A Long Goodbye for Shea

By Mike Sobiloff

Fifty-two year old Michael Kirshner boarded a plane in San Francisco late Monday April 7 feeling a little bit nervous, a little bit upset, and very excited. He was making the three thousand mile trek to Queens, NY for a baseball game.

To most, it would probably seem wildly excessive to make such a long trip to see the New York Mets play. Kirshner has been to hundreds of games since he was a child in New York, and for even the most dedicated fan, three-thousand miles is a long way to come for one game. But this was not any ordinary game. It was, in fact, the final home opener at Shea Stadium, where the Mets have played for nearly half a decade, and this was a chance for him to be a part of a living history.

This sort of story was not uncommon last Tuesday at Shea, where a sold-out stadium was filled with anxious fans. For the past forty-five years, Mets fans have shown up at Shea in early April, to kick off a new season, and for one last time, they came in droves. Last Tuesday was their last chance to see the first home game of the season at Shea, as next year, the Mets are moving into a brand new stadium, Citi Field. For fans, the day was a bittersweet reminder of years of memories, both good and bad.

Rationalizing his trip, Kirshner explained, “I’m going to miss Shea. I used to go to ball games almost every weekend when I was a kid. But I think we’re ready to move into the new stadium for a new era.” And he was not alone in this sentiment.

Fans came from all over the country to see this game, against the Philadelphia Phillies. Dennis Alfieri traveled in from Georgia to see his hometown team play. For him, seeing his Mets play one last home opener was an important way to end a long career as a Mets fan at Shea. He said “I’ve seen I-don’t-know-how-many games here, but you bet I wasn’t gonna miss this one. This is history.”

Other fans felt the same, and most were very aware of the fact that this was the beginning of the end for Shea Stadium. Steve Griffith, a Queens resident, said, “I pass this stadium almost every day, and when it’s gone, I’m gonna miss the hell out of it.”

But the light at the end of the tunnel for these fans is a new, state of the art stadium, situated just beyond center field of the old one. Aware of the impact that a new stadium can bring, Griffith added, “I’m excited as hell for the new stadium though. It looks beautiful. I almost got a little teary-eyed when I came out of the train today, and saw us all walking by it to get to Shea”

Even still, some fans are excited to move on from Shea, a stadium that is notorious for being one of the more shoddy ballparks in baseball, and which has only seen two World Series wins. Carl Aued, a season ticket holder from New Jersey said, “I can’t wait to get out of Shea. I’ve been coming for years, and I love being here, but this place is a dump, and it’s time to move.”

As a special treat for these fans, who collectively are facing some unsure times, the MTA ran the special “Nostalgia Train” on the seven line to Shea. The Nostalgia Train features vintage cars, on loan from the New York City Transit Museum, which are lined with classic advertisements from the 1960s and earlier. For the much older fans, it included an original “Bluebird Car,” which ran when the Stadium opened in 1964.

Marty Griffel, a Long Island lawyer, and his son Sam rode in together on the Nostalgia Train. “This was special for both of us,” Griffel said, “I used to ride to on a train like this when I went to Mets games as a kid, and I’m glad my son got to see it.”

The Mets ended up losing the game that day, but fans knew it was only the first of many home games in this historic season. And never discouraged, the Mets fans pushed through it. As one explained before the game, “It doesn’t matter if they win or lose. I’m just happy to be here for the last home opener baby,” adding, “LETS GO METS!”