What with all my attention focused on the final year of Yankee Stadium, I haven’t paid as much notice to what’s happening out in Queens. It is the last season at Shea too, and the Mets have more than a decent chance to play baseball in October.

Tom Seaver, the greatest player in Met history, isn’t sad to see Shea go (Peace to Repoz for the link):

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not a big fan of the stadium,” Seaver said before last night’s game against the Braves. “It’s strictly an architectural observation.

“I said this before, and got my rear end in a little bit of hot water. It’s just a physical presence to me. Now the physical is just going to move across the street.”

…”I get sentimental about the people, not the physical structure here,” Seaver said. “When I’m here, I see the spot where Gil Hodges used to sit, Rube Walker. I look to see where Tug McGraw used to sit. That’s what I see. It’s the people who occupied those spaces that are important to me.”
(Barbara Barker, Newsday)

Seaver is right on here. In some ways, the same can be said about Yankee Stadium. The rennovated Stadium may not be as grand as the original version, but for a generation of Yankee fans, it is home. And it is the relationships we’ve had with our family and friends at the park, our relationships with the players, from Steve Balboni to Bernie Williams, that makes the place special.