William A. Shea Stadium's drawn out end

Very much off topic...

I grew up a Mets fan, living in a small village on Long Island in New York. I can remember, as a young kid, how everyone was going nutso for the Amazin's of 1986. I didn't truly grasp it, but in the following years I grew to love and cherish baseball -- in general and New York Mets baseball. It followed me to Tampa Bay through the early 1990's as I had access to WOR telecasts through local cable. All of this while I was drawn into the local quest for Major League Baseball.

So it doesn't come as a surprise that I've been aware of New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon's long sought Ebbets-Field inspired successor to Shea Stadium for more than a decade. My recollection may be wrong, but the first time in national print that I saw reference to the famed model of Shea's replacement, it was a Sports Illustrated article that focused on former Mets general manager Joe McLlvane and the building-with-youth Mets of 1995/96 or there abouts. Two years before it's public unveiling.

But the point of this post isn't supposed to be about the previous version of what is now known as CitiField, nor about CitiField itself which contains the "Ebbets-Field inspired" architecture and a uniqueness that I can't quite imagine.

That's partly because I hold fondness for Shea Stadium.

The above should be looked at as the most absurd statement someone can make about Major League Baseball. Yet having been a fan of the Mets and having read about and reveled in some of Shea's storied eccentricities and history (Yeah, yeah, yeah and so much more) I'm hurt and saddened about it's in-progress demise.

Yeah, in progress.

15 days after the last public event at William A. Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York, the deconstruction of the Mets home field has begun in earnest. Stadiumpage.com has a few snap shots and I am sure that there are more out there on the web.

It seems surreal to see Shea with all seating removed, with the lamps ringing the stadium removed. And imminently, it'll start being torn apart. 44 years of baseball (some of the worst and most miraculous in Major League history), of musical performances, of airplane derived annoyance and other landmarks and eccentricities will be coming down. And like many of the stadiums that have gone before it -- pulled down in order to make space for parking.

For more on the end of Shea, visit Mets.com / MLB.com.