We Played Here - Episode 3 - Shea Stadium and its quirky history
Shea Stadium lives on in the minds and hearts of New Yorkers, but why is that?
In the first two episodes of this series, I talked about stadiums that have some sort of connection to the people that called the stadiums theirs. The Metrodome was a shared home for Minnesotans. The Oakland Coliseum is a symbol of the resilience of the Oakland population through the tough times. Though those were great stories that I wanted to tell, eventually I wanted to talk about a stadium that doesn’t boil down to some grandiose theme of the connection within a city, just a stadium I find so interesting and fascinating on its own merits that it deserves its own article. The perfect candidate for this is Flushing, New York’s, old Shea Stadium.
The origins of Shea go back to 1957. The Dodgers and Giants had just left New York for California at the height of the sports-go-west gold rush, leaving New York without a National League ballclub. New York tried its best to work on new stadiums for the Giants and Dodgers, but nothing came to fruition. Three years after the teams left, in 1960, the National League granted an expansion franchise to New York City official Robert Moses and New York lawyer William A. Shea, both instrumental in getting NL baseball back to New York. However, stadium issues weren’t done. New York state law at the time would not allow cities to borrow money in order to build a stadium. The city did give a go ahead in financing a stadium if the contractors were able to demonstrate that the stadium could pay for itself. Moses and Shea proposed to have their new team pay substantial rent. On October 6, 1961, the Mets signed a 30-year stadium lease. The rent provision put on the team by Moses and Shea would haunt the Mets for years to come; they were never able to live up to that monetary commitment, and the Mets ensuing financial woes would be an albatross on the team’s books. Nonetheless, stadium construction began and plans were for the Mets to move into the stadium by 1963, spending 1962 (their first season) at the old Polo Grounds. By October 1962, construction was going well, which prompted Mets official Tom Meany to say "[o]nly a series of blizzards or some other unforeseen trouble might hamper construction." In true Mets fashion, unforeseen trouble surfaced in a number of ways. New York had a rough 1962–63 winter season, almost as Meany predicted. There were also issues with labor, made worse by two of their subcontractors going bankrupt. By the time spring 1963 was coming, officials decided the Mets were to play at the Polo Grounds for one more season and open Shea in 1964. Luckily, they were able to meet this date, and after 29 months of construction, Shea Stadium opened on April 17, 1964, with the stadium barely finished in time for the Mets home opener due to continuing labor issues. But the Mets weren’t the only occupant of Shea Stadium when it opened.
A seemingly easy to forget time in New York Jets football history is their time at Shea Stadium. The Mets/Jets connection started at the Polo Grounds, as both teams shared that venue in 1962 and 1963. The Jets joined the Mets in the move to Shea and occupied the stadium until 1983, when the Jets left for New Jersey and Giants Stadium, making the Mets the stadium’s primary occupant for the next 25 years. The Mets stayed at Shea for the stadium's entire run and are the most iconic part of Shea history. I could spend the next few sentences talking about Mets baseball itself, because really that is an entire story in itself. Shea Stadium is basically Mets history, and to some extent baseball history.. Both of the Mets World Series Championships happened at Shea in 1969 and 1986, including perhaps the most infamous play in pre-2004 Red Sox history. Mike Piazza's iconic home run after 9/11 happened at Shea. Even the Mets’ usual late-season collapses tended to happen more often while at Shea (sorry Mets fans).
In 1975, Yankee Stadium, home of the American League New York Yankees, was being renovated and eventual Jets home Giants Stadium was nearing completion. Because of this, and proximity of Shea in the New York market, The Mets, Yankees, Jets and Giants all called Shea home in 1975. It is the only time in professional sports history that two baseball teams and two football teams shared the same facility in the same year. Obviously, scheduling clashes between the four teams were abundant come the Fall. Neither the Jets nor the Giants could play "home" games at Shea Stadium until the baseball season ended for the Mets and Yankees. Luckily, neither the Mets or Yankees qualified for the postseason. There was still an overlap, as the NFL season started on Sunday, September 21 while the MLB season ended a week later on Sunday, September 28. This meant the Jets had their home opener on Sunday, October 5, and the Giants on Sunday, October 12, the season's fourth week. The Giants and Jets were scheduled to play a combined 14 home games in the final 12 weeks of the 14-week NFL season. To make sure this happened, the Giants played two Saturday afternoon home games on days before Jets Sunday home games. Neither of the Giants’ Saturday games were televised, something that would cause outrage today. New York football fans were able to enjoy either the Jets’ or the Giants’ Sunday home game every weekend from October 5 through December 21.
All this has led Shea Stadium to have history and lore unmatched by any other stadium built at the time. It was so wildly different from not just its rival Yankee Stadium up in the Bronx, but most other multi-use stadiums. It wasn’t just another concrete donut, designed to accommodate baseball and football without providing anything new or different. For one, Shea always used a natural grass surface, in contrast to other multi-purpose stadiums built around the same time that used artificial turf. While designed to be enclosed, it left an opening towards the baseball outfield/far end zone. It was similar to early Oakland Coliseum before Mount Davis was added (which you can read about in the last episode) and more closely similar to Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota that opened eight years prior in 1956. It stayed this way for its entire life, even after the Jets jumped ship. The only change Shea Stadium saw was that the lower-level seating became more baseball friendly.
The stadium still had issues, mostly with its seating. The upper deck was one of the highest in the majors, and prior to the changes, the lower-level seats were farther from the field than similar seats in other parks of its era due to being on the rails that had swiveled them into position during football games.. It also beat Oakland in the battle of foul territory; Shea's foul territory was one of the most expansive in the majors for most of its history, due to the need to accommodate the larger football field. Seats added over the years after the Jets left greatly reduced the size of foul territory by the time the stadium went under.
Shea became iconic for more than just baseball and football as well. The Beatles played at Shea in 1965 in what was one of the first concerts of its kind to be ever held at a venue like Shea Stadium. It set records for attendance and revenue generation, showing concert promoters that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable. Multiple boxing and wrestling events were held throughout Shea history. The old North American Soccer League held a playoff game at Shea attended by over 22,000 people. Pope John Paul II even made a visit to Shea Stadium in 1979 during his American Tour. Shea was iconic and historic to a national and international audience, but for Mets fans, Jets fans and New Yorkers alike, Shea became like an old friend. People have fond memories of Shea Stadium, almost 15 years since it closed in 2008 after another Mets playoff push came up short and the team moved on to Citi Field, which was built on the same property. Many parts of Shea Stadium live on physically as well. The skyline from atop the Shea scoreboard and iconic home run apple made their way over to Citi Field. Four baseball players have named their kids after this stadium. No, seriously. Even Actor Kevin James named his daughter after Shea Stadium. It was a stadium that defied its era, and still lives on in so many people's hearts. Yet, there is no Shea Stadium without William A. Shea himself. One man’s desire to bring National League baseball back to New York led to a stadium with so much history, so many iconic moments, and the names of at least five kids. It’s hard to quantify one’s impact in the world. But without Shea, there is no Shea Stadium, and the everlasting memories it brought to the Big Apple might never come to pass.
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Next Episode: Alamodome (Coming Soon)