As Shea Stadium's last days slip away, some old habits are coming back. Among them: The Wave.
Loge13 was never a popular destination for The Wave. It was fun in its faddish way when The Wave first surfaced at Shea in the mid-1980's. But it quickly became a distraction, as folks began patrolling each section, demanding that fans "Get UP!" regardless of what was happening on the field. Once these self-assigned Wave mongers began threatening folks who didn't comply with orders, fights started breaking out and the game quickly became a sideshow.
Where'd the Wave Craze begin? One possibility according to Wikipedia:
Krazy George believes that the wave originally was inspired by
accident when he was leading cheers at a National Hockey League game at
the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada. His routine was to have one side of the arena jump and cheer,
then have the opposite side respond. One night in late 1980, there was
a delayed response from one section of fans, leading to them jumping to
their feet a few seconds later than the section beside them. The next
section of fans followed suit, and the first wave circled the
Northlands Coliseum of its own accord. Krazy George then perfected the
method for initiating a wave cheer with the Edmonton fans, and carried
the wave with him to other venues, culminating with the aforementioned
televised Major League Baseball game. Krazy George has been quoted as
saying "If you don't believe me, ask (former) Edmonton Oilers superstar Wayne Gretzky. He was there."
Last month, some guys in the box seats tried starting a Wave. It gained some momentum...until it hit Loge13:
These guys kept trying but Loge13 is the Great Barrier Reef to frivolity.
The Wave did kinda trickle back to life over in Loge5 but by then it had been reduced down from a Category 5 Wave to more of a ripple.
Note: Kingman and cohorts are still on vacation, hitting the real waves.
My favorite 'Shea Wave' moment had to happen in the late 90's. Mezzanine 3 is as strong as Loge 13 when it comes to repelling the Wave.
It was an unusually crowded game for the late 90's, and the Mezzanine was filled out to the odd 20's. It could have been a group theme night, or one of those International Nights. The wave would begin in right field, work its way towards home plate, where it would die.
Finally, one of the 'wave machines' out in Right Field ran down to Mezzanine 3, and began to yell, "Why don't you get up!? It's a wave!!"
Mezzanine 3 replied in a loud tone, "GET BACK ON YOUR BUS!!"
Today is the day: the last rock concert ever at Shea Stadium. But we are going to celebrate in style.
By all accounts, Billy Joel did a great job at the penultimate performance Wednesday. Tony Bennett, John Mellencamp, John Mayer and other guests did their best to pay tribute to Shea's legacy. Joel even played three Beatles covers. Well done.
Loge13 readers know Shea Stadium's rock & roll heritage well. No other venue in existence can boast hosting The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Clash, The Police, REM, Grand Funk Railroad, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel...just to name a few.
Indeed, the stadium concert was born in Shea Stadium, August 1965. The Beatles christened the concept.
Six years later, Grand Funk Railroad came to Queens and shattered the Beatles attendance record. Humble Pie opened. The GFR show is legendary and there is little footage commercially available.
However we have been honored by the Funk following and given a chance to share some of that Shea Stadium experience.
Here is some NEW video of Grand Funk Railroad's 1971 performance at Shea! The band is performing "Gimme Shelter" and a more apt tune would be hard to find right now. The great rock and roll Shelter by Jamaica bay is itself about to be reduced to rock. Lets pay tribute to the artists who stopped by Shea in the past 44 years and rocked our worlds. More important, as you watch this footage, also pay tribute to the millions of fans who came out to Shea to get their worlds rocked!
In the words of one Shea musical alumnus: Rock is Dead. Long Live Rock!
As it is All-Star week and all the talk is about the game being played up in the Bronx, Loge13 thought we should remember one of the greatest All-Star games ever played: the 1964 game at the brand new Shea Stadium.
We'll have more on that game later. For now, lets set the stage. It is 1964. The first summer since the JFK assassination. The city's newest baseball franchise opens its state-of-the-art ballpark in Flushing. And across the street, the 1964 World's Fair is in full swing. Tourists from all over the globe are coming to Queens to get a peek at the future. Somewhere in the little-visited "Hall of Blogs," an enterprising nerd posted this video clip on his site "1964WorldsFair.com."
I put the names of all entrants in my lucky green Met hat last night and had the oldest Kingman progeny do the drawing.
The winner is...Andrew C.
Thanks to everyone who entered. We still have the Mayor's Trophy prize to hand out, which is the DVD of Shea World Series highlights. Look for that tomorrow, after the committee has finished reviewing all entries. I also will publish a few of the other entries next week when the Kingman crew is on vacation from work and all things Internet.
Here is what Andrew wrote to enter the contest:
I started actively following baseball in the summer of 1998, when
the Mets fell just short of the NL Wild Card. For that reason, I was
really looking forward to the 1999 season, and it didn't disappoint
until Kenny Rogers' ill-fated walk in Game 6 of the NLCS. One reason
that 1999 was such a great year was the game I went to on July 10, when
the Mets played the Yankees. It's still the only Subway Series game
I've been to, and it was certainly memorable.
Our seats were in the upper deck...I want to say about section 46
of the Upper Reserved, but I'm not sure. The important point is that we
were so high up that every fly ball looked like it was a home run...and
as it turned out, seven of them actually were home runs. The Yankees
had six of the seven, and going into the bottom of the ninth, I figured
the Yankees and Mariano Rivera would hold on to their 8-7 lead.
Except that they didn't. After Brian McRae grounded out, Rickey
Henderson drew a walk. Edgardo Alfonzo doubled, which put the winning
run in scoring position. John Olerud grounded out, and then the Yankees
walked Mike Piazza to get to pinch hitter Matt Franco. This was
exciting; you could feel the electricity in the air.
Rivera got ahead of Franco with two strikes in a row before
throwing a pitch that looked like it was strike three, even from our
seats. There was a collective groan from the Yankees fans and a sigh of
relief from the Mets fans. And then Franco singled into shallow right
field. And Alfonzo scored. And the Mets had won.
My father, my brother, and I all clapped and cheered for a good ten
minutes, along with the rest of our section. You could feel the entire
stadium rocking. It was a great win, the best game I've ever been to,
and my favorite moment of many I've experienced at Shea.
I've been watching the films in pieces with my kids and they are a real trip. We wrote about the DVDs a few weeks back. There are six complete games here, plus lots of great bonus stuff, including the endings to the 1969 World Series, Shea division clinchers, an interview with Bill Shea and plenty more.
And you can have it for free.
I am going to do a random drawing on Sunday, July 13. Very simple rules to enter:
1) Write a short note (at least 50 words) describing either your favorite memory of Shea Stadium OR something you will miss about Shea Stadium. 2) Send your note to Kingman AT Blogsbyfans.com.
Limit two entries per person (one entry on each topic). I reserve the right to publish your entry on Loge13.com, unless you request that I not publish your entry on Loge13.com.
I will draw a winning name from the list of entries.
Of course, doing a random drawing doesn't ensure that the best written, most touching entry will win. Therefore there will also be a special "Mayor's Trophy" prize, awarded by an unbiased board of non-Mets fans that I will assemble. They will review each entry and select what they feel is the best written piece of the non-winning bunch.
Last chance to get those entries in. 
My favorite 'Shea Wave' moment had to happen in the late 90's. Mezzanine 3 is as strong as Loge 13 when it comes to repelling the Wave.
It was an unusually crowded game for the late 90's, and the Mezzanine was filled out to the odd 20's. It could have been a group theme night, or one of those International Nights. The wave would begin in right field, work its way towards home plate, where it would die.
Finally, one of the 'wave machines' out in Right Field ran down to Mezzanine 3, and began to yell, "Why don't you get up!? It's a wave!!"
Mezzanine 3 replied in a loud tone, "GET BACK ON YOUR BUS!!"
They never came back again.
Cheers!
-Doug