Citi Field (Shea Stadium) - New York Mets Baseball - Flushing

Address:Flushing Meadow Park
Flushing, New York

Citi Field was completed in 2009 to replace Shea Stadium as the home of the New York Mets. Originally planned as a host site of the 2012 Olympics, Citi Field will have to make due with the World Champion 2012 New York Mets, instead. Old-time Brooklyn Dodger fans will notice that the exterior of Citi Field pays homage to Ebbets Field, home of their team a mere half-century ago. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda, salutes a great Brooklyn Dodger.

While the vast majority of fans attending a Met game never even saw Ebbets Field, the Mets have a clear evolutionary link to the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1957, the Dodgers abandoned New York for the West Coast, leaving New Yorkers with no National League team. Rooting for the Yankees was out of the question for the millions who had experienced the brutal dominance of the Yankees over the course of decades. After four traumatic years, the Dodgers fans welcomed the 1962 New York Mets with open arms. They may have been the worst team ever to play the game, but New York baseball fans loved them, laughed at (and with) them and filled up the stands of their temporary home, the Polo Grounds. In 1964, Shea Stadium opened.

While no baseball stadium in New York, and not many in the country, can stand up to the history and mystique of Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium in Queens was certainly the site of many memorable contests since opening in 1964. Originally hosting both baseball's New York Mets and football's New York Jets, Shea has also seen many other assorted sporting events in its history. In addition to sports, Shea has also played host to many major concerts.

Most noteworthy in Shea's history are the two World Series championships that the Mets have won, in both cases clinching the title at home. In 1969, the Miracle Mets shocked the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in five games with fans storming the field when the final out was recorded. In 1986, the Mets engaged the Boston Red Sox in one of the most dramatic World Series comebacks in baseball history. Trailing in the series three games to two, and behind by two runs in the bottom of the tenth with two outs and no one on base, the Mets rallied for a dramatic three runs to win the game. The last run came in on a famous error by Boston's Bill Buckner at first base. The Mets then came back to win Game 7, two nights later, to complete the comeback. Shea Stadium was also part of the 2000 Subway World Series, which the Yankees won in five games.

Other notable baseball events at the Stadium have included the 1964 All-Star Game and the 1973 World Series. The Mets also hosted National League playoff games here in 1988, 1999, 2000, and 2006. In 1974 and '75, the Yankees played at Shea while Yankee Stadium was being renovated, and they played one home game there in 1998 when a beam collapsed at Yankee Stadium before a game.

Shea had a few interesting features that have become an integral part of baseball culture that have been integrated into Citi Field. There was a large apple (for New York) in a top hat beyond the centerfield fence that comes up when a Mets player hits a homerun. Airplanes from nearby LaGuardia Airport often fly over the field during games, although this happens less often ever since flight plans were changed to avoid this. However, when the U.S. Open tennis tournament is held in the late summer at the neighboring National Tennis Center, planes are again deliberately diverted to cross over Citi Field. Also, in Shea's centerfield there was a large video board which serves to block the prevailing winds, making it much easier to hit homeruns in that direction.

The Jets were a strong team in their early days at Shea Stadium. In 1969, led by quarterback Joe Namath, the Jets won Super Bowl III, with the preceding 1968 American Football League championship game at Shea Stadium against the Oakland Raiders. The stadium hosted two other playoff games before the Jets departed for Giants Stadium in 1984. In 1979, tragedy struck Shea when a model airplane, shaped like a lawnmower, crashed here. Its blade flew into the stands, and killed a fan during the halftime show of a Jets game.

Shea Stadium has been the site of some major concerts as well, including the Beatles' American tour-opening show in 1965, which was the first outdoor concert held at a major stadium. Bruce Springsteen, Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones have also all performed at Shea, along with a who's who list of other major artists. Pope John Paul II was here in 1979, and there have been assorted soccer and local high school and college games played at the stadium.

Citi Field is located in Flushing, in the New York City Borough of Queens (about 10 miles east of Manhattan). It is easily accessible via the 7 subway line, as well as on the Long Island Rail Road and the Q48 bus.