Mike sent these over. Very cool. Click on them for bigger versions.
For those of you who like to rag on the Mets for attendance woes, assuming these are indeed of the opener (why would Mike lie) that’s what 27,326 looked like as Seaver bested Carlton in a tidy one hour and 56 minutes.
It’s always weird for me to see pics of Shea with the original seats and color scheme. Mets Police 1980 probably complained about getting rid of the traditional green upper deck. I’ll check the archives.
Pics always very welcome at [email protected] Nothing is too small or too random, especially if it is from before 1990.
Hey Osh41, did we just not take any pictures all those years? Dopes.
What was going on with the upper deck seats at the time that kept the bottom 6 or so rows empty? I noticed the same thing when watching a program on MLB network a while back. It struck me as so strange I even grabbed a screen shot for this very purpose:
That shot is also from 1973, but the postseason. Compare that to this photo of Opening Day 1964, during which those sections were in use:
And this one from the ’69 series celebration which again shows the entire upper deck in use:
What was going on in ’73 to close off those seats, how long had it been that way, and long did it last?
It looks like I totally screwed up the HTML, but the 3 photos are all there and in the right order.
Shannon,
by the way i was at that game and was sitting upper deck first base side as always..my thanks to Mom for buying DairyLee milk for without them it would have cost me $1.10!
Mike
Bayside
OK, no idea what happened to my original post, but as I was saying…
What was going on with the upper deck at that time that kept the first half-dozen or so rows empty?
I noticed this a few months ago when I watching a show on MLB Network about the ’73 postseason. Here’s a pic I took of the screen:
http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/416/416886/folders/306109/2464436Shea60semptyrows.JPG
Those same first few rows of the upper deck are empty, but more conspicuously because the rest of the stadium is packed.
Compare those pics to shots of Opening Day 1964:
http://www.daylife.com/photo/02FA8rR6Ky6mI
and the ’69 World Series:
http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/BE049178.html
during which the entire deck was occupied.
What was going on with those rows in ’73, when did it begin, and how long did it last?
Sparks – you’re an “approved commenter” but any comment with several links goes into hold. It’s part of the spamblocking software.
Gotcha. When I looked back the first time, it was showing the 2nd post and not the 1st. Then after I posted the follow-up, it must’ve ID’ed me, because the 1st post immediately re-appeared as “awaiting moderation” or whatever the particular language is.
The first rows of each level were more expensive box seats…if you bought cheaper reserved seats, you could not sit in the boxes.
Great things about Shea in 1973 era:
Glass bullpen walls
Orange HR lines in corners
Cool odd-shaped warmup mounds to the left and right of home plate
Huge Met logo on top of scoreboard
Orange and blue squares on exterior
Cap Shaped bullpen carts, with Met and opposing team caps
Jane Jarvis on the Thomas Organ
and no black…except the batter’s eye in centerfield.
watch the movie bang the drum slowly
it was filmed at shea during mets road trips in 1973.
there is a scene where te “new york Mamouths players” are singing in the kiners korner post game studio
ah yes jane jarvis.
a mets double header on banner night in 1973.
the first game lasted 19 innings
after the banner contest,the second game started about 1am
jane never missed a song between innings of both games and the contest
P.S.- the national legaue did not have a curfew rule. only the american legaue!
look at the shea picture on the right.
to the left of the light tower was a apartment complex i lived in on colden street in down town flushing.
It all looked so clean back then. Dodger Stadium somehow kept that feel. Perhaps that’s because when they renovated, they kept the early 60’s color scheme. I’d like to have seen how Shea would’ve held up had they made more efforts to preserve its original appearance.