Mets baseball blog

Citi may give old park new power

Aaron Heilman planned to study architecture at Notre Dame. He learned, however, of the school's requirement that those majors spend a semester in Rome, which would have conflicted with the Irish baseball schedule.

But even with a philosophy degree, it's plainly obvious to Heilman that the $800 million wind-blocker rising beyond Shea Stadium's left-field wall will make the Mets' home more hitter friendly in its 45th and final season. In fact, Citi Field already made Shea a better hitter's ballpark, the Mets reliever suggested. Continue

Mets will host All-Star Game, likely in 2013

Baseball's All-Star Game is coming to Queens. The Mets' new ballpark, Citi Field, will host the Midsummer Classic, probably in 2013. "We were informed by the commissioner that after moving into Citi Field, we would have an All-Star Game, but no date has been set," Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said yesterday

. A baseball official confirmed that 2013 is the likely year for Citi Field to host the game. It would be the second in Mets history; then-brand new Shea Stadium was the site of the 1964 game. Continue

Citi Field making progress

The new Citi Field - home of the Mets starting in 2009 - will be an intimate, fan-friendly ballpark with Amazin' views of the field from every seat, team officials said Tuesday. Jeff Wilpon, the Mets chief operating officer, showed off the $800 million ball park Tuesday - ushering visitors all around the stadium from its emerging upper tier to its field-level seats.

"We played with the geometry to bring more seats closer to the action," Wilpon said, calling the upcoming stadium "cozy" and "confined." The bare concrete stands offered terrific views of the field, especially compared with the more expansive Shea Stadium that stands across the parking lot. There will be 45,000 seats in Citi Field, about 12,000 fewer than in Shea - a multipurpose stadium built in the 1960s. Continue

Citi Field rising in Queens

Standing in the middle of a windswept dirt lot, with a wind chill in the teens, it was difficult to imagine David Wright or Jose Reyes occupying this very spot on Opening Day of the 2009 season. But that's the timetable for Citi Field, and with an iron-and-steel framework slowly rising beyond the outfield wall of Shea Stadium, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said today that the project is right on schedule."There's no reason it's not going to be great," said the enthusiastic Wilpon, who led a group of reporters through the Hunt-Bovis construction site. "All the seats are going to be better. You're going to be closer to the field. The sightlines are going to be better. It's just so vast right now, it's barely taking shape."

The only distinguishable part of the 45,000-seat stadium, which was inspired by Ebbets Field, is the first segment of the rightfield concourse. An elevated steel framework already is in place, giving visitors who climbed the tower a feel of the eventual sightlines from that vantage point. Continue