Shea Stadium

Categories: Sports | Baseball | Stadiums
    • Opened: April 17, 1964
    • Capacity: 55,601 (baseball)
    • Designed to be expandable to 90,000 seats
    • Right-center scoreboard is one of largest in the majors
    • Christened April 16, 1964, with Dodgers Holy Water
    • The Beatles played before 53,275 fans in August 1965 and again in August 1966
    • Billy Joel performed at the last game, and at the last ever concert in the building
  • The William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, also known as Shea Stadium, was the home of the New York Mets in New York City. Demolition of the stadium began after the Mets' final game there on September 28, 2008.

    The final pieces of the stadium were demolished on February 18, 2009.The New York Times: Shea Is Gone but Not Forgotten The Met's new stadium, Citi Field, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2009.

  • History

    Shea Stadium was named for the then prominent New York attorney William Alfred Shea who helped bring a National League expansion franchise to the city in 1962, four years after both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to California. It was also the longtime home of the New York Jets before they moved to New Jersey in 1984.

    Shea Stadium was located adjacent to the National Tennis Center, where the U.S. Open Tennis Championships are held each year. The stadium's design was like many others of that era in that it allowed for multi-purposes rather than simply confining itself to one sport's dimensions. In addition to sporting events, Shea Stadium hosted numerous musical concert events, most famously the first ever live concert held on American soil by The Beatles in 1965. It was also the backdrop for one of the most memorable Seinfeld episodes ever, involving a spoof of the JFK Assassination.

  • Notable Shea Stadium Moments

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