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— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

Shea Stadium

~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
6 sections
  • Shea Stadium opened on the 17th of April 1964, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Mets 4-3 in front of 50,312 fans. The telephone wiring was not finished in time. The stadium was barely done. And yet within a year, the Beatles would stand on that same field before a crowd of 55,600 screaming fans who could not hear a single note. Over the next four decades, Shea would host miracle championships, record-breaking performances, a papal visit, a city blackout, and a closing ceremony that ended with Tom Seaver throwing a final pitch to Mike Piazza while the Beatles played on the loudspeakers. How did a stadium in Flushing, Queens, come to hold all of that? The answer begins not with the Mets, but with two teams that left.

  • In 1957, both the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants left New York for California, and the city found itself without a National League baseball team. The Dodgers' owner, Walter O'Malley, had been offered the Flushing Meadows site by city official Robert Moses, but negotiations broke down entirely. O'Malley wanted to own the stadium outright, control the parking and concession revenue, and build in Brooklyn. Moses insisted on Flushing Meadows and insisted the city retain those revenue rights. Los Angeles gave O'Malley what New York would not. Horace Stoneham moved the Giants from the Polo Grounds to San Francisco, though he had briefly considered Minneapolis. New York was left with a wound.

    The lawyer who set out to heal it was William A. Shea. He led the effort to bring National League baseball back to the city, and the stadium eventually bore his name. Getting there required threading a legal needle: New York state law at the time did not allow a city to borrow money to build a stadium unless the stadium could demonstrate it would pay for itself. Moses and Shea solved this by having the new team commit to paying substantial rent, structured to retire 30-year bonds. The Mets signed their lease on the 6th of October 1961. Rent was set at $450,000 for the first year, dropping by $20,000 annually until it reached $300,000. The Mets never fully met that monetary commitment, and the terms caused them financial difficulty for years.

    Construction hit problems from the start. The severe winter of 1962-1963, the bankruptcy of two subcontractors, and labor disputes delayed the project. Both the Mets and the Jets, as the football team had been renamed, played a second year in the old Polo Grounds. After 29 months and $28.5 million, the stadium finally opened. A jurisdictional dispute between two electrical unions meant the telephone and telegraph wiring was unfinished for opening day. The stadium opened five days before the 1964-65 World's Fair across Roosevelt Avenue, and its exterior panels matched the fair's blue and orange.

  • Shea was conceived as a multi-purpose facility, and its design reflected that ambition. Field-level seats rotated on underground tracks, swiveling between baseball and football configurations. The stadium held 60,372 for football and around 55,300 for baseball in its early years. The design allowed for potential expansion to 90,000 seats by fully enclosing the grandstand. A formal plan to add a glass dome and 15,000 seats was announced in March 1965, but engineering studies found the foundation could not support the dome's weight, and the idea was dropped.

    The Jets of the American Football League played at Shea from 1964 through 1983, and their tenancy came with constant friction. Until 1978, the Jets could not play their first home game until the Mets' season was finished. In 1969, when the Jets were the defending Super Bowl champions, they did not play a home game until October 20 because the Mets had advanced to the World Series. They opened with five consecutive road games that year. The lease terms were onerous by any measure.

    The year 1975 stands entirely apart. The Mets, Yankees, Jets, and Giants all called Shea home that season, the only time in professional sports history that two baseball teams and two football teams shared a single facility in the same calendar year. Yankee Stadium was under renovation; Giants Stadium was not yet finished. The four teams drew a combined 3,738,546 people that year: 1,730,566 for the Mets, 1,288,048 for the Yankees, 361,102 for the Jets, and 358,830 for the Giants. On four consecutive Sundays in the fall, Shea hosted a different team each week. Joe DiMaggio played his final Old Timers Day game at the stadium in 1975, during the Yankees' two-year stay.

  • Shea hosted its only All-Star Game in its first season, 1964, when Johnny Callison of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning. A month before that, on Father's Day, Callison's teammate Jim Bunning, later a Hall of Famer and U.S. Senator, pitched a perfect game against the Mets at Shea.

    Nothing at the stadium matched the shock of 1969. The Mets had finished last or next-to-last for seven straight seasons, and were given 100-1 odds of winning the championship. Led by former Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges, they won the World Series in Game 5. Fans stormed the field in celebration. Similar scenes had played out weeks earlier when the Mets clinched the National League East title, and then defeated the Atlanta Braves in the first National League Championship Series.

    On the 16th of December 1973, O. J. Simpson stood at Shea and became the first running back to gain 2,000 yards in a single season, doing it in 14 games or fewer, a mark no one has since matched. Shea also witnessed Robin Ventura's famous "Grand Slam Single" in a postseason game. After hitting what should have been a walk-off grand slam, Ventura was mobbed by teammates before he could round the bases. Because he failed to touch each base, the hit was officially scored as a single, though it ended the game. The technicality made both the hit and the hitter more famous than a routine grand slam would have.

    Tommie Agee hit what may have been the longest home run in the stadium's history on the 10th of April 1969. The ball landed in the upper deck in left field, a feat no other player ever matched. Agee's teammate Cleon Jones said the ball was still rising when it struck the seats. Agee hit a second home run in the same game, over the center field wall, and both shots came off Montreal Expos starter Larry Jaster. The Mets won that day, 4-2.

  • On Sunday, the 15th of August 1965, the Beatles opened their North American tour at Shea to a record audience of 55,600 people. Film footage from the evening shows security guards covering their ears as the band entered the field. The crowd noise was so overwhelming that none of the Beatles could hear what they were playing. Despite this, the concert was the first ever held at a major stadium, and it set records for attendance and revenue. It proved that outdoor concerts at scale could be commercially viable, and the band returned to Shea on the 23rd of August 1966.

    Grand Funk Railroad played Shea in 1971 and broke the Beatles' record for fastest ticket sales. Humble Pie opened the show. The Rolling Stones performed a six-night run at Shea in October 1989. On the 18th of August 1983, The Police played in front of 70,000 fans. Sting described it as "like playing the top of Everest" and said near the end: "We'd like to thank the Beatles for lending us their stadium."

    Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band closed The Rising Tour with three concerts at Shea in early October 2003. Bob Dylan appeared as a special guest at the final show to perform "Highway 61 Revisited" with Springsteen. The last concert at Shea was a two-night stand by Billy Joel on July 16 and 18, 2008. Former Beatle Paul McCartney closed the second night with "Let It Be". Pete Flynn, a Shea groundskeeper, drove the Beatles from the stage to a centerfield gate in 1965 and then drove McCartney from the stadium's rear entrance to the stage for that same farewell concert 43 years later.

  • The last game at Shea was a 4-2 loss to the Florida Marlins on the 28th of September 2008. The Mets had been in playoff contention until that final day; a win would have forced a tiebreaker game for the Wild Card. Instead, the stadium closed with a ceremony called "Shea Goodbye," in which players from the team's history entered the field and touched home plate one final time. Tom Seaver threw a last pitch to Mike Piazza. As the two former stars walked through the center field gate and closed it behind them, the Beatles' "In My Life" played over the speakers, followed by fireworks set to Fanfare for the Common Man.

    Demolition began on the 14th of October 2008. The scoreboard in right field came down on October 18, followed by the bleachers and bullpens. By November 10, the field level and dugouts were gone. On the 31st of January 2009, fans came for a final farewell tour of the site. The last section of seats was demolished on February 18. The last standing structure, a single section of ramps, came down at 11:22 am that morning.

    In the parking lot of Citi Field, which was built on the adjacent land, plaques now mark the locations of Shea's home plate, pitcher's mound, and bases. The engravings feature the neon signs depicting baseball players that decorated Shea's exterior from 1988 onward. The original Home Run Apple, first installed at Shea in May 1980, was relocated in 2010 to stand outside Citi Field in front of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. As of the time of writing, Mets owner Steve Cohen has proposed building a park, casino, and entertainment complex on the former site, to be called Metropolitan Park.

Common questions

When did Shea Stadium open and what was the first game played there?

Shea Stadium opened on the 17th of April 1964. The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Mets 4-3 in front of a crowd of 50,312 in the first game played at the stadium.

Why was Shea Stadium named after William Shea?

Shea Stadium was named in honor of William A. Shea, the New York lawyer who led the effort to bring National League baseball back to New York City after the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated to California in 1957.

What was the Beatles concert at Shea Stadium in 1965?

On the 15th of August 1965, the Beatles opened their North American tour at Shea Stadium to a record audience of 55,600 fans. The crowd noise was so loud that the Beatles could not hear what they were playing. It was the first concert held at a major stadium and set records for attendance and revenue.

What were the 1969 Miracle Mets and what happened at Shea Stadium?

The 1969 Mets, known as the Miracle Mets, had finished last or next-to-last in seven straight seasons and were given 100-1 odds to win the championship. Led by Gil Hodges, they won the World Series in Game 5 at Shea Stadium, after which fans stormed the field in celebration.

What was the last event at Shea Stadium before it was demolished?

The last game at Shea was a 4-2 loss to the Florida Marlins on the 28th of September 2008, followed by a ceremony called Shea Goodbye. The last concert was a two-night stand by Billy Joel on July 16 and 18, 2008, which included a guest appearance by Paul McCartney.

How many teams played at Shea Stadium in 1975?

Four professional teams shared Shea Stadium in 1975: the New York Mets, New York Yankees, New York Jets, and New York Giants. It is the only time in professional sports history that two baseball teams and two football teams shared a single facility in the same year. Together they drew 3,738,546 fans.

All sources

93 references cited across the entry

  1. 1webShea StadiumBallparks.com
  2. 3webCiti Field Side-by-Side ComparisonMajor League Baseball Advanced Media
  3. 7webNew York Mets team ownership historyLeslie Heaphy — Society for American Baseball Research — 2017
  4. 8citationMets Lease New ParkOctober 7, 1961
  5. 10newsGround breaking for new stadiumOctober 31, 1961
  6. 12newsHome of the MetsApril 17, 1964
  7. 13newsPirates spoil Met openerApril 18, 1964
  8. 14newsBob Friend continues mastery over MetsLester J. Biederman — April 18, 1964
  9. 18newsYou Can't Just Blow Up HistoryRichard Sandomir — March 30, 2008
  10. 20newsDemolition Takes Shea Stadium Piece by PieceRichard Sandomir — October 23, 2008
  11. 23newsShea Stadium's Demolition Is CompleteJim Baumbach — February 18, 2009
  12. 24newsShea Stadium Demolition EndsBridget J. Wentworth — February 18, 2009
  13. 25newsSigns of Glory Rise at Citi Field, From 1969, 1986 and 2000Ken Belson et al. — August 15, 2009
  14. 29webPark proposed for site where Cohen has pitched casinoRyan Schwach — Queens Public Media — February 6, 2024
  15. 30webJessica Ramos nearing decision on Steve Cohen’s Queens casinoEthan Geringer-Sameth — February 8, 2024
  16. 31newsBunning Pitches a Perfect Game; Mets Are Perfect Victims, 6 to 0Gordon S. Jr. White — June 22, 1964
  17. 33newsRecalling a Meeting With the Pied Piper of SheaGlenn Collins — February 1, 2010
  18. 34newsZeile Exits on High Note, Spoiling Expos' FarewellDave Caldwell — October 4, 2004
  19. 36newsBitter Repeat on Stadium's Final DayBen Shpigel — September 28, 2008
  20. 37newsImmersed in Gloom, a Farewell to Shea Still EnchantsJoshua Robinson — September 28, 2008
  21. 38newsWhen Mets, Yankees Called Shea Stadium HomeDavid Russell — August 20, 2014
  22. 40webThe New York Yankees Greatest HitsAlbert Lin — 1999
  23. 41newsOne Stadium, Four Teams, No ProblemN. R. Kleinfield — April 16, 1998
  24. 42newsStrawberry Gets The Apple to RiseMurray Chass — April 16, 1998
  25. 43newsMets Take An Opener For the AgesGeorge Vecsey — April 1, 1998
  26. 44newsFor Openers, Zilch Phils Fall in 14th Without a RunJim Salisbury — April 1, 1998
  27. 45newsA Midsummer Classic in March as Mets Nip PhilliesJason Diamos — April 1, 1998
  28. 46webGreat Moments at Shea StadiumMarty Noble — Major League Baseball Advanced Media — September 22, 2008
  29. 47newsMets Finish Two-Month Loss to CubsParton Keese — September 17, 1977
  30. 48webRemembering Shea stadiumRobert Cassidy — August 9, 2008
  31. 49newsUnruly Fans Mar Shea Farewell As Jets Lose, 34–7Gerald Eskenazi — December 11, 1983
  32. 51newsSimpson Breaks Mark as Bills Rout JetsMurray Chass — December 17, 1973
  33. 52newsPortuguesa Upsets West Ham In Soccer at Shea Stadium, 6–3William J. Briordy — June 18, 1965
  34. 53webCosmos Homes Away From HomeDavid Kilpatrick — April 28, 2015
  35. 54newsSoccer Team to Call Shea Stadium HomeAlex Yannis — February 21, 1980
  36. 56newsCosmos Win, 2–0, At SheaAugust 18, 1976
  37. 57bookThe Beatles Off The RecordKeith Badman — Omnibus — 2000
  38. 58magazineWhy Beatles' Shea Show Was Even Greater Than You KnewColin Fleming — August 14, 2015
  39. 60news'Last Play at Shea' Documentary Tells Stadium's StoryGlenn Gamboa — April 20, 2010
  40. 62newsAt Shea, A Moving GoodbyeAnna Quindlen — October 4, 1979
  41. 64webCape League All-Star Gamecapecodbaseball.org
  42. 66newsThe 10 rock comediesMark Kermode — February 1, 2004
  43. 68newsSpider-Man to Wed ModelMichael Gross — June 2, 1987
  44. 69webHistory of Shea StadiumMajor League Baseball Advanced Media
  45. 71webOne Last Trip HomeJ. R. Moehringer — ESPN — September 29, 2008
  46. 73webThe Ballparks: Shea StadiumJuly 28, 2020
  47. 74bookStoried StadiumsCurt Smith — Carroll & Graf — 2001
  48. 75newsDome Is Proposed for Shea StadiumCharles G. Bennett — March 18, 1965
  49. 77webBe It Ever So Humble, There's No Place Like SheaPaul Lukas — ESPN — September 26, 2008
  50. 78newsFor Mets Fans, a Menu Beyond Peanuts and Cracker JackGlenn Collins — March 24, 2009
  51. 79newsMets' Home Run Apple Loved to CoreAnthony McCarron — April 21, 2008
  52. 80newsHome Run Apple A Core Value for Mets FansLaura Albanese — March 26, 2010
  53. 81newsShea Stadium Opens With Big Traffic JamLeonard Koppett — April 18, 1964
  54. 82newsSports of the Times; An Empty Patch in Right FieldIra Berkow — November 13, 1990
  55. 85bookThe Scouting Notebook 2005Thom Henninger et al. — Sporting News — January 10, 2005
  56. 86bookThe ESPN Baseball EncyclopediaPete Palmer et al. — Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. — 2006
  57. 87webBig, Bigger, Biggest of the Big LeaguesMark Newman — Major League Baseball Advanced Media — March 30, 2006
  58. 88newsJets Get City Offer On SheaMaurice Carroll — April 21, 1983
  59. 89webJones Has 17 Home Runs at Shea StadiumESPN — August 31, 2004
  60. 93webKevin James named his daughter Shea, as in stadiumNeil Best — January 9, 2009