12 The Queens Courier • ANNIVERSARY • juLY 2, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com 30th ANNIVERSARY Queens’ Home Team: The New York Mets by ROBERT POZARYCKI Let’s face it: There’s been more tears than cheers for those who love the New York Mets, the only professional sports franchise to call Queens its home. When The Courier was born 30 years ago, the Mets were amidst a resurgence in the National League after being in the doldrums for much of the 1970s and the early 1980s. Shea Stadium in Flushing, which many fans avoided during those down years, became alive with activity again as the Mets became involved in pennant races. Within a year, they were on top of the world – winning 108 games in the regular season, then defeating the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox in two grueling, dramatic playoff series to capture the 1986 World Championship. Led by the core of Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, it seemed that the Mets were on their way to a dynasty. But that group would make the playoffs just one more time in the 1980s. They would win the 1988 NL Eastern Division title, but lose the pennant to the Cinderella, Los Angeles Dodgers. Mets fans would wait another 11 years – and endure one losing season after another along the way – before enjoying postseason baseball in Shea Stadium in back-to-back years. Led by Mike Piazza, Al Leiter and John Franco, the 1999 Mets rallied to win the National League wild card, then stunned the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Division Series on the strength of a seriesclinching home run at Shea off the bat of backup catcher Todd Pratt. The Mets would fall short against the Atlanta Braves in the League Championship Series, but not before another memorable playoff moment at Shea, when Robin Ventura hit the “grand slam single” that propelled the Amazins to a Game 5 win and forced the series back to Atlanta. The 2000 Mets went even further. After capturing the NL Championship against the St. Louis Cardinals. A few days later, they would face the American League Champion Yankees in the first Subway (World) Series since 1956. The Yankees would beat the Mets in five games, clinching their third-straight world championship on the Shea Stadium turf. It would be the final World Series ever played at Shea Stadium. Mets ownership negotiated with the city for years to replace the beloved, yet aging, former multipurpose stadium with a retro-modern ballpark. Sterling Equities finally got its wish in 2006 when it broke ground on Citi Field, a 42,000-seat ballpark in what was then Shea Stadium’s left field parking lot. Funded through city bonds, the new park modeled after Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ former home, and is looked upon by many as the first step in the redevelopment of the surrounding Willets Point industrial area. Shea Stadium’s final years saw the Mets return to the playoffs once more in 2006 as Eastern Division Champions, but their title run was stunningly cut short in the NLCS against the Cardinals. The stadium’s final playoff game was a grueling Game 7 loss. As the new park went up, Shea Stadium got a bittersweet sendoff as the Mets were eliminated on the final days of the 2007 and 2008 season. In the stadium’s closing ceremony, Tom Seaver threw one last p i t c h to Mike Piazza; they would return to Flushing the following April to throw the first ceremonial pitch at Citi Field. So far, the Mets have yet to experience a winning season at Citi Field, but they hope their fortunes will change sooner than later on the strength of young pitching stars Matt Harvey, Jacob de Grom and Noah Syndergaard. Perhaps by the next Courier anniversary issue, we will have reported on a third Mets world championship. Photo courtesy New York Daily News archives The 1986 Mets mob Jesse Orosco at the Shea Stadium pitching mound after winning the World Series. FILE PHOTOS A marker in the parking lot (foreground) notes the location of the former Shea Stadium home plate. Two Mets icons: Mike Piazza and David Wright Photo courtesy of Marc Levine Matt Harvey
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