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Mets Stadium plans unveiled
2006-04-06 11:18
by Bob Timmermann

The Mets have debuted more models for their new stadium, right now called Mets Stadium.

You can read about it here and see some of the models in more detail here.

Will this new stadium replace the incredibly confusing seat numbering plan that Shea Stadium has? Will it have all the "charms" of Shea? Will you still get the joy of riding a #7 train all the way out to it? Will it still have Mets fans in it?

Mets fans and I have had a troubled history in the era of the Internet. At least I've never had a Yankee fan tell me that it was a good thing my father was dead.

Comments
2006-04-06 11:55:27
1.   DXMachina
I'd heard they wanted to build it to resemble Ebbetts Field, but I always assumed they meant they would copy the field dimensions and some of the details, not build an exact duplicate of the facade (one that really doesn't fit the shape of the new park).
2006-04-06 12:29:14
2.   Cliff Corcoran
I think I see the home run apple under that new fangled scoreboard. They better keep that thing, it's the only part of Shea that doesn't suck.

I'm torn over all this new stadium construction in New York. On the one hand my politics are against it, and in terms of Yankee Stadium, it'll be like being forcibly relocated from my home (having just moved in January, I can honestly say I've spent more days at Yankee Stadium than in my own house).

On the other hand, my two trips to Shea have been by far the worst sports experiences of my life simply because the park is such a hellhole.

What I'd like to see (and it's way too late for this already, but . . .) is the Mets get their new park (but have it be privately funded) and then have the Yankees do what they did in the mid-70s, play a couple seasons out in Queens while Yankee Stadium is rebuilt on the same site, with special attention to the upper deck remaining as close to the action as it is now (front row in the upper deck in Yankee Stadium just might be the best way to see a game in person).

2006-04-06 12:30:40
3.   Cliff Corcoran
I should point out that I mean the Yanks should play those seasons in Queens in the Mets new park. Glad I clarified that pipe dream scenario for you all.
2006-04-06 12:52:20
4.   Daniel Zappala
That's really odd that the main entrace is into the outfield area. I would think they would flip the park around, so that you enter by home plate. That would also let those sitting around home plate have a view of the water.
2006-04-06 13:03:34
5.   DXMachina
To me, it looks like the main entry is through the "Entry Rotunda", which appears to be behind home. As it is, the stadium is turned more towards Flushing Bay than Shea is. Not that you could likely see the water from anywhere except maybe the upper deck given the presence of the elevated Whitestone Expy between it and the bay.
2006-04-06 13:05:11
6.   Bob Timmermann
"Distinctive asymmetrical outfield walls, along with generous dimensions (LF - 335'; LC - 379'; CF - 408'; RC - 391'; RF - 300') make for a traditional pitcher's park. "

Why is a pitcher's park any more traditional than a hitter's park?

2006-04-06 13:34:48
7.   Cliff Corcoran
I think that's bad writing. I think they meant to say that these dimensions would traditionally translate to it being a pitchers park. That or they meant that in the tradition of Shea it would be a pitchers park.
2006-04-06 13:51:35
8.   Bob Timmermann
Shea has really been the only pitcher's park in New York in recent years hasn't it?
2006-04-06 14:04:50
9.   Cliff Corcoran
Yankee Stadium is generally a very slight pitchers' park, but last year a lot of parks that usually skew toward pitchers, including Yankee Stadium, had park factors aroune 102, 103. Personally still don't understand how a park factor can change from year to year if the geometry of the park and its surroundings doesn't.
2006-04-06 14:12:53
10.   scareduck
9 - it often tells you more about the nature of the players than it does about the park. Also, splits are important, and one year isn't enough to gather a good sample size.

Bob, I remember sitting at Petco in front of a Mets fan who loudly thought that San Diego fans were pussies because they didn't start enough fights. What a dumpster Shea must be.

2006-04-06 14:14:39
11.   Vishal
i really like the shape of the proposed outfield.
2006-04-06 14:15:38
12.   scareduck
The park looks like Coors Field. I wonder if it will play that way?
2006-04-06 14:18:21
13.   Bob Timmermann
10

I just know that they are going to try to making the seating areas confusing at the new stadium because at Shea, unless you've been going there forever, the seats are arranged in an incomprehensible manner.

So, you have to ask an usher. Who will then "clean" your seat with a towel that looks like it has been used by an auto mechanic and then pretty much demand a tip or else make the game unwatchable.

Baltimore's ushers were the same way.

Yankee Stadium has pretty confusing seating, but the ushers don't seem as intent on shaking down the customers.

2006-04-06 14:20:47
14.   Bob Timmermann
There seems to be one Mets person who has dropped by here by the name of Ravenscar.

He had this comment during the WBC semifinal game.

"As a Mets fan, allow me to say that our fanbase is, um, how shall we say.....

...apt to follow a logic combining the best of Man Ray, Salvador Dali, and Albert Camus. "

2006-04-06 20:58:04
15.   Ravenscar
I wrote a LONG response to this yesterday about Mets vs. Yankees stadium... and it didn't take!

But, well, thanks for remembering me!

2006-04-06 21:26:55
16.   Bob Timmermann
You're the only Mets fan I've met who didn't end the sentence with the word "off!" or "you!".

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