Shea Stadium & Tom Terrific.

Sept. 28, 2008

Farewell to Shea

Shea Stadium    

Flushing, NY

Tony Schmitt 

September 28, 2008 had been marked on my calendar since the 2008 schedule was announced. I had to go to the farewell party at the ballpark that had filled my boyhood with many joyful moments that are forever etched in mind. I found a pair of reasonably priced tickets on eBay. The Met game itself was not a priority; it was all about experiencing Shea one last time.  I had been to Shea earlier in the summer for the Billy Joel concert but, alas that did not have the same feeling of a baseball game. There were no vendors hawking their hot dogs and beer, and no hot pretzel on the way out of the stadium.

It has been over forty years since that first trip to Shea in June of 1968, with my Cub Scout pack # 57 from Farmingdale, NY.

I was well armed that day with my brown bag lunch, scorecard, and pencil. We didn’t care that we were sitting in the upper deck; we had binoculars to check out our heroes. There was Tom Seaver warming up in the bullpen, Bud Harrelson fielding some grounders off the fungo bat of Yogi Berra, in the batting cage was Cleon Jones, and Tommie Agee was waiting his turn. Finally, I saw Gil Hodges bring out the lineup card to the umps at home plate. The game was a bigger thrill this day because Tom Seaver, “The Franchise” was the starting pitcher. The details of the game have long ago faded away, except for the fact that Seaver struck out the side 1-2-3 in the first inning, and that the Mets won the game. 

Today, the LIRR train was full of Mets fans, young and old, as we made our way to Shea. It was a historical sight to see from the platform, Shea Stadium next to the new Citi Field. The past and the future next to each other, one full of memories, the other waiting for its inaugural opening day. The outside of stadium was full of fans who were wearing Mets paraphernalia from all different Mets eras. We were all rooting for another Met memorable victory for the Shea finale.

The parking lots were full of tailgaters and fans were shouting, “Lets Go Mets’ or singing the Mets’ theme song. “MEET THE METS, Step right up and greet the Mets……East side,West side,everybody's coming down to meet the M-E-T-S Mets of New York town!Of New York town.”  It was electric walking into the stadium. I was accompanied to the game by my cousin Joe Schmitt Jr., son on my Uncle Joe who instilled into all of my cousins and siblings that we were descendants of Brooklyn Dodger fans and that meant we were destined to be Met fans. The Yankees were the enemy and not to be rooted for.

As we entered the entrance to our section, the beautiful green grass of Shea was to be admired. The infield was covered by a tarp to shield it from the light rain. As I looked out, I could see Joe Namath throwing the football to Don Maynard on a fly pattern, Tommie Agee diving and making those two outstanding catches in the ’69 World Series, Eddie Kranepool waiting to pinch hit in the on deck circle, Seaver looking out to center after his imperfect game was broken up, Jerry Koosman jumping into Jerry Grote’s arms, Tug McGraw slapping his thigh with his glove, Ray Knight scoring the winning run in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Jesse Orosco throwing his glove into the air, Doc Gooden striking out another hitter, or Darryl hitting a monster home run.  Oh, the thrills Shea has provided over the years!

Before the game, I saw all the old Mets getting off the bus to enter the Stadium; Franco, Koosman, Swoboda, Harrelson, Kingman, Boswell, Leiter, Piazza, Carter, Mays, Kranepool, Seaver, Staub, Doc, Strawberry, were among the many on hand to say good bye to the Flushing ballpark. It surely must have meant something for these bygone stars to come and say goodbye.

Unfortunately, the 2008 Met club disappointed the electric crowd with a loss in the final game at Shea. It was doubly frustrating because the loss caused the Mets to miss the playoffs, as they say in Mudville the mighty Casey has struck out. After the game there was a ceremony with the old Met players paying a final homage to Shea. That was nice but, I couldn’t wait to get outside and buy my pretzel. 

Goodbye Shea, and thanks for the memories!