First Trip to C iti Field - nyisles16's Blog

nyisles16's Blog

First Trip to C iti Field

Posted on June 24, 2009 at 02:40 PM.

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Well, after watching good ol' Shea being torn down, I wondered when my time to visit the new home of the Amazin's would come. Low and behold, for my birthday, I was able to score some tickets to two games (games against the Cards and Cubs).

Last night (6/23) was the first of the games. I took along my fiance -- I mean, is there anyone else I could have taken

, and we ventured out to the new digs. We arrived at the park about 4:30 - 5pm, so that we could actually park at the stadium, instead of across the street or elsewhere from the park. I have to say, the view of the stadium from the outside is impressive. It sort of looks a little like Camden Yards from the outside.

So we grabbed our belongings and made way to the main entrance of the park. Walking across the lot (still smelling asphalt it is still so new), we came across the "infield" of old Shea Stadium. There is a plaque to remember all the bases as well as the pitcher's mound and home plate. I really thought that was a nice touch. After snapping a few pics, we then awaited our turn to walk through the stadium -- very curious though as why security has men and women lining up separately.

Of course, after walking in, we were already into the Jackie Robinson rotunda. To me, this was a nice touch as well. After hearing all the silly nonsense about it, it doesn't make it all about the former Dodger. Rather, it combines his story with ideals and words people should remember -- much like walking through the halls of the "American Experience" at Epcot.

The two of us then made our trip to what would turn out to be "Bob Uecker" seats -- the very last rows of the stadium. As we walked the floors, it was really impressive to see how "open" the stadium was, and we could see BP while walking all the way to our seats.

Finally, we made it!!! Nothing like seeing the skyline of NY at your back and the World's Fair at the other side. Great sightlines to watch the game (my seats were slightly to the left of home plate). While the sun was out when we got there, you could see the rains coming, and sure enough, we had to endure a 55 minute rain delay (though the grounds crew needs some retraining on how to put out the tarp).

The nice thing about the stadium, was that there seemed to be no long lines at the food stands. Now mind you, I didn't get out to the famed "Blue Smoke" area just beyond the centerfield area, but the eatery behind the plate was easily accessible.

My only issues really with the place were the steps to get out of the park -- really loved the ramps better that Shea had, and that leaving the park is a real pain -- took almost an hour to get out! Even though the Cards won, not to mention the Mets couldn't buy a hit the whole game, it was still a pleasant trip.

Comments

# 1 waspman3 @ Sep 6

Dude as you've probably noticed by now I'm farely new at this site but your story was of a good one. I'm a Cards fan and I wasn't fortunate enough to make it to that stadium it's 1st year of existence when they would go onto win it all that year. I remember loading all kinds of pictures onto my computer of the before and after which was cool. Even had a live camera you could see the new stadium being built,or was that the old one being torn down,I don't remember. There's something to say about a new stadium being build but maybe more so of the man memories as kids when we saw our favorite players and it was so neat. I remember growing up as a kid being told to go to bed when I was in school so I did but having that transistor radio with that 1 small earphone to listen to game more times putting us to sleep. Those were the days back when we could afford to go to games. Now a days I'd just as soon stay home and not fight the crowds and save a few bucks and can usually drink a few beers for a fraction of what they charge for 1 in today's games. Thanks for sharing that story though. Brings back some memories.