Metsgrrl has an up-close photo essay and review of CitiField, including shots of the old and new Magic Apples in their current locations (at left is a clipped version of her shot of the old apple). Her takeaway – the park is still pricey, but a definite upgrade from Shea:
It was like that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy wakes up and everything is in color. It felt odd, because I am not used to being comfortable when I go see the Mets. I am not used to having room. I am not used to things being carefully thought out and well-planned.
H/T Pinto. She also notes that they’re not quite finished with the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. For all the efforts to mimic Ebbets Field, though, it sure does look a lot like Citizens Bank Park.
Looks very nice. Hope it holds up better than Shea did. The transition from the Polo Grounds to Shea is one of those childhood memories that is forever. The Polo Grounds were dismissed as an unreedemable dump. The posts and overall poor sightlines, the bathrooms, the access, the … every damnt hing possible stunk.
Every sentence out of Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner and Lindsey Nelson included this description, “Beautiful Shea Stadium”. I swear, it was as if the place was going to clear up your acne. Why, people would be arriving in their own boats at the nearby marina in Jamaica Bay (that’s from memory), the ushers were attractive Mets Girls that you’d want to take home to Mom, in contrast to the cranky old men who treated you like an unwashed punk if you dared to walk near where Willie Mays and John McGraw had once trod. Shea Stadium, the answer to that pathetic mausoleum in the Bronx fit only for the athletic equivalent of US Steel.
So, I leave the area 40 years ago, and suddenly courtesy of blogs and whatnot, I find that Shea Stadium has become everything that was wrong with the Polo Grounds, plus, it lacks the original charm. So, enjoy Mets fans, and when the disgruntled among you complain about Citi Field because it lacks instant internet access at every seat, or gourmet sushi, or whatever it is that baseball fans will have to have 30 years from now, you too can remember when Citi was beautiful and it had delivered you from the hell that was Shea Stadium.