thedrifter
04-13-09, 07:32 AM
04/13/09 12:00 AM ET
Heroes to highlight Citi Field opening
Ceremonies will make transition from Shea to new park
By Marty Noble / MLB.com
NEW YORK -- When Citi Field officially opens its doors this evening, it will be an exercise in reverse for the heroes of Shea Stadium.
The first act at Citi will be a reenactment of the final act of Shea, sans the sadness that touched so many in September. The last day of the 2008 season will hand the baton to the first day of the '09 season. And the Mets' new home, their third home, will be connected to the home the franchise knew for 45 years.
New and nostalgic will hold hands; past and present will embrace. The names and faces most prominent when Citi introduces itself will be those most recognizable in September when Shea bowed out, those that gained relevance and stature in a ballpark that stood where a parking lot is today. Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza, Mets royalty, will be the pieces of the past who will usher in the Mets' future.
Seaver will throw the ceremonial first pitch. It won't be his signature slider, the mound clay probably will not smudge the right knee of his slacks and, if his concerns have basis, it might not complete the 60-foot, 6-inch trip airborne. Piazza, significantly closer to his final game than Seaver, will make every effort to handle it. They'll leave the ensuing set of pitches to Mike Pelfrey and Brian Schneider, who will try to help the Mets improve their 30-17 record in season-opening home games.
A night of historic relevance is about to happen some 45 years after Shea Stadium opened. Then it was the Pirates in the third-base dugout. The Padres will fill the other dugout this time. And most everything else will be different, too.
This will be big stuff. New York hasn't opened a new ballpark since Shea replaced the Polo Grounds as the Mets' place of business on April 17, 1964 -- unless the reopening of renovated Yankee Stadium in 1976 counts -- and it doesn't.
With their $800 million home, the Mets step back into the future. Citi has a baseball-retro feel that Shea lacked, and it is linked directly to Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn home of the Dodgers through the 1957. Citi's first regular-season game will beat the first official game at the new Yankee Stadium by three days.
Whereas the Yankees' new home is a stadium in every sense, Citi is a ballpark. The Mets emphasize that, going so far as to revise the name of the department responsible for its operation. In today's baseball, "stadium ops" is as common a title as shortstop. The Mets call their department "ballpark operations" and revel in the difference.
Citi's opening will be celebrated in Queens, of course, but also in Manhattan. The Empire State Building's tower will be illuminated in orange and blue, Mets colors. And the 7:10 p.m. ET game will be broadcast live in Rockefeller Center at SNY's Studios and carried on ABC'S SuperSign above their Good Morning America studio in the heart of Times Square.
Moreover, the cast of the Broadway revival of "West Side Story" will sing the national anthem. The New York-based play opened on Broadway in 1957, the final year of the Dodgers and Giants in New York. More than 200 veterans representing all five U.S. Armed Services -- Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy -- will be on the field during the presentation of a football-field-sized American flag. A flyover by four U.S. Marine F-18 Hornets will follow the anthem.
Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Ellie
Heroes to highlight Citi Field opening
Ceremonies will make transition from Shea to new park
By Marty Noble / MLB.com
NEW YORK -- When Citi Field officially opens its doors this evening, it will be an exercise in reverse for the heroes of Shea Stadium.
The first act at Citi will be a reenactment of the final act of Shea, sans the sadness that touched so many in September. The last day of the 2008 season will hand the baton to the first day of the '09 season. And the Mets' new home, their third home, will be connected to the home the franchise knew for 45 years.
New and nostalgic will hold hands; past and present will embrace. The names and faces most prominent when Citi introduces itself will be those most recognizable in September when Shea bowed out, those that gained relevance and stature in a ballpark that stood where a parking lot is today. Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza, Mets royalty, will be the pieces of the past who will usher in the Mets' future.
Seaver will throw the ceremonial first pitch. It won't be his signature slider, the mound clay probably will not smudge the right knee of his slacks and, if his concerns have basis, it might not complete the 60-foot, 6-inch trip airborne. Piazza, significantly closer to his final game than Seaver, will make every effort to handle it. They'll leave the ensuing set of pitches to Mike Pelfrey and Brian Schneider, who will try to help the Mets improve their 30-17 record in season-opening home games.
A night of historic relevance is about to happen some 45 years after Shea Stadium opened. Then it was the Pirates in the third-base dugout. The Padres will fill the other dugout this time. And most everything else will be different, too.
This will be big stuff. New York hasn't opened a new ballpark since Shea replaced the Polo Grounds as the Mets' place of business on April 17, 1964 -- unless the reopening of renovated Yankee Stadium in 1976 counts -- and it doesn't.
With their $800 million home, the Mets step back into the future. Citi has a baseball-retro feel that Shea lacked, and it is linked directly to Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn home of the Dodgers through the 1957. Citi's first regular-season game will beat the first official game at the new Yankee Stadium by three days.
Whereas the Yankees' new home is a stadium in every sense, Citi is a ballpark. The Mets emphasize that, going so far as to revise the name of the department responsible for its operation. In today's baseball, "stadium ops" is as common a title as shortstop. The Mets call their department "ballpark operations" and revel in the difference.
Citi's opening will be celebrated in Queens, of course, but also in Manhattan. The Empire State Building's tower will be illuminated in orange and blue, Mets colors. And the 7:10 p.m. ET game will be broadcast live in Rockefeller Center at SNY's Studios and carried on ABC'S SuperSign above their Good Morning America studio in the heart of Times Square.
Moreover, the cast of the Broadway revival of "West Side Story" will sing the national anthem. The New York-based play opened on Broadway in 1957, the final year of the Dodgers and Giants in New York. More than 200 veterans representing all five U.S. Armed Services -- Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy -- will be on the field during the presentation of a football-field-sized American flag. A flyover by four U.S. Marine F-18 Hornets will follow the anthem.
Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Ellie