I’ll be going to the game tonight (4/27), showing up to get into the stadium to see batting practice. I want to see if I can reconstruct exactly the kind of experience I always used to have at Shea, from batting practice to getting onto the Whitestone Expressway at the end. I want to see what is similar and what is different, what rituals and impressions can be restored and what can’t. My seats, a very reasonable $15 face value, with an addition $10 added on for unnecessary bullshit charges, are in section 515, row 6, seat 4. If you see me walking around with my notebook or if you come by my seat, I’d love to get your impressions. So don’t hesitate to say hi.
P.S. One more thing. I say this every year and I’ll say it again. Please don’t vote for somebody on the All-Star ballot just because they’re a Met. Vote for the guy who deserves it. And please wait until enough of the season has passed so that you can tell who deserves it. The All-Star game is such a joke when it’s elected by the fans goaded on by team campaigns. And whenever anyone complains and suggests that we go back to the system where the players elected the teams, MLB says, “Oh No, the fan is king and we want the fans to be represented,” as if all they care about is our happiness.
Hey,
I’d love to go to batting practice maybe get to talk to some of the players, any info you could post about it, what seats we need, where the best places are etc… it would be great!
I wish I was going I would look for you. If I ever have an extra ticket you will be one of the first people I email. Btw great talk last Wednesday. ( I was the big fella in the red plaid shirt.)
I agree with you on the All-Star game voting. It’s way too early to be thinking about that now, and frankly, the only Met who deserves my vote is a pitcher, and pitchers aren’t on the ballot.
I posted on Sunday that I was able to find my way into an autograph at BP on Saturday, and that was when only a handful of pitchers were out. I am real curious to see what you think for a normal night game.
You saw a good one, Dana! Nice to see John Maine pounding the strike zone.
I used to feel that way about the All-Star Game. Now I just want the Mets to have prestige. I don’t care about fair. Let as many Mets get in, so when everyone points and says “These are the best players in the game” people think Mets.
It’s not like they play a fully competitive game out there anyway, or that I really get hung up on the outcome. (Although, I probably have a better shot at morgaging my soul to pay for tickets locally for game 6 to see the Mets eliminate the Sox at Citi rather than having to add a trip to Boston in there)
1. I think if we ever come out of the nation’s economic doldrums and they can develop the area around Citifield a bit more the impact upon approaching it may improve. Though I wouldn’t personally use the phrase ‘grandeur’ in connection with Shea, I did like the fact that you could see it for miles. (In terms of cityscape I thought that (sorry) Yankee Stadium’s looming presence off the Harlem River and above the art deco buildings of the Grand Concourse was more dramatic than Shea’s highway exit status). But if they can get around to developing the Flushing Corona area more so that Citifield pops up out of a denser urban landscape I think that would be a good thing, because that characterized Ebbets which is its inspiration, and is also what makes parks like Fenway, Wrigley and (of more modern parks) Camden Yards and Coors Field a great experience. Right now CF is a little awkward – an intimate park sort of plunked down in a parking lot (which worked better for Shea given its size and metallic frame), but time will tell (and I think they are doing a very nice job with the plaza).
2. Read George Vescey’s column in today’s NY Times comparing St Louis’s park to CF. Interesting (albeit somewhat cutting) read.
3. I agree with you that the batting practice changes are disappointing. But, like I wrote earlier, given the extremely expensive premium seat prices, I can understand why for their top paying customers they don’t want the public masses occupying them during batting practices. If one pays full freight for a first class plane ticket, the passenger doesn’t want someone from coach keeping it warm for ‘em. (I think its an apropos analogy). In any event, at least the Mets are still permitting fans to hang out on field level generally for BP, which is not the case in all stadiums.
JD, Thanks for the heads up about the Vecsey piece. I wrote a blog entry about it. From the author of Joy in Mudville, I found his comments heartbreaking.