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ABOUT US
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans.
Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here.
Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here.
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Pristine
by Greg Prince on 12 November 2007 12:12 am 
This is the Shea Stadium lauded as “the most beautiful ballpark ever built”. Granted, the lauding was done in December 1964 by the Building Awards Committee of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, but early returns and home-field advantage notwithstanding, who would have argued?
This is one chestnut among dozens you will inhale from Shea Stadium: Images of Baseball by Jason D. Antos, availableonline or in the gift shop of the Museum of the City of New York…which also happens to be home until December 31 toGlory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957. Both the book and the exhibition are recommended heartily.
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Hi Greg,
Viewing Shea wIthout the outer fencing, doesn't it give the eerie feeling that construction stopped a little past the foul poles?
WOW!
You could walk right up to the outfield walls??? And not have to taverse 2 rings of chain link fencing, a picnic area, bleachers, Longball Alley and players' Mercedeses?
A much more innocent time, I reckon…
Ooops, my bad. There is one ring of chain link to vault.
Yes, but otherwise George Altman's Rambler is all yours for the pilfering.
I thought Long George carpooled with Professor Roy McMillan…
The original plan was to close the circle and build a dome.
The outfield fence does not appear to be the opening day version. This is probably a pre-opening day 1964 photo.
I'm always grateful for the lack of dome. Well, OK… not always. Every once in a while, when I'm sitting there in April, so cold I can't feel my fingers (and thus struggling with my Thermos of quickly-cold coffee) and watching the snow flurries flutter past me, I inwardly whine “I want a dome!!” But I don't. Baseball was meant to be played outdoors, not in an airplane hangar.
Shea always was and always will be a thing of beauty. I miss it already.