Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Shea Stadium

Nationals Ticket Promotion in Poor Taste

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

I have travelled to an opposing ballpark to watch the Mets play. I purchased Red Sox tickets in 2006 when the Mets were in Beantown. In 1999 and 2002 I went to the old Veterans Stadium for a Phillies/Mets series; I did the same in 2006 for an August series against the Nationals at the old RFK. […]

Shea Stadium Nearly Had Astroturf

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

I was surprised when I found out earlier this week that Shea Stadium nearly went Astroturf for the 1985 season. Over at Sports Media Watchdog, I interviewed Michael Damergis, author of a great 25th anniversary book about the United States Football League called “USFL: The Rebel League the NFL Didn’t Respect but Feared.” During the […]

Looking Back: My Favorite Shea Stadium Moment

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

It’s cold and chilly and there is literally no Mets news outside of more snark/negativity regarding the Wilpons and team finances. Let’s change it up for a minute and do a nostalgia piece to get the fans warm and toasty. Matt Cerrone posted a picture of the Shea Stadium warning track on Metsblog the other […]

New Citi Field vs. Shea Stadium

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

We know the original Citi Field was cavernous in comparison to Shea Stadium, but how do the new dimensions compare? Here is a photo comparison of the Citi Field/Shea Stadium dimensions: New Citi Field is still going to be bigger than Shea Stadium in the power alleys. Right-center goes from an obscene 415 to 398; […]

Pete Rose on Shea Stadium

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

I have been meaning to share a bunch of pictures I took from my August visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Recently, I posted original scouting reports on Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, and Johan Santana. There were some great quotes posted throughout the museum. One of my favorites was by Pete Rose […]

Seaver On Pitch Counts: “I Had My Own Pitch Count”

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Marc Malusis did a great in studio interview on WFAN with “The Franchise” Tom Seaver. It was inevitable that pitch counts would come up during the conversation. When asked his thoughts on pitch counts he told Malusis “I had a pitch count. Whose pitch count was it? It was mine.  I know where I felt my effectiveness […]

2000 Celebration Against Yanks No Big Deal

Friday, May 21st, 2010

I had a little dialogue on Twitter with WFAN’s Sal Licata last night who, along with Evan Roberts, was fired up about the Mets honoring the 2000 NL Champs during this weekend’s Subway Series. Licata called it “embarrassing” and a “joke.” He wasn’t alone as other Mets fans didn’t want to watch it while Yankees […]

Graph: Citi Field vs. Shea Stadium

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Having more fun with this graph stuff. I should have done this earlier but look at Citi Field production at Shea Stadium: Key Dark Blue: Homers Orange: Fly Out Light Blue: Double Blue: Triple Again, I believe you won’t see that much of a difference.

Baseball and the President

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Since today is Presidents Day I got motivated to do some research into the history of baseball with the commander in chief. Thanks to the Baseball Almanac, I found some of these interesting tidbits: -On 06-26-1869, President Ulysses S. Grant brought the first professional team (all members of the Cincinnati Red Stockings were paid ballplayers) […]

Shea Stadium to Host the Puppy Bowl

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

I thought this was pretty funny (assist to Mets Police), as it appears good old Shea Stadium is back from the dead to host the annuel “Puppy Bowl” on Animal Planet. As Shannon from Mets Police also points out HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbal” also has Shea as the background. Seems like the old […]

Citi Field is No Different Than Shea

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Bob Klapisch suggested the Mets change the dimensions of Citi Field after just one season. I have to admit, the tall left field walls, and crazy right field corner do create some problems on both sides of the ball. I wanted to compare Citi Field to Shea Stadium and decided to use ESPN MLB Park […]

1971 Mets Yearbook on SNY

Friday, November 13th, 2009

I have been critical in the past of the lousy non Mets game programming at SNY. Nothing against Beer Money or Loudmouths, but it’s not going to attract serious sports fans to the network. The decision, however, to air an old Mets video yearbook is brilliant as the 1971 Mets debuted last night. The first […]

MLB, Twitter, Mackey Sasser, Pete Abe, Cold Damon

Friday, September 18th, 2009

- Peter Schiller over at Baseball Reflections gives a list of MLB players on Twitter. For the record, Doug Mientkiewicz is no longer one of them - In the biggest transaction since the Yanks and Sox a deal for Babe Ruth, Peter Abraham is leaving the Journal News to cover the Red Sox for the […]

The Last Days of Shea Tonight @6pm

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Dana Brand, author of the book “The Last Days of Shea” will join me tonight for an hour long discussion. Dana and I will talk about his book, memories of Shea, his thoughts on Citi Field, the need for celebration of Mets history, and the future of the organization. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE AT […]

Yanks Take Mets in Seven to Win 09′ Dynasty Matchup

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

The series was a lot closer than many, including me, thought. In the end the mighty Yankees were a notch better than the Mets. Below are the results, boxscores, and players of game. Remember, these games were played at the Old Yankee Stadium and Shea. We kept it retro! To view the entire 25 man […]