Stadium Saturdays - Shea Stadium

 Hello Friends!

Today I'm doing a Sunday doubleheader of sorts.. I wanted to get both the Saturday and Sunday posts out, but yesterday I was so beat after going out for a bit I ended up sleeping and then getting up way too late to really do this justice. So today I'm doing both the Stadium Saturday and Signature Sunday posts..

Today's stadium, as you can gather from the title, is Shea Stadium. The formal name was William A. Shea Municipal Stadium. 

The stadium was built in 1964 for the Mets, who spent their first two seasons in the Polo Grounds. 

The Flushing site was pitched to the Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley in 1957, but he refused because he couldn't agree to terms with the city. The city was going to have a hand in the construction and operations of the stadium, but O'Malley wanted to build it himself to have control over the operations and parking. Or shall I say, the revenue from said?

The other sticking point was O'Malley wanting the new stadium in Brooklyn. The city was insistent on the Flushing site. When Los Angeles offered O'Malley what he wanted, he decided to pack up and move to the west coast. 

The Mets came into existence when Shea was trying to help begin a third Major League, called the Continental League. The league disbanded when MLB agreed to expand, adding 8 teams. 

In order to get the stadium built, the team agreed to a substantial rent in order to pay the construction bonds. At the time, the State didn't allow public money to be used to build a stadium. 

The stadium opened five days before the World's Fair in New York. The Fair site was across the street from the stadium. For the Fair, the stadium had blue and orange steel panels on the outside. They remained on the stadium until 1980. 

At one time the foul territory was the largest in the Majors. As retrofits occurred (it was retrofitted after the Jets moved out) the foul territory was lessened. At one time there were plans to have this stadium fully enclosed, but that never came to pass. In the card above, you can kind of see the outline where the outfield enclosure would have gone. 

Shea hosted one All Star Game, in 1964. It hosted the Postseason in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, and 2006.

Tommy Agee was the only person to hit a fair ball into the upper deck in left field. In 1971 Dave Kingman hit a ball out of the stadium and hit the Giants' team bus parked behind the bullpen.

Shea Stadium also hosted the first and last games in Montreal Expos history. 

Here we see Shea in the football configuration. 

1975 was a busy year for the Stadium. The Mets, Yankees, NFL Giants, and Jets all shared the venue. The Yankees were here due to Yankee Stadium being renovated. The two NFL teams were waiting for Giants Stadium to be completed. Neither the Jets and Giants could play home games until after the baseball season was over. Since neither MLB team made the playoffs, the NFL had the park from October on.. 

Here we see Citi Field rising in the background.

You can see the orange panels in this photo.. 

In 1965, there were plans to add a glass dome and 15000 seats, but the Mets opposed the plan. The idea was scrapped altogether when engineers determined that the foundation wouldn't be able to support the additional weight.

When it came time to remove Shea Stadium, they needed to dismantle it rather than implode it, as NYC regulations don't allow implosion in city limits. After any salvageable memorabilia was taken, demolition began. Pairs of seats were sold for $869.

So who used this place??

The New York Mets (MLB) 1964-2008

New York Jets (AFL/NFL) 1964-1983

New York Yankees (MLB) 1974-1975

New York Giants (NFL) 1975

St. John's Red Storm (NCAA) 2000

Two personal things I'd like to add.. I did a painting of Shea Stadium based on a picture from Topps Magazine while I was in high school. I still have it. Maybe once I excavate it from my closet I'll take a pic and show people. 

The other thing I remember is hating playing games in this place on any baseball video game. I don't know what it was but I found it impossible to focus playing games. 

What say you? Any memories of Shea? Let me know!