82: Go to a Mets Road Game
(This is the latest installment in an ongoing series at Y2K focusing on topics raised in Matthew Silverman's "100 Things Mets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die". Today's installment? Number 82: Go to a Mets Road Game.)
Why 82? The year it all began for the Glass Man
On a scale of 1-to-10, necessity of knowing or doing before you die? 1.
No use sugar-coating it, I've been to an embarrassingly low number of stadiums other than Shea in my time. What's surprising is that this didn't really dawn on me, however, until I read Chapter 82 in Matt Silverman's book.
I mean, on some level of course I knew I hadn't seen the Mets play in that many other stadiums, but the final count still seemed impossibly low. I realize I probably inflated the number in my head on account of how many times I've seen the Mets play at Fenway or Yankee Stadium, but still... four?!? Humiliating.
"I've made many road trips following the Mets and it's something that really has to be done at least once," Silverman writes (209). He then goes on to divide the 15 opposing stadiums he's seen the Mets play in into lists of Stadiums Better Than Shea (The Short List) and Stadiums Worse Than Shea.
A few lists of my own follow.
Stadiums Better Than Shea
Fenway Park: There's something about baseball in Boston, and there's something about Fenway Park. I remember my first trip to Fenway was the first interleague series between the two teams, made all the more memorable for an all-time meltdown between Carl Everett and an umpire.
If you've never been to Fenway, go. Baseball really doesn't get much better. Even amid the bitterness and the drunkeness, the game there just feels pure.
Wrigley Field: I want to say Wrigley Field was the site of the first road Mets game I ever experienced. Me and the Hound made a ritual out of going to Chicago for a weekend each summer when I was, I don't know, 14-16 or so. I remember Wrigley being the site where I watched my first game from seats in the outfield, and the change in perspective completely threw me off (it still does to this day). I really should go back one of these years; I hear the neighborhood surrounding the park is like a friendly version of the neighborhood surrounding Fenway.
Stadiums Worse Than Shea
RFK Memorial Stadium: It was one-and-done for the Glass Man at RFK. Me and some friends were in DC in August 2007, before the fall, and we took in a Mets-Nats game at the since-replaced stadium. I'd always heard it was a dump. It was.
Yankee Stadium (Old): Well, I couldn't have ranked it better than Shea in good conscience, that's for sure. Enough has been said about the old Yankee Stadium, even on this site. They should preserve the field, that was the really cool part.
Other Stadia Such That I've Seen
Bank One Ballpark / Chase Field: My high school baseball team used to have a 10-day Spring Training trip to Arizona. One year we went to go see the BOB; we saw it in the afternoon when no one was playing. I remember it was very green.
Hadlock Field: Home of the Portland Sea Dogs, I was there way back when on a field trip from my camp in Maine. It was my first exposure to Minor League baseball, but not my last...
Zephyr Field: You've never heard of Zephyr Field, you say? Well, for two glorious years in the town of Metairie, Louisiana (just a stone's throw from New Orleans), the Mets' AAA team played their home games at Zepehyr Field. Last year I saw a game with my girlfriend, a native of New Orleans, on my first trip down south. Minor League games are awesome as a general proposition, and this one was no different. Cheap tickets, cheap food and booze, and afterward a concert with a sweet brass band on the outfield grass. Perfection.
Joe Wolfe Field: SteepleCats, what! In that enchanted summer of 2004, the last summer of our youth, the Glass Man covered the North Adams SteepleCats, a team in the New England College Baseball League. Think "Summer Catch". The "stadium's" claim to fame is that Babe Ruth played there once upon a time. Did someone say mystique?
To-Do List
PNC Park, Nationals Park, Camden Yards, Coors Field, AT&T Park (San Francisco), Progressive Field (Cleveland), Citizens Bank Park, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium (New), Citi Field.
A few notes on the above.
- A.F.O.M.G.
Why 82? The year it all began for the Glass Man
On a scale of 1-to-10, necessity of knowing or doing before you die? 1.
No use sugar-coating it, I've been to an embarrassingly low number of stadiums other than Shea in my time. What's surprising is that this didn't really dawn on me, however, until I read Chapter 82 in Matt Silverman's book.
I mean, on some level of course I knew I hadn't seen the Mets play in that many other stadiums, but the final count still seemed impossibly low. I realize I probably inflated the number in my head on account of how many times I've seen the Mets play at Fenway or Yankee Stadium, but still... four?!? Humiliating."I've made many road trips following the Mets and it's something that really has to be done at least once," Silverman writes (209). He then goes on to divide the 15 opposing stadiums he's seen the Mets play in into lists of Stadiums Better Than Shea (The Short List) and Stadiums Worse Than Shea.
A few lists of my own follow.
Stadiums Better Than Shea
Fenway Park: There's something about baseball in Boston, and there's something about Fenway Park. I remember my first trip to Fenway was the first interleague series between the two teams, made all the more memorable for an all-time meltdown between Carl Everett and an umpire.
If you've never been to Fenway, go. Baseball really doesn't get much better. Even amid the bitterness and the drunkeness, the game there just feels pure.Wrigley Field: I want to say Wrigley Field was the site of the first road Mets game I ever experienced. Me and the Hound made a ritual out of going to Chicago for a weekend each summer when I was, I don't know, 14-16 or so. I remember Wrigley being the site where I watched my first game from seats in the outfield, and the change in perspective completely threw me off (it still does to this day). I really should go back one of these years; I hear the neighborhood surrounding the park is like a friendly version of the neighborhood surrounding Fenway.
Stadiums Worse Than Shea
RFK Memorial Stadium: It was one-and-done for the Glass Man at RFK. Me and some friends were in DC in August 2007, before the fall, and we took in a Mets-Nats game at the since-replaced stadium. I'd always heard it was a dump. It was.
Yankee Stadium (Old): Well, I couldn't have ranked it better than Shea in good conscience, that's for sure. Enough has been said about the old Yankee Stadium, even on this site. They should preserve the field, that was the really cool part.
Other Stadia Such That I've Seen
Bank One Ballpark / Chase Field: My high school baseball team used to have a 10-day Spring Training trip to Arizona. One year we went to go see the BOB; we saw it in the afternoon when no one was playing. I remember it was very green.
Hadlock Field: Home of the Portland Sea Dogs, I was there way back when on a field trip from my camp in Maine. It was my first exposure to Minor League baseball, but not my last...
Zephyr Field: You've never heard of Zephyr Field, you say? Well, for two glorious years in the town of Metairie, Louisiana (just a stone's throw from New Orleans), the Mets' AAA team played their home games at Zepehyr Field. Last year I saw a game with my girlfriend, a native of New Orleans, on my first trip down south. Minor League games are awesome as a general proposition, and this one was no different. Cheap tickets, cheap food and booze, and afterward a concert with a sweet brass band on the outfield grass. Perfection.Joe Wolfe Field: SteepleCats, what! In that enchanted summer of 2004, the last summer of our youth, the Glass Man covered the North Adams SteepleCats, a team in the New England College Baseball League. Think "Summer Catch". The "stadium's" claim to fame is that Babe Ruth played there once upon a time. Did someone say mystique?
To-Do List
PNC Park, Nationals Park, Camden Yards, Coors Field, AT&T Park (San Francisco), Progressive Field (Cleveland), Citizens Bank Park, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium (New), Citi Field.
A few notes on the above.
- Everyone says Camden Yards, PNC Park, and AT&T Park are three of the nicest stadiums in baseball
- Nationals Park and Citizens Bank Park are so close, there's really no excuse. I've never been much of a heckler though, and Phillies fans have some pretty good ammunition by this point
- Citi Field and Yankee Stadium need no explanation
- I've got family in Cleveland and a soft spot for the Indians, so that's that
- Coors Field... I don't know, something about it always seems so picturesque
- People always say Dodger Stadium is a great ballpark. To me, watching on television, it looks like a dump. Maybe it needs to be seen to believed
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 9:51 AM
1 Comments:
AT & T Park is VERY nice. it is cold as FUK in July but very nice. Televisions on the lower deck and u are shielded from the elements as well by an overhang / canopy thingy and other seats (DUH!?!).. Their senior citizen ticket / seat watchers are a bit pushy but..that could be the case anywhere...I sat on the first baseside about 15-30 rows back was able to put my feet up and spit my sunflower seeds to and fro without worrying about them landing on someone....Peeking back and forth between the game with Dempster on the mound for the Cubs (missed Lincecum by a day I believe). I should have taken the walk around to the outfield seats but we were running late as all hell...
next time i go to the bay, i will hit an As game(I hope )
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