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Yesterday was opening day at Citi Field, the Mets' new stadium. It was a college game, St. John's played Georgetown, and St. John's is one of the many schools I went to so I had a comp ticket from the Alumni Relations Department. It was a lousy day for a ballgame so I didn't stay to the end, St. John's was winning 4-2 when I left in the top of the 7th inning but Georgetown came back and won 6-4. I stayed in my seat for the first 3 1/2 innings then decided to take a tour of the ballpark to see what it looks like. It's a much nicer stadium than Shea Stadium was.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welc ... cbMW7lsy6o

Not too shabby . . .

now I ready for baseball

Nice pics Larry!

Weather looks crummy for a baseball game.

What's the Home Run Apple? Does it raise up or something when a HR is hit?

Good looking stadium.

SharkOnLand wrote:Weather looks crummy for a baseball game.

It rained overnight Saturday and was still raining when I got up yesterday morning. About 10:00 I looked out the window and it looked like the rain had stopped so I decided to go to the train station and take a chance on the game being played. It started raining again shortly after I got to the stadium, just about 1:00, and it was kind of misting on and off for the first 2 innings. The rain finally stopped but it was a lousy day for a game.

SharkOnLand wrote:What's the Home Run Apple? Does it raise up or something when a HR is hit?

The old Apple in Shea Stadium was inside a big top hat behind the right centerfield fence and it came up out of the hat whenever a Met hit a home run. The new one is in centerfield and it isn't inside a top hat but they'll be doing the same thing as they did in Shea. There was one home run in yesterday's game, one of Georgetown's players hit it, but the Apple didn't make its debut.

Nice pics Larry!! -I'm trying to decide if I want to trek there this year or wait til next year -

Great pics Larry! thanks for sharing!

Very cool! It does look to be quite a bit nicer than the old Shea Stadium (although thats not too difficult...I haven't been to Shea in almost 20 years and it was outdated at that time!)

What a cool experience for these college kids as well. Most of them will never have a professional career (yet alone reach the big leagues), so this will likely be one of the highlights of their baseball lifetimes.

So how long you think it is until Buffett plays Citi Field instead of Jones Beach? I'm guessing a show happens in either 2010 or 2011.

Yep, that's the bullpen.

I hope they have all the kinks worked out by time the Mets get there. I had to get my ticket at the will call window yesterday. I saw a guy with a Citi Field windbreaker standing outside the stadium and asked him where will call was. He directed me to a ticket window on the right field side of the stadium. That wasn't it. I asked another Citi Field windbreaker-wearing knucklehead and he told me to go around the corner and head towards the bullpen gate behind the centerfield fence, will call was at the ticket window just before the gate. No it wasn't. I asked another Citi Field windbreaker-wearing guy and he told me it was just to the third base side of the main entrance by the rotunda. He was right. Employees should know where things are.

Dean, Shea is now reduced to a pile of rubble across the street. Citi Field was built in what used to be the parking lot behind Shea's outfield fence.

LIPH wrote:Dean, Shea is now reduced to a pile of rubble across the street. Citi Field was built in what used to be the parking lot behind Shea's outfield fence.

So basically, assuming the Mets/NYC would allow it, you could have tailgating at Citifield once all the debris from Shea is removed for a Buffett concert. I'm guessing that the lot size is probably not much different in size than the main field lot at Jones Beach. And since 40,000 is a hell of a lot bigger than 15,000 or 20,000 (Jones Beach and MSG, respectively), a concert is sure to happen there in the next year or so, assuming Buffett keeps touring that long. Damn.

Nice pics, btw, Larry.

Thanks, Larry. Nice pics. Reminds me a lot of Coors Field.

SMLCHNG wrote:Thanks, Larry. Nice pics. Reminds me a lot of Coors Field.

That's what I thought when I saw the (empty) stadium in person earlier this month.

I was at Citi Field Wed night and saw a large concert photo of JB on the wall of the Caesars Club on the Excelsior level. I thought it was kind of cool walking in there for the first time and seeing his picture along with about 5 or 6 other famous personalities on the wall. I took a picture of it on my cell phone but it came out horrible.

Bill

Don't know how I missed this earlier... those are great views you snapped, Larry!

The field's seating configuration looks a lot like Petco Park, except
they've flipped the high-rising right field bleachers at SD ...for the exact opposite side there in NY
Really like the architectural embellishments there!

..and nice HR for #500 for Sheff tonight... that was no cheapie!

The NY sports talk shows have been flooded with negative calls about Citi Field. Evidently there are a ton of obstructed view seats (overhangs limit fly balls, seats along the left and right filed lines miss 1/4 of the outfield, etc). The Mets once again prove they are New York's JV team!

Afternoon Golfer wrote:The NY sports talk shows have been flooded with negative calls about Citi Field. Evidently there are a ton of obstructed view seats (overhangs limit fly balls, seats along the left and right filed lines miss 1/4 of the outfield, etc). The Mets once again prove they are New York's JV team!

Apparently you haven't read all the bit**ing from Yankee fans about the obstructive views they have at their stadium!!! So before you call the Mets NY's JV team, read a little more

fabduo wrote:

Afternoon Golfer wrote:The NY sports talk shows have been flooded with negative calls about Citi Field. Evidently there are a ton of obstructed view seats (overhangs limit fly balls, seats along the left and right filed lines miss 1/4 of the outfield, etc). The Mets once again prove they are New York's JV team!

Apparently you haven't read all the bit**ing from Yankee fans about the obstructive views they have at their stadium!!! So before you call the Mets NY's JV team, read a little more

I haven't read about the issues with the new Stadium for the Varsity. Can you attach a link?

Afternoon Golfer wrote:

fabduo wrote:

Afternoon Golfer wrote:The NY sports talk shows have been flooded with negative calls about Citi Field. Evidently there are a ton of obstructed view seats (overhangs limit fly balls, seats along the left and right filed lines miss 1/4 of the outfield, etc). The Mets once again prove they are New York's JV team!

Apparently you haven't read all the bit**ing from Yankee fans about the obstructive views they have at their stadium!!! So before you call the Mets NY's JV team, read a little more

I haven't read about the issues with the new Stadium for the Varsity. Can you attach a link?

Sorry no links -just various interviews on local news stations & local papers