New York Mets tickets

THE NEW YORK METS played at Polo Grounds in 1962 and 1963 while Shea was being built across the street from the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair. The hope was that visitors to the fair would be drawn to the park by mere proximity. But more important was that Shea was located between two major highways and amid the rapidly expanding communities in Queens and the Long Island suburbs.

Shea was not the first park constructed with the suburbs in mind (that was Milwaukee's County Stadium, in 1953), but it was recognized at the time as the ideal stadium of the future. Accessible from major roads, with plenty of park¬ing, Shea acknowledged the reality of urban flight: If fans were moving out of cities, baseball teams would have to follow them. This trend continued for thirty years, until 1993, when Camden Yards was built in the downtown Inner Harbor of Baltimore.

Shea's location, while convenient for suburbanites, also has its drawbacks. First is weather: The ballpark is open in the outfield and quite close to Flushing Bay, and cold winds can make it extremely uncomfortable, especially in April and October. In a futile attempt to moderate the wind chill, the city of San Fran¬cisco enclosed the outfield at Candlestick Park. There was talk of enclosing Shea with a dome, but the cost was deemed prohibitive and the project was dropped. Plans to replace Shea with a new stadium are on hold.

The other major problem is its location adjacent to La Guardia Airport, making it perhaps the noisiest stadium in baseball. Games are frequently delayed while jets roar overhead. During the two weeks when the U.S. Open tennis tournament is played across the street at the National Tennis Center, planes are rerouted during matches. No such accommodation is made for the Mets.

TUG MCGRAW "My dreams about becoming a Major League Baseball player . . . came true later at Shea Stadium in New York, when I walked onto Shea Stadium in my Mets uniform for the first time and felt like I was the luckiest guy in the world. Because every day when I came to work for the Mets, I would go to Shea Stadium, play big-league baseball. And then after the game, walk across the street and go to the World's Fair. It was just too good to be true."

WILLIE RANDOLPH "I never got into any of the good seats, mostly the cheap seats, but [was] just totally mesmerized by the aura of the field and the history behind some of these ballparks. My uncle would drive me down to the Grand Central Parkway, leaving Shea Stadium, and I remember looking out the rear window and I would say to myself, 'I'm going to be there one day. I'm going to play in that stadium one day'. . . And it came true for me."

ERIC YOUNG "The first time was when I went to Shea Stadium to see the Mets. I was in the nosebleed seats way up there, and they used to hit pop-ups and you think it's coming to you, and the ball wouldn't be close to me, it'd be either on the field or in the first section. And I just remember always wanting to get a ball. And I felt like all the players heard me and knew that I was up there cheering for them. And that was a thrill."

PHIL GARNER "In 1964 my family and I traveled to New York City for the World's Fair. The grounds were across from the ballpark. We wandered over to the stadium and it hap¬pened to be open, so we walked in. As a fresh-man in high school, my dream was to play professional baseball. As I stood at home plate, the stands towered above like nothing the small east Tennessee country boy had ever seen. I told my mom and dad, 'Someday I'll play here.' My first year in the big leagues with the Oakland A's we played in Shea because Yankee Stadium was being renovated. Dreams do come true."

MO VAUGHN "First stadium I ever saw: Shea Stadium ... It just seemed so enormous to me. I knew that this is the big leagues; this is what it's all about, what you work for all your life. But I think that the size of stadiums, great thing."