Last Goodbye to the Memory We Called Shea Stadium (1964-2009)

After 45 years the final piece of Shea Stadium was leveled today. I passed by this morning at around 9:15 and saw the last ramp way section of Sections 5 & 7 still standing. As I passed again this afternoon by 2:00 PM it was gone. A small crowd gathered taking video & still photos.

I often drive by on the Van Wyck Expressway and have been witnessing the dismantling all winter long. As much as I am excited about the new Stadium and feel it's time to move on, there is some nostalgia left behind.

Through the years Shea had become very out dated and that became more noticeable with each new ball park I visited across the country. I strongly wanted a new Stadum for years, and feel we the fans desere it. But Shea was all I knew as my teams home ball park. I grew up there and as I look back and pay tribute to past Mets on the centerfield maz site, the back drop is always Shea Stadium. There were alot of great memories there in my life time. Now all that stands in the horizon is our new home Citi Field.

Here are some of my memorable moments at Shea that I can remember and was in attendance for.

*The Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels Tour" 1989- 1st time I had ever seen the Stones. Awesome.

*Billy Joels Last Play at Shea 2008 (Special surprise guests Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler, Garth Brooks, Tony Bennett & the man- Paul McCartney)

*2003 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band finish off The Rising Tour.

Met Games:

*1971: Tommie Agee hit a home run off the scoreboard on a beautiful sunny day. One of my 1st memories of Shea Stadium.

*1973 Mets beat their cross town rivals in the Mayors Trophy game. Great early memory of me & my dad at a baseball game.

*1976 Tom Seaver pitching against the Cubs

on Mets Medallion Day. Seaver was & still is my favorite player of all time. Mets won 3-2.

*2003 Mike Piazza Night. Piazza honored by the Mets. Catching greats Gary Carter,Carlton Fisk, Johnny Bench, & Yogi Berra on hand to honor Piazza.

*2006 NLDS Game # 2: Mets beat Dodgers 4-1 to go up 2 games to none.

*2000 NLCS Game #6: Mets Win the Pennant & advance to the World Series. Mike Hampton pitches a 3 hit shutout.

*2002 Mets beat Clemmens 8-0 as Piazza HRs & Sean Estes throws behind Steroid boy. The hype was awesome & beating up on those bums made it a great beer drinking good old heckling time for me & Darren.

*1984: Dwight Goodens 1 hitter against Chicago Cubs in the heat of the pennant race.

*1984 Dwight Gooden strikes out 16 Pirates setting Rookie record. Maybe the best pitching performance I ever seen live.

*1985 Dwight Gooden wins his 20th game.

*1986 Mets clinch 1st Division title in 17 years. Yes its terrible looking back at all the damage we caused tearing up the field, but I will never forget jumping on to the field for the 1st time and partying with 50,000 people. I still have a piece of the centerfield wall from that night!

*1986 NLCS Game #5 : Dwight Gooden (10 innings pitched) vs Nolan Ryan (9 innings picthed)Gary Carter's base hit wins it in the 10th inning. Mets lead Series 3-2.

*1986 World Series Game #7: Mets finally win the World Series. Used my stub from Game #6 and drew a #7 on it. Paid off the usher a $13, a bunch of singles with a ten dollar bill wrapped around it to get in. Found the only empty seast in the Upper Deck to sit in.

*1986 World Series Game #6; The greatest comeback ever and the biggest swing of emotions ina half hour period I ever experienced. This night was truly Amazing. Probably won't ever be topped.