Shea Stadium is the home of the New York Mets of the National League.
Shea Stadium opened in 1964. It stands at the western edge of Flushing Meadow Park, home of the 1964 World's Fair, and right under the flight path of nearby LaGuardia airport. The result is an endless parade of jets taking off or landing over the stadium. Not exactly pastoral. It's a big, round ballpark, although the circle is not closed. The stands extend to just beyond the foul poles in left and right, allowing a view of Flushing and the graceful curves of the Whitestone Bridge.
Transit-wise, it is well-placed at the intersection of three major highways, a railroad line, and a subway line. Getting to and from Shea is rarely a problem.
Shea is one of those parks where reason goes out the window for me. Objectively, this is not a great park. It's too big, too loud, and some of the sightlines are awful. The upper deck is somewhere in the next burrough. Despite that, it is my home, baseball-wise. This is my home park, where I grew up watching awful, then great, then awful, and now pretty good Mets teams, so it will always be a special place for me.
In fairness, it is easily the best of the class of 1960's and 1970's multi-purpose stadiums. It has always had natural grass. The outfield is not enclosed into a big bowl, allowing a view and a breeze. It is painted inside and out in a rich royal blue. It is full of little details to cover up a basically drab design such as the big scoreboard, the apple out of the hat for home runs, the flags flying around the rim, the picnic pavillion in left, and so on. The Mets have managed to do the best they can with what they were given and produced a pretty lively environment in which to see a ballgame.
Plans are on the table for a new ballpark to be built right next to Shea. One way or the other it seems that Shea's days are numbered. While I would love to have one of those beautiful new ballparks to go to, my last trip to my ancestral baseball home will be a very difficult day indeed.
Objective Emotional
None of these tickets are for the game photographed above. Those shots were taken on Opening Day, 1992.