It's Like Yankee Stadium, Without All That Winning

As part of my goal to visit every MLB stadium in my life, Saturday I set-forth on my trip to Citi Field, home of the New York Mets.


The Home Run Apple from Shea Stadium greets the arriving fans!

When you first walk into Citi Field you enter the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. A documentary about Jackie Robinson, the fist African-American to play Major League Baseball (well in the 1900s at least) is on constant loop. You also see a giant Dodger Blue number 42 behind the escalator. Around the ceiling of the rotunda you see one of Robinson's most famous quotes, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” It is a fantastic tribute to a player who HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE METS!


The Shake Shack has a 3 inning long wait, but the food is really good! The selection isn't as big as the original, obviously.

Once I got to see the actual field, I was amazed how small it looked. Now, I know it's a large field. Somehow it looked smaller than the field at Yankee Stadium, which I know is not true. As it turns out Citi Field Holds 41,800 people. Yankees Stadium holds 50,086 people. Apparently the 8,286 fewer seats really makes everything at the park look smaller. Who knew?



Citi Field Dimensions (Stolen from Wikipedia):
Left field - 335 ft
Left center - 364 ft
Deep left center - 384 ft
Center field - 408 ft
Deep right center - 415 ft
Right center - 378 ft
Right field - 330 ft

Yankee Stadium Dimensions (Stolen from Wikipedia)
Left Field - 318 feet
Left-Center - 399 feet
Center Field - 408 feet
Right-Center - 385 feet
Right Field - 314 feet
Backstop - 52 feet


They have a picnic area with 60+ inch plasmas. This should be standard in all future stadiums.

The stadium it self is beautiful. The amenities are first class and the layout is very fan friendly. The only down side about going to Citi Field is that, at some point, you have to watch the M(y)E(ntire)T(eam)S(ucks). It gets really, really, hard to watch them play sloppy, fundamentally flawed baseball. They didn't give the crowed any reason to cheer until they mounted a come-back victory in the 9th. One interesting ½ inning outta 9 is a start. I'd love the place if the Mets were watchable.

Credit Where Credit Is Due.

Well today was the 4th no-hitter for the Tampa Bay Rays. There was only one key difference. This time, they were the ones who won the game. No-hitters are more fun when you're on the winning end.

Yeah...

So I was gonna post about baseball and measure my pre-season predictions Vs what actually happened; but then I went out drinking. See you all later.

This Is MY Town

Dodger Stadium, erected in 1969 it is the 3rd oldest baseball stadium currently in use. It is also the largest baseball stadium in terms of seating capacity. It is also the crown jewel of my last trip to California. I couldn't pass up the chance to see the Yankees play the Dodgers for the 1st time since Joe Torre was forced out of New York.



For the record, I am still a Torre supporter. He managed the Yankees to 4 World Series Championships 1996,1998,1999 and 2000. He also lead them to World Series appearances in 2001 and 2003. He is as much a part of the Yankees I grew up with as Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada, O'Neil, Clemens, Mussina, and Williams. The man is 3rd on the all-time wins list for Yankee managers. How can you not support that? The man has more than earned my loyalty and my gratitude.


I was lucky enough to get to meet Joe Torre at a signing last year. He is a great guy.

Now, like most of my road trips, this story begins with me drinking. Greg and I were at a bar early in the baseball season and the subject of inter league play came up. Greg mentioned that the Yankees were playing the Dodgers in LA. We both said allowed how we wished we could go. Then it hit me, I have family in San Diego (two hours away from LA). This trip is do-able. Long story short, Greg and I flew out to California for the game. I firmly believe ½ of success is planning the other ½ is actually doing something.

Greg and I wanted to arrive at the stadium early so we could see everything and we did arrive early. In fact we arrived 40 minutes before the stadium opened. How did we kill the 40 minutes? We got lost for 25 min, parked 4 blocks away from the entrance to Dodger Stadium's parking lot, and spent the rest of the time walking to the stadium. Perfect! As we approached the stadium we, inevitably, ran into some Dodger fans. They started talking shit to us but not in a malicious way. It was more like two brothers trying to out-do each other. They would talk shit one second and help you the next. It was refreshing. They had the perfect blend of team pride and hospitality. I now have a much higher respect for Dodger fans.

Now, in lieu of a formal narrative, I 'm just going to rattle off a bunch of non sequiturs about my experience watching Yankees v Dodgers. You know I love my non sequiturs.

Greg and I were sitting next to a lot of Dodger fans during the game. They would say things like “I'm glad I'm not a Yankees fan,” “I hate Yankee fans,” etc. This occurred so many times during the game I just tuned it out. I was reviewing some of the pictures I took during one of the breaks between innings when a LA fan taps me on the shoulder, points to Mariano Rivera walking to the bullpen and says “Look there’s your boy!” He did this because I was wearing my Rivera jersey. I would have missed him walking by if the guy hadn't said anything. That was incredibly cool of him.



In LA they have a regional sports network similar to YES but it focuses on The Dodgers. This is my brief synopsis of every show. “We were doing really well till we lost to the Yankees in the World Series.” The two teams played 11 times in The Fall Classic. New York won 8 times.

LA is the only place where seeing Jackie Robinson's retired number 42 really means anything.

Once Rivera entered the game the LA fans gave up trying to drown out the “Let's go Yankees” cheers from the crowed.

If you sit on the 1st base side during a night game the sun sets in your eyes. This makes tracking fly balls really difficult.



Parking far away from the stadium easily saved us 1 hour trying to get out of the overly crowded parking lot.

As we entered the stadium we got miniature towels that read “THIS IS MY TOWN,” the motto of Dodgers fans. The towels had an MLB hologram on them. Instead of being the MLB Authentic sticker they read “World Series 2009” on them. The Dodgers lost to the Phillies in the 2009 NLDS.


Dodger Stadium is the only place I've seen sell merchandise for the opposing team?!


To get down to the lower levels you have to pass through a stair case guarded by an attendant at each door. It is not as nice as the rest of the stadium.

More pictures will be on my Facebook.

Back By Popular Demand!

Well, only one person actually demanded more blogging, but, she is popular. Does that count? Yes? Wonderful! Hmmm, what should I blog about? I did get one suggestion to do a live blog/commentary of a baseball game. I do wanna try that at one point; however, since the game is over, now is not the time. BTW Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher to best the Yankees in MLB history. Proving that Jamie Moyer is one of the best pitching geasers of all time. Little known fact, Jamie Moyer would have more wins, but his rookie year was interrupted by 40 days and 40 nights of rain delays. Well this is a start. I'll try and update more in the future. Maybe I'll even start doing some exciting stuff. Ya know, so this thing can be...good-ish.

Didja Miss Me?

It takes a lot for me to feel bad for someone, but this really bothers me. Two weeks ago my job had to let eight people go. Apparently, one of those people has been driving to the office and parking his car in the lot. Apparently, he just sits in his car all day. Today, five police officers came to ask him to leave. This story is ½ funny and ½ depressing. As a result, on Friday we are getting a new security guard and we will have to wear out ID badges all the time. Eff.

I want to leave with something less depressing. So, I give you my crowing Twitter achievement.



Out of all the crap I’ve posted on Twitter, I think this is my favorite. It is at least, my most creative. Sure Laura didn’t care for it but I was amused; and isn’t that what’s most important, me?

I Love This Time of The Year.

Monday: The 3rd sentence my boss says, to me, "Welcome to Michael Jackson Hell."

Tuesday: Boss says to me "Every time you're not at your desk I worry that you're on the roof,about to jump off."

Wednesday: The staff was called into my boss' office for a quick briefing while I'm in the bathroom. No one knew where I was. My boss starts the meeting by telling my co-workers that if I jump off the roof it's their fault for not watching me. I'm glad they care. I think jokes about me killing myself will be a theme this March. I'll keep you posted.

P.S. The thought occurred to me that if I do jump off the roof, I will not update my blog. Check you local news station.