Shea Stadium

Located in Queens 126th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, New York, Shea Stadium is home to the New York Mets Baseball team. Shea Stadium has been housing the Mets since it's opening in 1964. The stadium also housed the New York Yankees during the 1974 and 1975 seasons while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. The Yankees also played one "home" game at Shea in 1998 after a beam collapsed at Yankee Stadium, which destroyed rows of seats. From 1964 to 1983, the New York Jets, a NFL team played its home games at Shea Stadium. The New York Giants played at Shea in 1975. Shea Stadium is named after attorney William Shea, who played an influential role in bringing a NL expansion franchise to New York in 1962 following the city's abandonment by the Giants and the Dodgers in the 1950s.

Shea first tried to get the Cincinnati Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates, or the Philadelphia Phillies to move to New York. Shea desperately wanted a baseball franchise to represent New York in major league. When he failed to do so, he endeavored to organize a third major league, the Continental League, in 1958, with a franchise for New York, but the league was a huge flop and died before a single game was played. In 1960, National League owners decided expand its area of influence and awarded franchises to Houston and New York. Originally, the Mets were scheduled to play only one season at the Polo Grounds, the former home of the New York Giants, but due to a delay in the construction of the new ballpark, the Mets resumed to play at Polo Grounds. Built at the cost of $28.5 million the construction of the stadium took 29 months from its groundbreaking on October 28, 1961, to its completion on April 17, 1964. The stadium was originally to be called Flushing Meadow Park, but was named in honor of Shea, the man who brought National League baseball back to New York. On August 15, 1965, the stadium hosted the world's first stadium concert, which featured the Beatles.

The stadium has 24 ramps and 21 escalators. It is designed in such a way that the seating capacity can be increased to 90, 000. It was also the first stadium capable of being converted from baseball to football and back using two motor-operated stands that moved on underground tracks. It was also planned to add 15,000 seats and cover the stadium with a dome, but the plans never matured, because studies showed that the stadium might collapse under the weight of a roof. It is circular, but unenclosed in the outfield, and features natural grass, symmetrical fences, and the ML's largest scoreboard behind the right-centerfield fence. Left field is home to a small picnic area, while in center a large red apple rises out of a top hat after each Mets home run. The apple features the Mets logo and the words HOME RUN in big letters. It is located behind the center-field wall. Early- and late-season games are affected by bitter winds rising from nearby Flushing Bay. Shea's plenty of foul territory is a pitchers paradise, and almost all of its 55,601 seats are in foul territory. Right-center scoreboard is one of largest in the majors, 175 feet long and 86 feet high with Bulova clock on top, about 25 feet behind the outfield fence. The stadium is owned by the city of New York and is the noisiest outdoor ballpark in the majors, because of its nearness to the LaGuardia Airport, from where the jets pass overhead with a deafening roar.