Last Time Shea was Configured for Football?
alert
configured for football?
Can anyone tell me how they achieved the different stand configuration
(I've heard about a motorized system)?
After twenty years would it be possible to play football there again
(without alot of work)?
I've only seen one good photo that depicts the footbal setup
(http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/nl/shea708.jpg). This photo shows
additional stands behind the outfield fences.
Are there any other photos?
Thanks in advance.
Ed
Steve Okonski
>
> Was the last Jet home game in 1983(?) the last time Shea Stadium was
> configured for football?
>
> Can anyone tell me how they achieved the different stand configuration
> (I've heard about a motorized system)?
AFAIK, each side of field box seats slid/rotated around.
Last I heard, the system had not been used in so long, it is now
rusted into place.
Wasn't there also a big TV-type display centered above the
scoreboard? I never saw it in use.
SamBewka
there were no motorized seats. The seating was the same as baseball. I believe
after the Jets left the was an annual game involving Grambling for a while.
BassPlyr23
>there were no motorized seats. The seating was the same as baseball.
Your memory is faulty. The end zones were in center field and at home plate.
The box seats WERE motorized and slid around on rails to face each other for
football. Small stands were situated beyond the left and right field fences,
portions of which were removed.
The original poster provided photographic proof of all of this.
Robert
show pics of the players faces as they got up to bat. My recollection is
that it didn't work so they just abandoned the idea. But I do believe there
was a short time that it was actually in use.
"Steve Okonski" <inte...@insystem.com> wrote in message
news:3F8DBA16...@insystem.com...
General Kireiko
: Yes, there was a giant monitor above the scoreboard that was supposed to
: show pics of the players faces as they got up to bat. My recollection is
: that it didn't work so they just abandoned the idea. But I do believe there
: was a short time that it was actually in use.
I am too young to remember, but it was a projection-type display.
It didn't work in the daytime. So it was only used at night.
It was finally abandoned in the 70's.
-Doug
--
"How would you like it if you were a business executive, and when you
made a mistake, a red light went on and 18,000 people started
screaming?" - Jaques Plante, goalie
METS = My Entire Team Sucks GO RANGERS!!!
jk
"BassPlyr23" <bassp...@aol.communism> wrote in message
news:20031015193118...@mb-m13.aol.com...
Yes you are correct. I saw all those games back then until they moved to
NJ. That giant monitor never really worked, and was abandoned.
--
JK Sinrod NY
Sinrod Stained Glass
www.sinrodstudios.com
Coney Island Memories
www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories
SamBewka
and specifically that game, I stand by the baseball seat configuration.
Mitchell Kaufman
I think you're both right. It was left field and first base line in at
least the final few seasons. That home plate/centerfield configuration
was abandoned when they stopped moving the field box sections around.
MK
Steve Okonski
> I've only seen one good photo that depicts the footbal setup
> (http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/nl/shea708.jpg). This photo shows
> additional stands behind the outfield fences.
A friend writes, "It might be a figment of my imagination, but I
thought I recalled them repainting the Willets Pt station green and
white
during football season and then returning it to blue and orange for
baseball season." Anyone else remember this?
alert
would they abandon that?
Also, I wonder about the dugouts. The tops of the dugouts appear to be
a permanent part of the rotatable stands -- what about the part that
was in the ground? Or are/were the Shea dugouts at ground level? And
what happened to the passageways leading from the dugouts to the
locker rooms when the stands rotated?
I'm fascinated by this "rotating stands" thing!
Hob...@calvinball.com
I have not been to a Jets game at Shea in a gazillion years, but I remember
(possibly falsely) the end zones being at Home plate and in the outfield.
I also remember our punter back then kicking a punt over the receiver's head
and having it roll an extra 30 or so yards to almost the opposing endzone.
Must have been a 70 yard punt or something. Fond memory.
--
________________________________
Klecko's Komrades. All the way in 2003
BassPlyr23
Bradshaw's last game as well) and I remember clearly the end zones being in
center field and home plate, and the box seat stands moved around to face each
other.
Don't know about games since - our poster might be thinking of Yankee Stadium,
where the few football games have, out of necessity, had the end zones at first
base and left field (the stands there COULDN'T be moved).
Mitchell Kaufman
Here's the link again, showing the stands as moved for football:
Now here's the field as configured for baseball:
Note how in the baseball photo, the right field line extends far right
of the scoreboard as viewed from home plate.
In the football picture, the right sidelines do *not* extend to the
right of the scoreboard. That means the football field does not sit
straight out from home plate to center field. It is *skewed* towards
left field.
MK
Mitchell Kaufman
You need to click on those links, then scroll down to the bottom of the
page, find the tiny thumbnail photos, and click first the third from the
left, then the fourth from the left.
MK
Mitchell Kaufman
field foul pole in the baseball picture vs. the end of the stands; in
the football photo, the right hand corner of the end zone doesn't even
come close to the end of the stands: it's way further toward left field.
Here's the link again:
Once again, scroll down to the bottom and select the third and fourth
photos.
MK
Mitchell Kaufman
is true that the football field is not as wide as the baseball field.
That means the right field line for baseball would still be in a
different position than the right hand corner of the end zone, even if
the football field extended directly out from home plate to center
field.
However, if you look at the football picture, the whole field is skewed
out towards left field: the *left* corner of the end zone is almost
exactly located at the end of the left field stands; the right corner,
OTOH, is far left of the right field stands.
Again: the whole thing is skewed toward left field.
MK
Stan
hitching them onto a couple of modified tractors. You used to be able to see
the tractors parked under the scoreboard in the outfield.
When the football season overlapped with baseball (usually for the first two
home games), there were no seats in the outfield. After baseball season
ended, the outfield wall would be removed and stands would be erected in the
outfield/end zone. This was before the outfield walls were padded. Notice in
early Shea pictures how flimsy the outfield walls were, and the bull pens
were only half walls with a fence on top for viewing. The picture at that
link was obviously from a post-baseball season game.
There's a much more recent picture here:
http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/past/SheaStadium.htm
The football configuration never changed over the years. We had seats in
Mezzanine section 25, which was on the 'Jets side' (first base side). It was
in the middle of right field for baseball, but was at the 50 yard line for
football.
The tops of the dugouts moved with the stands. The actual dugouts ended up
out of bounds on either side of the field, and were boarded over during
football games. The players entered and exited from the 'tunnel' area, which
was directly behind home plate. This area has also been re-built with a more
permanent structure since the Jets left, and would probably have to be
demolished in order to move the stands.
The next time you go to Shea, take note of the entrance portals at the back
of the field level seats in far left and right field. They're closed gates
now that lead to a heck of a drop, but were opened and used for football.
-Stan
"alert" <aler...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:5a8d01ea.03101...@posting.google.com...
alert
> Again: the whole thing is skewed toward left field.
>
> MK
Thanks for your responses but I've studied the picture and don't agree
with your observations.
Here's why: there is a walkway behind home plate that is at the center
of the stadium. There is also a corresponding opening at exactly
centerfield in the football picture. If you draw a straight line from
the home plate opening in the stands to the centerfield opening in the
stands that line goes directly through the middle of the field for its
entire length. This proves the perfect symmetry of the football
configuration.
alert
Just one thing, though, the link you give for a more recent photo of
Shea in it's football configuration is not a true photo. It is a
retouched version of this photo:
http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/sheast.htm
Ed