The famous Shea Stadium
The home of the Mets from 1964 to 2008. The home of the Jets from 1964 to 1983.
In Dear Pen Pal, Joe and Cate visit there.
It can only be Shea Stadium.
What is a Shea? How did the stadium get that name?
William Shea was a prominent lawyer in Manhattan who liked sports. When the Dodgers left Ebbets Field for California, Mayor Robert Wagner wanted a National League baseball team in one of the five boroughs of New York City. Wagner asked for Shea’s help on how to get a team. Shea tried to get an established team to move, but had no luck. This left him with no options so he decided to start his own baseball league. He would call it the Continental League. The National League felt threatened by the concept of this new league of teams so they entered into talks to expand their leagues. In 1960, the National League established The Mets. In 1961, the Mets signed a 30 year contract to play at Shea Stadium.
Shea Stadium opened on April 17, 1964. Teams would play on natural grass. The stadium was a circular design to accommodate the football as well as baseball teams. Although amusing fact was that the Jets couldn’t play home games until the Mets season was done. So in 1969 when the Mets were in the World Series, the Jets first home game wasn’t until October 20th. There were 57343 wooden seats. You could ride one of the 21 escalators to the 54 restrooms.
The home team Mets were beat by the Pirates on opening day. Not a great open for the stadium.
In spite of the rough opening, Shea was home to a lot of big concerts and events over the years. The Beatles played to screaming crowds on August 15, 1965. The screaming was so loud, it was later given as the reason the Beatles stopped touring. They couldn’t hear their own instruments!
Grand Funk Railroad sold out faster than the Beatles in 1971. The Who with opening band, The Clash played there in October 1982. The Police sold out in August 18, 1983. The Rolling Stones played for 6 nights in 1983.
Pope John Paul gave mass there in October 1979.
One of the World Wide Wrestling Federation’s biggest events in 1980 was at Shea. An early battle was the first meetings of Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant. The champion Bob Backlund talks in his book Backlund how he wasn’t even the headliner! Bruno Sammartino got revenge on one-time protégé Larry Zybisco in the main event.
Shea Stadium would of course be home to part of the 1986 World Series. It was torn down in 2008.
The Mets now play at CitiField. Here are the Beatles at Shea.