A fan-organized memorial for Shea Stadium was held over the weekend, and while I firmly believe the above photographs (taken a week prior) by lensman/guitarist Jesper Eklow could just as well serve as the last word on the subject, SNY’s Ted Berg — clearly not a shill for his parent company — acquits himself nicely under the circumstances.
“It’s bittersweet,” one woman said. “I’m sad to see it go, but Citi Field looks so much nicer.”
That seemed to be the order of the day — deflecting any attachment one might have felt for Shea toward the new, sterile ballpark that now appears ready for action out beyond what used to be center field. In fact, nearly everyone with whom I spoke echoed that sentiment.
That’s not how it went for me, although I wasn’t that sad. It was more like denial. I spent a while staring at the last remnants of Shea Stadium, and I could only think one thing: this is so f@!#ing weird.
Shea is now inarguably a giant pile of trash. Only a section of upper deck still stands, with parts of the façade tagged by graffiti artists to add to the sense of urban decay. The rest is rubble, a mess of royal blue and grey being cleared by bulldozers that chugged along even as the fans huddled in memoriam.
In my 28 years, I’ve been lucky enough to see the Colosseum and Chichen Itza and the Great Wall of China, and after my visit to Flushing on Saturday, I couldn’t help but wonder why those relics got to stand the test of time and mine will be made into a parking lot.