Question: What do stray cats and Met partial season ticket holders have in common?
Answer: There are presently no plans to relocate either party to Citi Field.
Back in July, 2007, I wrote a post about a possible plan to move Shea Stadium's stray cats to Citi Field (See
"Fat Cats Sitting Pretty in Citi Field").
Today's
Newsday has an update on the situation Will it be known as Kitty Field?
At least one cat lover wants the Mets to bring Shea Stadium's feral felines to their new home, Citi Field.
"They're part of Mets lore," said Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats, a Manhattan rescue group. "So why not keep them around?"
Since the ballpark opened in 1964, strays have occasionally scampered
across the field during games, including one legendary 1969 incident
when a black cat pranced in front of the Chicago Cubs dugout. The Mets
went on to beat the Cubs for the National League East division title
and won the World Series.
A spokeswoman for the city Parks Department said Shea staff believes
only one or two cats live at the ballpark. She said when cats are
caught, they are taken to shelters.
Anthony Rizzo, the parks department coordinator at Shea, said yesterday he's never seen cats at the stadium.
Kortis estimated the stadium may be home to 20 to 40 cats, based on
Shea's size and its proximity to Flushing Bay, which makes the Willets
Point section of Queens a haven for rodents.
"When they take out a tarp and roll it and a cat pops up ... it'd be unlikely there'd only be one or two," Kortis said.
The Mets referred questions about the cats to the parks department,
which said there is no plan to move the cats to Citi Field. Kortis said
cats could be useful at the new ballpark.
"They need cats there because they're right near the water, and if they
don't have them, they're going to be overrun with rats," he said.
Comments
The cats? Are they kidding? The cats will find their own way across the parking lot to Citi-Field... Unless us, they can sneak in...