Ball Parks, New and Old

The temperature in New York City reached 90 degrees today, a record for this date. But the humidity was low-- perfect weather for a baseball game! We went to the new Citi Field to watch the mighty Mets lose, 8 to 1, to the lowly Nationals. The new stadium is an impressive facility, presenting baseball in an environment so pristine that, from what I could observe, even New York baseball fans are moved to behave with decorum. The food is amazingly good, and there are polite, well trained, neatly attired, service people at every turn. Because everything else seems so well thought out and fan friendly, I was flabbergasted to discover that even the expensive seats behind home plate are pitched at such a flat angle that the views to the field are obscured from every seat not on the front row. If that problem exists throughout the ball park, one would have to assume that this faulty design will become a major issue between the Mets and their fans, analogous to the endemic acoustics problems at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

Next, we want to get tickets to a game in the new Yankee Stadium. In 1994, I ceased being an active baseball fan when the players chose to strike rather than play the World Series. If the players don't really care, why should I? But it is fun to go to a game.  Like most New Yorkers, I have wonderful memories of baseball and football games at the old Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium, R.I.P.