Marking Shea

Through various other blogs, I was directed to this article from The Daily News. Basically, it's about how to mark certain areas of Shea's history. What do we know for sure about this? Officials have said, "Markers for home plate, the pitching rubber and second base will appear in traffic lanes, while first and third will be denoted in specific parking spots." They also say that they don't plan on added any additional markers. This has led to fellow Mets bloggers giving some of their own ideas of what should be marked in Citified's parking lot.

While I do like some of their ideas, I have one of my own. I think they should paint the dimensions of Shea in the lot. Paint the bases, foul lines, the pitcher's rubber, and where the outfield wall would've been (if that's possible. I haven't been to Citi yet, so I'm not too sure on how close the outfield wall would've been to landscape.) Plaques are great, but with the full dimensions I could do a pretty good job reliving my favorite Met moments without limiting myself to what the plaque says. I could stand on the site where pitchers like Seaver, Doc, Koosman, and Johan did some of their best work. I could run up the first base line like Mookie in '86, or like Robin Ventura hitting a Grand Slam Single. I could stand at the plate and admire how far the outfield wall is like Keith, Darryl, Piazza, Agee, Wright, and Kranepool once did. I could jump at the same area in the old outfield where Endy's catch turned a casual fan into die hard fanatic. To me, that would be perfect. I would be able stand out in those spots, and not have my memories mapped out or limited. Everyone has their favorites and I feel like a painted field in a parking lot would become a field of dreams for the generations of fans who grew up watching the Mets in big Shea.

If you're interested in other ideas you can visit the posts from Mets Grrl, and Mets Police.