I’m Calling it Shea
(No Mas has partnered with Paul Lukas of Uni Watch and the inimitable Reverend Vince Anderson on a campaign to call the new ballpark in Flushing, like the old one, Shea Stadium. As you may have surmised, there will be t-shirts, but our more glorious purpose is here explained by Reverend Vince, who will be performing his singular version of Meet the Mets before my interview with David Wright Tuesday night at 21 Mercer.)
I moved to Queens from California in 1994. I lived in a little apartment right off the 7 train, minutes from Shea Stadium. As a kid in California, I was raised believing that the American League was the league of the Devil, so there was never much of choice for me when deciding which New York team I would root for. I did give Yankee stadium a try and was not impressed. When I ascended the mighty escalator at Shea, to my seats in the Upper Deck for the first time, I felt like I was home.
As I got to know the history of Shea, the immediate connection I had grew deeper. I read about the baptizing of home plate with water from the the Hudson and East rivers, representing the Giants and the Dodgers, the legacy of the National League in New York City. I grew to admire the renegade spirit of Bill Shea, and his several attempts to bring real baseball back to the city.
