Baseball Trip - Day 6

On Tuesday we headed back to New York. Our movie selection was A League of Their Own, an entertaining show about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which lasted from 1943 until 1954. Although the movie was fictional, it was fact-based. It focused on the Rockford Peaches, one of the original AAGPBL teams and did a good job depicting the challenges that these young trailblazers faced.

We drove into Flushing Meadows in Queens. The surroundings were much nicer than the area around Yankee Stadium, and there was plenty of parking. Across the way we could see the venue for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Citi Field is appropriately located at 41 Seaver Way and it looks like a ballpark should look. The entrances are named after Tom Seaver, Gil Hodges, and Casy Stengel. There are posters and pennants honoring past and present players. There was no doubt you were there to see the New York Mets. Their team Hall of Fame was located in the concourse area behind home plate. Each honoree had a Cooperstown styled plaque and a good summary of their contributions to the organization. Very well done.

There was a crowd of over 38,000, but it didn’t really seem that crowded. The passageways were roomy and the concession areas and restrooms were well situated. We had a great view from our seats down the third base line. I even enjoyed seeing Mr. and Mrs. Met, the cheesy mascots. The crowd roared when the video board showed Darryl Strawberry in the stands, and really erupted when Juan Soto hit a home run, resulting in the celebratory rise of the big red apple in center field.

The coolest part of the night was the entry of Mets star reliever Edwin Diaz into the game in the ninth. The lights went out and it looked like the fence around the bullpen was on fire. As Diaz walked to the mound Timmy Trumpet played the infectious “Narco” and the fans erupted. I had seen this entrance on television, but you have to be there to really see - and feel it. Tremendous fun! The stage was set for a walk off win by New York, and they delivered in the tenth. Mets fan left happy, and we left entertained.

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?