This day at Shea: The beginning.
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- April
- 17
Shea Stadium opened on this day in 1964, with the Pirates beating the Mets, 4-3. A crowd of 48,736 was on hand. Easily, that crowd has to be over 100,000 by now.
Jack Fisher was the Mets starter and went 6 2/3 innings. The first batter was Dick Schofield. Willie Stargell’s homer in the second was the first hit. Tim Harkness singled in the third for the first Mets’ hit and Ron Hunt scored the Mets’ first run.
Was anybody there that day? It would be fun to hear about it. It would also be fun to hear about your first day at Shea.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am by John Delcos.
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I think that picture is what amazes me the most. Why’d they change the colors of the seats? Each deck is different from what it is now. When did they make those changes?
Yes, I remember it well. The lines for the men’s room were out the door, the food from Aramark was cold, my seat was broken, and from the mezzanine section row N my view of fly balls was blocked. Also, I thought right away what we needed was a gigantic rotting Apple to be coming out of a magician’s hat. That would really get the crowd on it’s feet. That day I also had sat next to a English woman who was there with her husband. She said she couldn’t wait to have a baby and to bring him to the stadium upon his arrival. She was musically inclined and said I know years from now my unborn son would love to have his music played in the 8th inning during games. That woman…Rick Astley’s mother! It was creepy.
After the game, my buddy and I bought a Willie Stargell jersey and we hit the head on the way out. In the bathroom we found a hole that had not yet been filled with concrete. In there we buried Willie Stargell’s jersey and cursed the Mets forever…in the form of long-winded Ralph Kiner stories.
The Stadium and the grounds look much nicer in that photo than they do today. Good thing the wrecking ball is coming. Just hope it doesn’t slip and hit the new building by mistake!
Jon: I have no idea why they changed the colors but the original seat were wood not plastic. The frames of the seats are original.
I may be wrong on the exact time but I believe in the late 70’s they removed the original seats and replaced them with what you have today. Part of the reason was the seats were falling apart due to the fact the in A two year period the Mets , Yanks , Jets and Giants all played at Shea.
Gray—All of that pretty much matches up with what I’ve heard before. Tell me this, though: Is it true that Manny Sanguillen’s uncle was an usher in the mezzanine section and that he used to steal the signs and relay them to the Pirates’ dugout?
Actually all 10 million New Yorkers were at that game.
Get your facts right!
Check out http://www.loge13.com for some great video of 1st opening day.
I had many chances to go as a youngin’, but didn’t actually go until around 66 or so. I got into the Mets just in time for 69 – how wonderful it was! Of course, the first letter that I ever wrote was to order a copy of the MEET THE METS single, before Shea was even built I wish I still had that! That photo is beautiful and there will never be a more beautiful stadium filled with more memories for me. A great tragedy that they are tearing it down and replacing it, in my opinion. Went to the World’s Fair many times, too – still miss it!