of “visitors” looking for better seats.
On the plus side, Nathan’s got its game back. Foot longs with mustard and
half sauerkraut and half onions made my day. They also had someone watching
over the condiments so no one screwed with them.
Again I agree with most of your staff that you would barely know that the
Mets play there. Also, while it is nice to honor Jackie Robinson, he never
played for the Mets. I grew up in Jackson Heights and used to sneak on the
number 7 after school and go watch them drive the pilings into the swamp
which would become Shea Stadium. I couldn’t wait for the Mets to play there.
I went to a lot of games in my teens when they couldn’t buy a win and had
the time of my life. In those days you could bring signs and airhorns and
anything you wanted to make noise with and we did. I had mixed emotions
about 1969. Yes, we finally won and had some respect but it was also a
little less fun. Useless trivia – Ed Charles quit baseball after 1969 and
joined a bowling league in Elmhurst, the Goodfellows”. I also bowled in that
league. Ed didn’t really bowl much and was always trying to sell baseball
themed lamps made out of small bats as I guess he was never paid that much
as a Met.
Anyway, I got way off the track. My point was that I am 57 years old and
never saw Robinson play. He is a historical figure to me even though he
accomplished greatness. I just don’t see the point in making him the focus
of the stadium in place of the Mets. Honored?, yes, of course. But the
number of fans 60 and older who actually do remember him will diminish
rapidly. If we really want to honor Jackie Robinson let’s start building
some ball fields in “black” neighborhoods or we won’t have any black
baseball players left. Then he will have accomplished nothing.
Our biggest problem is that we, the Mets, have no one to replace him. 48
years and we have only retired one player’s number??? How sick is that?
Let’s at least get Piazza up there before someone writes a book about him.
www.metspolice.com
@metspolice
