Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York

Shea Stadium is one of the very oldest major league ballparks in the United States and the home of the New York Mets. Now, I’m a girl who knows what to do with a day off of work, so I spent my day at Shea Stadium today watching the Mets beat the Marlins. I had a great time and I feel a sense of personal accomplishment after my trip.

I’ve traveled quite a lot in my day, but taking New York public transportation solo intimidates me. It was a breeze. I took the PATH train from New Jersey (which is the economical way to get from Jersey to the city). The PATH train terminates two blocks from New York’s Penn Station. From there I took the Long Island Rail Road on the Port Washington branch. The branch is only open on game day and drops you off within easy walking distance of the stadium. The Shea stop is connected to a wooden bridge that takes you directly from the train to the stadium. There is no place else to go and even an idiot couldn’t screw it up. The ticket from Penn Station set me back $8.50 round trip. That’s what made me mad. You can take the 7 train on the subway and get there for about $4.00 round trip. It may take a little longer, but the end result is the same. For future reference, take the subway.

I got to Shea stadium and made a bee line for the beer and hotdog stand. The “Original Nathan’s Hotdog” (what else are you going to get in New York?!) was about $4.50 and the beer was around $7.50. Pretty standard ballpark pricing. And they carded me for the Bud Light, which always makes me a happy girl.

The fans were everything I expected from New York. There were two women in their late 60’s sitting in front of me in full Mets regalia, along with hand-written score cards (yes, they were keeping up with each and every batter), fan paraphernalia and packed lunches. They were precious. They did, however, have to hurl a few f-bombs at the obnoxious teenagers sitting behind me. No kidding, it was GREAT! The kids had cut school and the six of them made as much or more of a racket than the rest of the people in the stadium combined. People were actually moving to other sections to get away from the noise. They put the O in obnoxious. I thought it was pretty funny, for the most part. The one girl who was directly behind me sounded more like a young boy going through puberty and finally forced me to leave as well. Well, that and I ran out of beer. But I didn’t make it out before getting “JO-se, jo-SE, jo-SE, jo-SE, JO-SE, JO-se…” stuck in my head. I wont be able to stop singing that little number for a month.

If you want to see Shea Stadium, you need to get a move on. It looks like the Mets are set to move in to the new City Field, which is a stone’s throw from the current stadium, for the 2009 season.