Results tagged ‘ Citi Field ’
Fabricated Fans
Between the money the team will save by eliminating stewards, attendants, medical staff and insurance for the shuttered seats (about $130,000 per season) and the extra ad revenue it may earn, team owner Stefano Fantinel says the experiment “will pay for itself very soon.”
What I didn’t see mentioned in this article is the fact that screen-printed PVC tarps do not produce general crowd noise nor respond with a collective roar for great plays. Conversely, the concocted fans presumably do not boo poor plays nor heckle players.
Roadkill
As grateful as I always am to take a vacation, and as much as I love that our family shares a passion for ballgames and the Mets, our family’s tradition of following the Mets for numerous roadtrips each summer is killing me.
With our season ticket package at Citi Field, we are at virtually every home game. But for many summers now, we have taken advantage of the fact that my daughter is not in school nor am I working in the summer and have planned and taken vacations based around Mets away games.
In our various sojourns, we have seen the Mets play at every National League ballpark with the exception of three: AT & T Park, Coors Field, and Busch Stadium. We have also seen the Mets play in several Americal League venues and in Spring Training games at Port St. Lucie. In addition to seeing all those games and ballparks, we have also been to nearby venues: National Parks, art museums, science museums, historical sites, amusement parks, aquariums, zoos and animal parks, beaches, and restaurants featuring regional fare.
We’ve been granted rare access to our favorite players in ballparks having more lenient rules for observing Batting Practice and getting autographs. Due to generally lower ticket prices at other parks compared to Citi Field prices, we have been able to sit in even better seats than we do at Citi Field. Both of those amenities have afforded me the opportunity to shoot photos from some amazing vantage points. The photos I have returned with have become some of our most treasured souvenirs.
Additionally, we’ve had the unexpected pleasure of running into friends (and teachers!) from home in some faraway places. We have made the acquaintance of other Mets fans, and we have met and had conversations wtih members of the media. Last summer, while covering the team for the Daily News, Adam Rubin (who is now a journalist for ESPN-NY) was seated across the aisle from me on our flight from San Diego to Phoenix. In 2007, SNY-TV’s Gary Cohen happened to be seated behind me on our outbound flight from New York to Pittsburgh; we approached him at baggage claim (where this photo was taken.) Both journalists were very personable, and we had the most delightful conversations with each of them!
This all sounds like the makings of dream vacations, right? How lucky am I to see so many Mets games?!
Here’s the problem: for all the delights–both planned and unexpected–neither wins nor a favorable standing in the NL East by the time the planned roadtrip is made is guaranteed. The heartbreak of having to watch terrible losses or a scrappy team that is way out of it–all without the support of an entire stadium of fans with which to commiserate–can be painful or even excruciating.
Last year’s trip: a four-game series in San Diego followed by a three-game series in Arizona late in the season was particularly disappointing baseball-wise with the Mets having so many regulars on the DL and the team being so far out of contention. Maybe paying the big bucks for a small prop plane tour over and into the Grand Canyon was our way of salvaging the trip…for ourselves, if not for the team.
While this season’s pre-All-Star-Game Spector Family Roadtrips–Washington, Baltimore, and Milwaukee–provided some wins and some unique opportunities (such as seeing the rookie Stephen Strasburg in a game in Washington), the final trip, to Los Angeles, was a struggle for the team and, therefore, for me.
Losing three out of four was no fun. Neither was having Dodger fans in our faces during every exit from Dodger Stadium following the game.
The two-day trip to Disneyland prior to the series, scheduled primarily for my daughter’s enjoyment, proved to be the highlight of the trip for me as well. Let’s just say that Dodger Stadium could not be mistaken for the Magic Kingdom in any way . Even our enchanted knuckleballer–the unexpected knight in shining armor of the starting rotation, R.A. Dickey–was not allowed conjure up his deceptive magic for very long, being yanked early in his start there.
Sometime following our return from L.A.–in the midst of one of the games during the frustrating homestand just concluded, perhaps around the time I and other fans found out that Mets ownership declined to take any action prior to the trade deadline–I snapped.
“I think I need a break from these Mets roadtrips,” I told my husband and daughter. ”Having to suffer Mets losses–both home and away–are killing me.” .
No doubt, when the 2011 season is announced, I will salivate at potential trips and this low point will be long forgotten. But if we do decide to declare a moratorium on Mets roadtrips, I can think of one immediate benefit (besides not having to suffer losses without the home crowd): seeing those away games on SNY and hearing the great on-air talent of Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and Gary Cohen.
I know those guys will always follow the team for me…win or lose.
Yada, Yada, Yada!
My family and I have season tickets at Citi Field. Not only do they afford an awesome view of the game, but they are right in front of the SNY TV booth.
It’s always a thrill to catch a glimpse of sportscasters Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and Gary Cohen. Sometimes one of them will even wave back to us during the Seventh Inning Stretch.
Tonight there was even more interest in what was going on behind us as Jerry Seinfeld was given a Father’s Day gift of joining Keith and Gary in broadcasting a portion of the game.
I was lucky enough to get this photo of Seinfeld talking to Cohen at the end of the second inning, moments before he donned his headset and began fulfilling a lifelong dream.
You can see and hear his “debut” on MLBTV.
“Tomorrow, tomorrow. I LOVE ya, tomorrow.”
“You’re only a day a- way!”
Yessirree, ONE DAY and we’re back in full swing (pun intended) with baseball in Queens…
…ready or not.
Whatever disappointments Mets fans may have with how little was done in the off-season to improve upon the 2009 team, I can personally vouch for the fact that major improvements have at least been made to the stadium itself. Fans disgruntled by the lack of Mets history and imagery on display at Citi Field will be thrilled to see all that has been done since their last visit.
I had the pleasure of seeing the new Mets Hall of Fame and Museum this morning prior to seeing the team workout. Although there was a sizable crowd this morning, the layout of the museum is such that the space seems open and not claustrophobic. (The high ceilings–from which pennants are suspended–contribute to the spacious feeling.)
Video displays, placques, display cases, and lots of photos reproduced in both small and large formats serve to honor Mets players and historic moments in franchise history in a simple but aesthetically pleasing design.
Below are photos of just a few of the items on display:
At top: Game 6 ball from the 1986 World Series; bottom left: Endy Chavez’s jersey from Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS; bottom right: 1969 World Series trophy.
Besides the HOF and Museum itself, also new this season are photos and reproductions of baseball cards throughout the park as well as commemorative tiles installed in the Fan Walk on the periphery of the stadium:
Congratulations and special thanks to the Mets organization for listening to fans’ impassioned pleas for more visible franchise history and tributes on view at the Mets’ new home!
Spring Cleaning
It’s almost time to break camp. By week’s end, Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues will disperse to ballparks all over the country to begin playing “meaningful” games.
The players are (hopefully) ready, and–after a bit of Spring Cleaning to sweep out the embarassing cobwebs and dustbunnies that have taken up residence on this woefully neglected blog–I will be ready too!
I’ll begin the revival of Perfect Pitch with a countdown to Opening Day.
With five days between now and that exciting first Mets game, I have selected as the subject of my first blog entry the Five Tools of Baseball.
What are the attributes of a Five-tool player?
These are the five tools (not in order):
1) Hit for average
2) Hit for power
3) Speed (on the bases)
4) Power
5) Fielding prowess
It is quite rare for a player to possess all of these tools, however any combination of the 5 is usually quite adequate to be a competitive player.
Baseball players from Little League on up to the professional ranks are categorically and positioned on the field according to how much or how little of each of these tools they possess or have developed.
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Last night’s loss was no fun, but seeing the Mets–and fellow nearby fans–return was.
While my family and I have not established the deep bonds shared by those of the fans sitting near one another for every game at Fenway in Fever Pitch–one of my favorite films, we certainly share a comaraderie and repartee with the regulars that we have sat next to for the 2 1/2 years we have held season tickets at Shea.
It’s always a special feeling to return to Shea to welcome the Mets back after they’ve been away–especially if they’ve had a winning road trip. Often those are times that we relish “rehashing” some of the events related to the Mets that have transpired since we last saw one another.
Yesterday’s “reunion” with friends seated near us, though, was particularly gratifying.
We were all relieved to have finally been contacted regarding season tickets for next year at Citi Field.
My family’s call came, appropriately enough, on my daughter Melanie’s birthday.
Our family and those seated near us had suffered some amount of anxiety as we waited and waited to be contacted. Almost at every game, we would ask each other: “Have YOU been contacted?”
Meanwhile,some of us had heard–through friends seated in the Field Level or from the newspapers–that the increase in ticket prices was going to be astronomical.
Not only had we all been concerned about the cost, but we had worried that we might be offered tickets in the bleachers…take it or leave it! From what we’d heard, it seemed that there was not a lot of choice in the matter: moving up or down from where one’s seats had been at Shea was not an option. Apparently, if one chose not to purchase what was offered when he got “the call”, that person would essentially “move to the back of the line”.
What we found out last night–much to our pleasure–was that (1) not only had each of us been offered seats in a similar location to those we presently occupy at Shea but (2) the price for the season tickets was not going to prohibit us from ever retiring or sending a child to college.
A similar conversation transpired as each of the groups of friends sitting near us arrived:
“What row are you in?” “What are your seat numbers?”
As we compared notes, we found that all of us had not only purchased seats in the same area of Citi Field, but that we had been offered seats in almost the exact configuration as we currently have. It is as if our whole “neighborhood” will be uprooted from one stadium and set down, exactly intact, in the new stadium…sorta like putting a house on wheels and “putting down stakes” somewhere up the road!
One “next-door neighbor”, upon finding out that we would be seated next to her and her husband, delightfully exclaimed, “Oh good!! We can continue to watch Melanie grow up!!”
It truly was a “beautiful day in the neighborhood”!
Perfect Pitch
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