Baseball BeatSeptember 29, 2008
Shea Goodbye
By Rich Lederer

New York Mets fans waved goodbye to their stadium and season – and probably the club's bullpen – on Sunday.

The "celebration" that followed must have been bittersweet for Mets fans. Watching live on TV, I enjoyed the cascade of former players, including many from the 1969 and 1986 World Series championship teams plus all-time New York greats Yogi Berra and Willie Mays, parading around the ballpark in replica jerseys. In a fitting ending, Tom Seaver threw out the *last* pitch to Mike Piazza. Seaver and Piazza walked out to center field – at times, arm and arm – and closed the fence behind them. You didn't have to be a Mets fan to get a little teary-eyed at that moment.

MLB.com has Shea Stadium in pictures, broken down from 1964-1980, 1986-2000, and 2000-2007. The links can be found at the bottom of the sidebar on the right side of this page.

My one and only photo from Shea Stadium was taken last May when my son Joe and I hooked up with Alex Belth (standing next to me) and Darren Viola (far right) in a game that was postponed due to rain before the first pitch was even thrown.



While the above visit to Shea Stadium was my most recent, it wasn't my most memorable. Not by a long shot. I wrote about the latter three years ago in Home Runs to Remember.

Rest in Peace, Shea Stadium and Michael O'Brien.

Comments

I was colder that night than Bob Buhl's '62 season.