Kingman is back after a few earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and work projects. Apologies for the absence.
The Mets response to the attacks of September 11th were remarkable. From Bobby Valentine and the team being stuck in Pittsburgh to their efforts working at Shea, there are many tales to tell. And of course, there was that amazing first game back, capped by Piazza's home run.
Here is video from September 11, 2008, during the last days of Shea. On this ten-year anniversary weekend, Loge13 and the Kingman family remember all those who lost their lives and give eternal thanks to those angels who went in to rescue strangers. Never forget.
In today's NY Times, Barry Larkin talked about how he almost became a Met and how much he loved Shea Stadium...so much that the middle name of his oldest daughter is D'Shea. That's two non-Met ex-major leaguers who named kids after our beloved
Shea. I am still not aware of anyone naming a child after Citi Field.
Would that be a boy's name or girl's name? Either way, I have decided the next kid a father will be named after Loge13. Here is the relevant bit from the Larkin interview:
Larkin had a chance to play in October with the Mets in 2000. The
Mets traded for Larkin that July, agreeing to send their top prospect,
outfielder Alex Escobar, and pitchers Eric Cammack and Jason Saenz, to
Cincinnati. None of the players had much of a career, and Larkin, who
hit .313 that season, might have helped the Mets win the World Series.
But Larkin vetoed the trade and signed a three-year, $27 million contract extension with the Reds.
"I'm
happy I stayed where I was," Larkin said. "In '99, we had a one-game
playoff against the Mets. So I was thinking, at that time, we still had a
chance to win in Cincinnati."
Even so, Larkin said he would have
come to Shea Stadium if the Mets had offered a multiyear deal. His wife
was excited about it, said Larkin, who so enjoyed playing in New York
that he had given his oldest daughter, Brielle, the middle name D'Shea.
"I
absolutely loved it there," Larkin said. "I wanted to be a fighter
pilot when I was a kid, so I loved the roar of the engines so close to
La Guardia, and the energy of the fans. They would get on me, 'Yo,
Larkin, you stink!' And if I did stink at the time, I would say, 'Yeah, I
do,' and they'd start laughing. I always had great interaction with the
fans. Every time I would go there, I'd recognize some of the same guys.
I just really, really enjoyed that."
Make no mistake. Jones, like David Wright, misses Shea Stadium.
"Citi Field is a lot bigger than Shea; it doesn't affect me as much as
it affects Wright and [Jason] Bay and those guys," said Jones, who will
return to Atlanta's starting lineup tonight following knee and quad
injuries. "At Shea there was a jet stream out to right-center. I've seen
David tattoo balls here that sometimes get caught that would have been
home runs at Shea. It's funny to see those guys lace a ball off the wall
and get to second base and look at me, like 'Damn!' It can be
frustrating."
And so it was in the first inning last night, as
Wright blasted a long double off the wall in left-center to drive in the
Mets' only run. Wright crushed the pitch from Tim Hudson, but had no
hope of clearing the fence.
"I've played here long enough to know that's not a home run here," said Wright, a hint of dejection in his voice.
"You better swallow your pride when you walk into this park," said
Jones, who added he has no plans to retire, "and try to hit the ball
into the gaps and concentrate on being a .300 hitter instead of a
30-home run guy."
Added Wright, "It's a big park, there's no sense whining about it."
We should listen to Larry. After all, he named his daughter Shea.
Loge13 is not your typical met blog. We don't comment on every Met game, every Met moment. There's plenty of other places for that. Originally, I was just writing Loge13.com to commemorate the demise of Shea Stadium. The blog was to go when Shea went. But people liked it (well, some people did) so I've kept it up.
I'm not exactly sure what the mission of Loge13 is now. But I can guarantee you this: we are, without a doubt, THE ONLINE COMMUNITY AND RESOURCE for the Shea Stadium Concert of Peace.
That show, which occurred 41 years ago today on August 6th, 1970, featured some of the greatest acts of the time, from CCR to Paul Simon to Johnny Winter. The show was also the last U.S. performance of Janis Joplin.
People continue to find Loge13 and post their memories of the gig. Each year, I harvest the most recent recollections and republish them. The best part: to this day, concert goers still can't agree if Jimi Hendrix played or didn't play that day. What caused everyone to have such faulty memories?
Anyway, here are some Festival for Peace comments, collected from various Loge13 posts on the subject since last year. Peace y'all:
Glad to see
this, I was just telling a family member about this concert with Janis.
I had just said that my biggest disaappointment was that for some
reason Jimi Hendrix was not going to be there.Still a great night as I
got to see Janis and Creedenc e and Johnny winter and many It was billed
as a 12 hour concert.
Hi. I was 13 and my friend Mike was still 12. I
think we took a bus to the concert. We sat way up in the seats, but it
did not matter. It was my first concert and one of the bes line ups
ever. Sat all day, with one great act folowing the next. Remember Janus,
Poco, Tina Turner, and CCR the best. Also remember needing to pee
really badly by the end of the day! Why are there no films or pictures? I
too, still have my ticket stub and a clpping from the newspaper
advertising the concert.I think I have seen a copy of the clipping
online somewhere once. Great day and I will never forget it!
I went with my 2 best friends from H.S. We went by
subway from the Bronx. It was an awesome show, but have minimal
recollection of it, so glad that other people have better memories than I
do. I later moved to L.A., & my 2 friends wrote to me about
"Concert for Bangladesh". Not quite the same! But at least I got to
see Janis before she died.& Loved Paul Simon, &CCR, so the
slight sunburn was worth the small price of admission.
This concert was the last performance of THE RASCALS
with Eddie Brigati--they DID perform. I have about 20 minutes of film
footage and an audio recording of The Rascals portion of the show made
by one of their employees as he knew it was their final concert--Eddie
Brigati actually made an announcement regarding the unstable shaking of
the bleachers. Peter Yarrow came onstage and asked Eddie to make the
announcement (this is actually in the film footage I have) he says:"cool
it in the stands...don't get too crazy..because they're worried about
security meausures" Also, Janis Joplin can be seen milling in the
background behind members of The Rascals while they were hanging in the
dugout waiting to go on--
I was there with my friend Linda D., and Aggie P.
who was pregnant at the time. It was an amazing show, and it was more
amazing when Janis showed up unexpectedly. Hendrix was not there. We
packed a lunch and had a great time. Too bad it wasn't filmed. Maybe
someone out there has something on film and they should put it on
youtube.
My first concert, Johnny Winter rocked the house,
Janis Joplin was surprise guest and made them turn off the house lights .
Richie Havens had the upper deck swaying to Freedom.
Robin Briguglio
said
This was a summer fest for peace concert that was
rocking full tilt all day. The stands and railings, seats and everyone
attending, was rocking...and it was a little scary. I was 15 and went
to school in Manhasset, and about a dozen friends and I took the train
into the flushing station, for a day of amazing music! Long, crazy hair,
bell bottoms, peasant tops, buffalo sandals...fringed bags and
belts...it is such a shame no major videos or photos have
emerged......that seems really peculiar. Janis was the highlight for
me, and every band there was or became a headliner. It was a very hot
day, it was peaceful concert. The concession lines were very long, and I
remember people buying juice in those little cans (Mott's?) and
sodas......drinking all day to beat the heat. Our seats were
perfect..back a few rows from the very front, and the place was packed
right up to the nose bleed seats waaaaay up top! it was a the
anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima which put a stamp on a huge
reason for being there.....peace.
Such an exciting day.
Jack
said
I went to this concert with my cousin Chris who left
early. I stayed for the whole thing. One group that played that no one
has mentioned is the Paul Butterfield's Blues Band. Jimi Hendrix was not
dead as stated by tvgas, he died 9/18/1970 concert was
8/6/1970. Janis was gone on October 4. I remember that day well, we
heard about it during school and couldn't believe they were both gone so
quickly.
It is really amazing to me that so little is online about this great
show.
was at shea for festival....woodstock the year
before....amazing show. joplin stunned us all. wasn't arlo there..?
must look at the old newspaper ad in the old scrapbook. thanks for
having this forum...really one of the great shows of all time. peace
It was nice to find a blog about perhaps the most obscure "Festival" event of the era. I was 19 and was there from start to finish, and was it ever hot that day ! We were in the Field Box area and were somewhat concerned when the upper deck starting bouncing up and down. I recall that the stadium was not at all packed, in fact, I would be surprised if it was more than 60-70% filled. My memory is usually pretty good about concerts, but either the heat or other more sinister elements have clouded the Shea event a bit. I can say, with certainty, that Jimi Hendrix did not play there. I have a pretty good recollection of Poco, Paul Simon,The James Gang, Johnny Winter And, Paul Butterfield, Creedence, Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, Sha Na Na, The (no longer Young)Rascals, Janis Joplin (I didn't realize until many years later that I'd seen her final live performance), and then a very out of place Dionne Warwick. I also remember Tom Paxton performing at one point. I also recall Steppenwolf playing, although I saw them so many times it's hard to say with certainty they were at Shea (how about the shows at the World's Fair Pavillion for obscurity). For some reason, I remember an announcement that one of the bigger acts had just flown in from France, but I don't remember which. I don't remember Miles Davis playing there. I know Grand Funk played Shea by themselves, which I didn't see, but I have a vague recollection of them being at the Shea Festival, although I have been told I imagined this, but if I were going to imagine a performance by a band, it sure as heck wouldn't be Grand Funk. Anyway, thanks for the blog. It was a pretty good day of music and introduced me to the concept of severe dehydration since I had a splitting headache for a day or two after, and that had nothing to do with the decibels.
Jack McKeon is back with the Marlins, who came to New York to beat the Mets 4-1 in a one-game series.
At 81, McKeon is relishing is role as cranky old manager. He angered relief pitcher Randy Choate by removing him with one out in the ninth, then had this to say when asked about Chris Capuano's performance:
"What do you want me to say? He gave up four runs. Did he pitch well? You ask him that. This is the
problem you have with guys today. They give up four runs and they think
they did a hell of a job. You ask Bob Gibson and one of those guys, Bob
Feller and Tom Seaver, if they gave up four runs and you find out what
they tell you."
Then Saucy Jack had this to say about Citi Field and Shea Stadium:
"The clubhouse is just a little bit better. I don't see any
rats running around," said McKeon, holding a cigar in his fingers as he
sat in the dugout. "I guess they probably get an A-rating from the
health department. I don't know what the old place got."
Loge13 is not your typical met blog. We don't comment on every Met game, every Met moment. There's plenty of other places for that. Originally, I was just writing Loge13.com to commemorate the demise of Shea Stadium. The blog was to go when Shea went. But people liked it (well, some people did) so I've kept it up.
Well,the old stadiums were constructed in a sound fashion.The designs are very constructive and creative.We can copy these designs.