The Last of Shea

Shea Stadium came into being along with the last NYC World’s Fair in 1964. It was named for attorney William A. Shea, who, after the Brooklyn Dodgers left for Los Angeles for the 1958 season (and the Dodgers have now called LA home longer than Brooklyn by now) worked tirelessly for National League baseball to return to New York City. His committee first attempted to get the Reds, Phillies or Pirates to move to New York (can you imagine stars of the era like Frank Robinson, Richie Allen or Roberto Clemente with “New York” displayed on their uniforms?). None bit, so Shea and Branch Rickey formed a new major league — the Continental League — that would rival the NL and AL. In reality, this was a ruse — a bluff — to get the National League to place a team in NYC. MLB expanded — added new teams — for the first time in decades in 1962, with the NL plucking the New York and Houston franchises from the CL; the AL, in 1961, added the California Angels, moved the Washington Senators to Minnesota and instituted a new Senators franchise in DC, which would move to Arlington, Texas in 1972. Charles Shipman Payson and his wife Joan (a Shea fixture for many years) were the principal owners of the Mets along with George Herbert Walker Jr, an uncle of President George Walker Bush. When Joan Payson passed away in 1975, Charles delegated operations to daughter Lorinda and chairman M. Donald Grant, who traded Tom Seaver during a salary dispute in 1977.

The Paysons sold the Mets to the Doubleday Publishing company in 1980, with Nelson Doubleday becoming chairman and Fred Wilpon, a minority owner, becoming president. Wilpon quickly hired former Orioles exec Frank Cashen, who built the Mets into a league powerhouse in the late 1980s. Wilpon purchased the Mets from Doubleday and became sole owner in 2002.

The Mets played in the Polo Grounds, the old home of the New York Giants, for two years while Shea Stadium was built. Thereafter the Polo Grounds was razed with little fanfare; nothing remains of it, except a staircase that fans used to ascend Coogan’s Bluff after the game was over.

When Shea Stadium opened on April 17th, 1964, Shea was essentially unfinished, despite being under construction since 1961. When the crowds filed in, paint on the wood seats was still wet. Very few telephones in the stadium worked — telephone workers were on strike. Jack Fisher, who was introduced at the September 28th, 2008 closing ceremonies, threw the first pitch; Florida’s Matt Lindstrom threw the last in 2008. Pittsburgh’s Dick Schofield (whose son Dick was a Met in 1992) was the first batter at Shea (resulting in a popup); the Mets’ Ryan Church was the last, in 2008 (a hard hit fly ball to CF). The Pirates’ Willie Stargell hit the first home run at Shea (also the first hit), while Florida’s Dan Uggla hit the last Shea home run; Carlos Beltran hit the last Mets home run. Time marches on and even the Florida Marlins are now known as the Miami Marlins.

Probably the last public vestige of Shea Stadium’s existence is the presence of a few signs at the Willets Point station on the Manhattan-bound side of the #7 train. It’s likely that the MTA just hasn’t gotten around to removing hese signs, unique in the entire system, in white with red lettering in the rare Kabel font.