Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

An update to April 1984’s news that Shea Stadium would be adding turf.  From the NY Times, November 15, 1984.

The Mr. Esnard that is mentioned was the deputy mayor.

The arrangement between the city and the Mets, announced last April, was to refurbish Shea and install 50 luxury boxes on its press level. The city agreed to spend at least $25 million, including the cost of the artificial surface, and the Mets agreed to extend their lease for 15 years, through 2009.

But Mr. Esnard said yesterday that because of drainage problems, the artificial surface would cost far more than had been expected. He also noted that the Mets were happy with the grass. And because the United States Football League is planning a shift to a fall schedule in 1986, he said, no pro football team would be punishing the natural turf for much of the baseball season, and so an artificial surface is not really necessary.

This came my way via twitter.  Is this what everyone else is experiencing?  I no longer buy tickets, after all, baseball is boring and the David Wright retirement game broke my son, and then Dom Smith broke me when he went vulgar, so we won’t be needing tickets.

So…I don’t get the tix until 24 hours before?  Which kinda kills the secondary market, no?

Print-at-home is discontinued?

Will the Mets still charge Fees and More Fees for all the electrons this system uses?

Talk to me people.

This morning, a twitter discussion started regarding Shea Stadium.  I said that despite the T-Shirt Enthusiasts Lovers for watching the game from 500 feet away on a bridge, I think Citi Field is meh and would have liked  refurbished Shea Stadium.

Well, let’s jump in the Time Machine to 1994 for this Actual New York Times article. This is not me doing fiction.  From April 10, 1984

Renovation plans for Shea Stadium, including the installation of artificial turf, additional stands in center field and luxury boxes, will be announced today by Mayor Koch.

..

The construction work, according to one source, will be supervised by Sterling Equities, a real estate and construction firm owned by Fred Wilpon, the Met president.

(The Stonecutters would have liked that…we get paid to fix up the place so we make more money.)

So what do you think – some outfield seats, maybe the Seaver Bridge for t-shirt people to hang out on…..the Astroturf would have been removed around 2002.   Even New Shea would be 40 years old at this point, and maybe getting a little rickety.

Below are some pictures I took in Anaheim in 2010 – maybe Renovated Shea could have had this kind of feel in the OF.

 

On April 11th, we learned more from the New York Times

Replacing the natural-grass playing surface with one of artificial turf was the city’s suggestion. Both sides said it would make it easier to use the stadium for football during the spring or fall seasons. The United States Football League now has a spring- summer schedule, and although the city has said it would prefer a National Football League team, officials say they might have a better chance of getting a U.S.F.L. team.

Although Mr. Wilpon has voiced opposition to artificial turf and acknowledged yesterday that such a surface was not popular among all fans, he said he agreed to it ”in the co-operative spirit of a deal.” The $2 million surface is expected to be on the field for the 1986 season.

Ya know, on turf in 1986,  little rollers along first probably move faster and have truer hops.  One never knows what could have happened…maybe they get fielded quickly and cleanly….but that’s a Citi on The Edge of Forever for another day.

 

 

 

 

“I’ve been screaming for 15 years now,” he said. “I would get pushback. Owners, executives, senior-level people say, ‘They will come back at 35.’ Why would they come back at 35 when they were never there in the first place? That’s like saying all of a sudden they’ll all start knitting at 35 or watching cricket at 35. Why would they do that?” (via WashPo)

What problem?  The Baseball Mafia will tell you baseball is better than ever.  Kids love Mike Trout and all those other big time baseball stars

Kids love 4 hour games with Openers and 16 relief pitchers.

Who doesn’t love an 8:30pm start and the struggle to stay awake to see the end of baseball’s biggest games?

Baseball is going to die with Generation X.  Its fate is already sealed.  In the meantime, baseball needs to ask itself how much of Generation X it wants to chase off with the product it has handed in this century – in case you haven’t noticed, I barely care about baseball right now, and I’m at the young end of the fanbase as old as I am.

What’s good about this cap is that if you are completely scraping the bottom of the barrel for Off-Season Filler, this will get you through a Sunday.