New Shea

A descriptive tour of New Shea (I, like you, partially own Citi, so if I want to abrogate their naming rights, I should feel free to do so):

For those fans who hated Shea Stadium, fear not: Citi Field is nothing like its predecessor, the last bits of which lie in ruins a few hundreds yards away. The Mets’ new park, which will open its doors for a Georgetown-St. John’s baseball game March 29, is far more intimate than Shea and corrects some of Shea’s worst faults . . .

. . . Citi Field has many nooks and crannies that are nothing like Shea’s tired symmetry. The grandstand that hangs over right field, for instance, was inspired by the old Tiger Stadium, which Wilpon visited with his grandparents as a child. Fans in center field will get a bull’s-eye view of the bullpens, with Aaron Heilman only in the visitors’ half, which is on a slightly raised level, with some protection from fan saliva.

The 16-foot wall that rings much of the outfield means an Endy Chávez-like catch is unlikely, though.

Going for food or a bathroom break will be a lot easier. The concourses are far wider, bathrooms are more numerous and beer drinkers will not have to wander far for a microbrew. Gabila’s knishes will return thanks to convection ovens. (The old knishes were fried, which helps explain the heartburn they generated.)

No spitting on the visiting relievers?! Baked knishes?! Bring back old Shea!


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Matt Aux
15 years ago

Hi Craig –

Here’s a thought: Since we all own Citigroup, shouldn’t we be saying “Citi Field” as often as possible?  You know, really maximize OUR ad revenue.  For a cool $20 mil/year, we need to make sure that everybody knows just who is sponsoring Citi Field.

I can’t wait until Vikram Pandit sends out the branding best-practices email to his ownership group perscribing the best use of the logos and name. 

(PS: CITI FIELD!)

Ted Spradlin
15 years ago

As a ballpark owner, I’d like to cash out my 1/305,000,000th share of the ballpark before the crash gets worse and my fellow “owners” start repossessing more ballparks/stadiums/arenas, diluting the per share value of Citi-Shea Field Stadium.  Get out while you can now or else your Citi Field shares will be below $1 like the stock.