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Posted: |
Apr 3, 2009 - 8:08 PM
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By: |
ANZALDIMAN
(Member)
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Nice to see Neo posting once again here, I hope he continues to provide his perspective on this thread.
I got home shortly after 6:00 pm tonight, and immediately tuned into the Mets/ Boston Red Sox pre-season game at Citi Field.
This was the first time I saw the new Mets ballpark with fans in the seats, and I'll admit it was strange, but from what I saw tonight on the tube, the place looks grand.
What I love about the design, which is a homage to the many old ballparks of the past is the warm use of the bricks, (reminiscent of course of Ebbets Field) the black steel high light towers, and the black seats and black outfield walls trimmed out with orange. It looks old and classic , while being modern and state of the art and it's a big change from Shea which in later years became an explosion of royal blue paint coloring all over the place from the outfield walls, to it's exterior paint job which signaled an aging building that was thinly (and cheaply) disguised from it's 1964 origins and appearance.
While I am sentimental about Shea and it's demise, I can't help but be excited over this new ballpark.
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It is my privilege to make the record 4000th post of the longest-running thread in the history of FSM! 
I was caught up recording for posterity the Yankee exhibition game but I will look forward to see a Met game from Citified on TV soon and will make sure to record the first official game.
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I have just returned from the Cubs-Yankees exhibition game and was bowled over completely. This is Yankee Stadium from now on, and I really don't think there's a need to get homesick for the old ballpark. The old ballpark's sense of grandeur has been perfectly replicated and in fact, looking up at the facade from my vantage point on the field level, third base side, I literally had a greater sense of what it was like to be at old Yankee Stadium, pre-1976 than I ever did at the old place in its renovated phase. The field dimensions are identical to what it was in the last 20 years of the renovated stadium and offer a sense of continuity there. And yet, even with that great sense of grandeur recreated, I was struck how the park seemed more intimate than the old one, and I think the perfect way the walkways etc. have been designed help make that possible.
The food court is outstanding and a great improvement over the old ballpark's facilities. And it's great to be able to walk through the place more than three hours before a game and have a chance to take in not just Monument Park but also the "Yankees Museum" which has a fascinating exhibit of autographed baseballs from all surviving Yankees in history (and I saw an autographed ball by Johnny Blanchard who of course recently passed away). Before, you had to get to the stadium many hours out of necessity because of limited parking but with this ballpark, you'll like the fact you've got more time to spend there taking in the place!
The old ballpark meant a great deal to me over the years, but just as life moves on and the Yankees went from Hilltop Park to the Polo Grounds to the original Stadium to the renovated Stadium, so too do they turn a page into an exciting new era with an exciting new facility that Yankee fans will easily embrace upon their first visit IMO.
There were some gremlins that need to be ironed out. For one thing, the scoreboard insists on close captioning what we hear on the giant HD Diamondvision (which offers sensational video quality) and this is rather silly to look at. Also, their scoreboard operator handling the out of town information was fouling things up because we were seeing reports of a close Met game at 6-5 and 9-7 before the correct 9-1 score was given! The biggest gremlin though was the audio system in the ballpark went out in the 6th inning so after that, there was no PA announcer, no canned music, no organ, no sound whatsoever (no prompting for the 7th inning stretch!). They have 12 days to get that fixed before the true official home opener.
I will have pictures to post next week.
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message deleted
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Belated recognition here of condolences to the family of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, senselessly killed in a drunk driving accident caused by someone else just after he'd pitched six shutout innings.
Add mine.
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