QUEENS, N.Y. — Sixty years to the day of Shea Stadium's inaugural game — the Mets hosted the Pirates on April 17, 1964 — the same two NL clubs were on a patch
Sixty years to the day of Shea Stadium ’s inaugural game — the Mets hosted the Pirates on April 17, 1964 — the same two NL clubs were on a patch of grass and dirt just a long toss away from the site of the old ballpark, which now serves as the parking lot to Citi Field.
It was also designed with two motor-operated stands that allow the field-level seats to rotate on underground tracks. That helped convert the stadium from hosting baseball to football, which it did with the New York Jets from 1964-1983. “I could remember more times being in the dugout and seeing the plane coming and wondering if it was going to be high enough to get over the lights to get to LaGuardia and land there,” Fisher said. “There were a couple planes that came close early.”
“I remember going out to center field and there was this five-year-old kid looking over here and he said, ‘Hey, whose rejects are you?” Hunt, 83, said with a grin. “We played for the fans. I loved the fans. I still love them.”“They were absolutely fabulous,” Fisher said. “They could tell that we were trying our best. Boy, when we won a game, it was big time. That was so much appreciated by the ballplayers.
But the soul of the structure never changed. Rising from the endless asphalt that was its parking lot, Shea featured a seemingly endless network of pedestrian rampways, an open backdrop at the top of the stadium that made for remarkably windy conditions, and a cavernous layout that often made fans feel far from the action.
Shea Stadium Jack Fisher Ron Hunt
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