Home Run Apple History

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

There was a period when the leaf on the apple was missing, but it was found in a storage room and reattached.

The apple is controlled from the press box with three buttons labeled UP, DOWN and STOP.

[Frayed Knot]

]I do like the neon skyline on top of the scoreboard and I really do dig when it lights up after a homerun. Wish they'd remove the Twin Towers from it though. It takes away a small bit of the joy I feel when I look at the sign and see the red, white and blue ribbon surrounding the blacked out towers.

Gary was talking about this the other day - saying how the ribbon over the towers was the perfect way to handle it; not removing them like they're gone from our memories yet not keeping them there and lit up like they're still up.
I agree.

[Guest cooby]

How do you lose a giant leaf?

[seawolf17]

="soupcan"]No, but Jimmy Walker was.

Jimmie Walker? I'd vote for him. He's been really funny on the Match Game the last couple of days.

edit: I absolutely LOVE the apple. It has to be replicated in the new park; and I agree that the skyline should be there too.

[soupcan]

="Frayed Knot"] ]I do like the neon skyline on top of the scoreboard and I really do dig when it lights up after a homerun. Wish they'd remove the Twin Towers from it though. It takes away a small bit of the joy I feel when I look at the sign and see the red, white and blue ribbon surrounding the blacked out towers. Gary was talking about this the other day - saying how the ribbon over the towers was the perfect way to handle it; not removing them like they're gone from our memories yet not keeping them there and lit up like they're still up. I agree.

And I disagree. There are so many reminders of 9/11, everyday and every where I go that I just don't want to think about it anymore then I have to.

Of course it was horrible and we should remember it but why do I have to think about it after a homerun? Is that even really appropriate?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I love the apple. It's stupid and it's kitchy, but it's fun and it's all ours.

[Frayed Knot]

cooby wrote: How do you lose a giant leaf?

Wilt Chamberlain was playing the lead in a play about Adam & Eve and borrowed it for a while.

[seawolf17]

The first time I went back to Shea after 9/11 (I know this belongs in the other thread, but since we're talking about the skyline), we were sitting in the loge reserved, third-base side, directly across from the scoreboard. As the national anthem played, I looked up at the skyline; and just at that moment, off in the distance, a plane flew behind ("through") the towers. Gave me the heebie-jeebies.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I also like that they ribboned the towers. It was thoughtful.

I'm tellin' ya, all this odd Shea stuff would make a great book someday (the panels, the neon figuirines, the picnic area, the moving stands, the Jets, the apple, the bathrooms, Casey's, the Diamond Club, Pete Flynn, the leaky clubhouse, the Yankees in the 70s, the plans for the roof, the landfill).

[Benjamin Grimm]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I'm tellin' ya, all this odd Shea stuff would make a great book someday (the panels, the neon figuirines, the picnic area, the moving stands, the Jets, the apple, the bathrooms, Casey's, the Diamond Club, Pete Flynn, the leaky clubhouse, the Yankees in the 70s, the plans for the roof, the landfill).

I'd buy that book.

It should be a coffee table type book.

[Willets Point]

="soupcan"] ="Willets Point"]Magic Mets You made that one up.

Did not. Headline of The Stamford Advocate from October 28, 1986 that I have right here by my computer says "Magical Mets win Series."

I've seen it elsewhere too.

I wouldn't change the skyline at Shea. At New Shea should they replicate the skyline feature they could build a more contemporary version of the skyline that includes the Freedom Tower.

[Guest cooby]

Murder mystery

[soupcan]

="Willets Point"] Did not. Headline of The Stamford Advocate from October 28, 1986 that I have right here by my computer says "Magical Mets win Series."

Headline of a newspaper article? C'mon. If that's your criteria let's stick a big gorilla on the scoreboard in the new place because I'm sure there was a headline that once read 'Kong goes Ape!' after a Kingman homerun.

="Willets Point"]I wouldn't change the skyline at Shea. At New Shea should they replicate the skyline feature they could build a more contemporary version of the skyline that includes the Freedom Tower.

I agree.

="cooby"]Murder mystery

Huh?

[Benjamin Grimm]

King Kong on the scoreboard?

I love the idea!

In fact, if they named it King Kong Park I'd be delighted.

[soupcan]

And he'd be on a pulley sytem that would make him go up and down every time a homerun was hit.

[Guest Edgy DC]

There's nothing wrong with feeling a small twinge of sadness every time we look up there. That's what we should feel. It lends gravity to what we do and makes our daily efforts a little more substantial and less friviolous, reminds us what we owe the dead and the living.

The twin towers will be up there as little more than a curious history lesson to succeeding generations, like D-Day commemorations and Memorial Day poppy flowers were to us. But if we do our jobs, there won't be a twinge of sadness for them.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Stupid fans rank stupid Shea 29th-stupidest stadium.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/09/11/fvi.summary/index.html

[soupcan]

Edgy DC wrote: The twin towers will be up there as little more than a curious history lesson to succeeding generations, like D-Day commemorations and Memorial Day poppy flowers were to us. But if we do our jobs, there won't be a twinge of sadness for them.

I understand what you are saying but I don't feel the same way. Possibly because of my personal 9/11 memories I just don't feel that going to a Mets game and celebrating a homerun should be a time for thoughtful reflection.

If the majority disagrees with me - and it appears that they may - then so be it.

[Guest cooby]

soupcan wrote: ="cooby"]by"]Murder mystery Huh?

Like Scarlet's favorite book, "Beanball"


And I agree with you

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think we must be the most amused people in history. The media would have us all turn into amusement crackheads if they could. They're doing a pretty good job as it is.

In such an environment, there's almost no appropriate time. The Mets, an amusement company, made one. To me, it adds poignancy and substance to each homerun, and makes them more satisfying, not less.

It won't happen, but I'd have no problem if the Mets --- should they get to the World Series --- wore the service agency hats, at least for one game.

[soupcan]

="Edgy DC"]I think we must be the most amused people in history. The media would have us all turn into amusement crackheads if they could. They're doing a pretty good job as it is. In such an environment, there's almost no appropriate time. The Mets, an amusement company, made one. To me, it adds poignancy and substance to each homerun, and makes them more satisfying, not less.

I don't know about the rest of the population but I've got plenty of time in my life to reflect, thanks. Like when I'm at services in my place of worship or when I'm sitting down to a meal with my family. When I'm riding my bike, when I'm spending time with my children.

I resent being told when an appropriate time is. I can figure that out on my own. Jumping up and down when a Met hits a homerun is not one of those times.

="Edgy DC"]It won't happen, but I'd have no problem if the Mets --- should they get to the World Series --- wore the service agency hats, at least for one game.

And probably not surprising to the 'Pool, this is yet another thing that drives me nuts.

[Benjamin Grimm]

They wore those caps at the game I attended on September 10. And I found myself wondering when this tradition will stop.

I think it was nice when the Mets wore the caps the rest of the way in 2001. And it was appropriate in 2002 for the anniversary.

But they shouldn't have done it in 2003. Because now they're not going to be able to easily stop. And after a while it will seem to be less of a tribute than it will a strange quirk.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Stupid fans rank stupid Shea 29th-stupidest stadium. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/09/11/fvi.summary/index.html

Stupid? They must be on crack!

Shea is in the bottom corner, but it's much better than the stadiums in Tampa, Miami, Minnesota and Oakland, as well as RFK.

San Francisco #14? That's my runner up for #1 (after PNC, which they ranked behind Anaheim and Colorado).

This is a nonsensical ranking.

[seawolf17]

It's kinda like the "God Bless America" every fricking seventh-inning stretch thing. It's annoying, it's tedious, but to even suggest stopping it means you get investigated by Homeland Security.

[Guest cooby]

I think they could get away with it if they just didn't start it up again at the beginning of a season

[Guest Edgy DC]

seawolf17 wrote: It's kinda like the "God Bless America" every fricking seventh-inning stretch thing. It's annoying, it's tedious, but to even suggest stopping it means you get investigated by Homeland Security.

It's not played every seventh inning stretch and hasn't been for at least two seasons, but is rather reserved for Sunday. They're also quite different things --- a forced musical invocation of the deity and a secular relic remaining on the scoreboard (where it was before the attack, it's not like they added it) for you to observe or ignore as you wish.

[seawolf17]

I was specifically referring to the team across town.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, well, the team across town...