Editing Shea Stadium (section)

===Design===
Shea was a circular stadium, with the grandstand forming about two-thirds of a circle around the field and ending a short distance beyond the foul lines. The remainder of the perimeter was mostly empty space beyond the outfield fences. This space was occupied by the [[bullpen]]s, [[scoreboard]]s, and a section of bleachers beyond the left field fence. The stadium boasted 54 restrooms, 21 escalators, seats for 57,343 fans (although as seating configuration changed constantly over the life of the stadium, that number varied often, dropping to 55,601 by the 1986 World Series, and then increased again over following years to between approximately 56,000 and 57,000, until its closing), and a massive 86' x 175' scoreboard. Also, rather than the standard light towers, Shea featured lamps along its upper reaches. Some deemed Shea a showplace, praised for its convenience, even its "elegance".<ref name="sports.espn.go.com">{{cite web|title=One Last Trip Home|first=J. R.|last=Moehringer|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=moehringer/080929|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=September 29, 2008|access-date=January 2, 2010}}</ref> The stadium's scoreboard in right field, one of the largest in MLB when it opened, weighed over 60 tons. One of its distinctive features was a giant rearview slide projector screen on the top center of the scoreboard; it was intended to display a picture of the current player at bat (a groundbreaking innovation at the time); however, due to lighting issues (it only worked at night when the light was really low; during day games, the picture would not show up at all), it was not used very often and was eventually covered with a giant Mets logo (or a Jets logo when they played).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.allamericanscoreboards.com/pages/about/news/archives/1965-shae_stadium.php |title=The Beatles at Shea Stadium |website=All American Scoreboards |access-date=December 19, 2017 |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051437/http://www.allamericanscoreboards.com/pages/about/news/archives/1965-shae_stadium.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thisgreatgame.com/ballparks-shea-stadium.html|title=The Ballparks: Shea Stadium|website=This Great Game|date=July 28, 2020|access-date=December 19, 2017|archive-date=January 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104204503/http://www.thisgreatgame.com/ballparks-shea-stadium.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The stadium was located close to [[LaGuardia Airport]]. For many years, interruptions for planes flying overhead were common at Shea; the noise was so loud that radio and television broadcasts could not be heard.  Players would usually ask for time during noisy flight approaches and takeoffs.

[[File:Ball Games (60).jpg|thumb|150px|One of the [[neon]] players on the outside of Shea Stadium]]
Shea was originally designed with two motor-operated stands that allow the field level seats to rotate on underground tracks, allowing the stadium to be converted between a baseball and an [[American football]]/[[soccer]] configuration. In 1981, a new Mitsubishi DiamondVision screen was installed in left field.<!--Not in citation: ; the messageboard on the main scoreboard subsequently became covered with a [[Budweiser]] advertisement for the rest of the stadium's life.<ref name="History of Shea"/> --> After the [[New York Jets]] football team moved to [[Giants Stadium]] in [[East Rutherford, New Jersey]] in [[1984 NFL season|1984]], the Mets took over operation of the stadium and retrofitted it for exclusive baseball use. As part of the refitting, Shea Stadium's exterior was painted blue and [[neon sign]]s of baseball player silhouettes were added to the windscreens prior to the [[1988 MLB season|1988 season]]. Around the same time, the original scoreboard was removed, and a new one installed in its place (fitting into the shell left behind by the old one) allowing for a much greater space for information and entertainment after the original message board above the main scoreboard was covered up by the Budweiser advertisement in 1982. Also, after years of injuries to players crashing into the wooden outfield wall, most notably to 1973 star player Rusty Staub, where one injury caused a dislocated shoulder and forced him to miss or play severely injured during that Championship Season, the original wall finally had padding added to it, as most in baseball already did, greatly reducing injuries to outfielders.<ref name="History of Shea"/>

[[File:Shea Stadium exterior 1964.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Shea's exterior, pictured here in 1964, was decorated with blue and orange panels from 1964 until their removal in 1980.]]
Banks of ramps that provided access from the ground to the upper levels were built around the outside circumference of the stadium. The ramps were not walled in and were visible from outside the stadium. The ramps were originally partly covered with many rectangular panels in blue and orange, the Mets' colors. These panels can be seen in the 1970s movie ''[[The Wiz (film)|The Wiz]]'', which used the exterior pedestrian ramps for a motorcycle chase scene with [[Michael Jackson]] and [[Diana Ross]]. The 1960s-style decorations were removed in 1980.<ref name="History of Shea"/> The banks of ramps resulted in the outer wall of the stadium jutting out where the banks existed.

The design also allowed for Shea Stadium to be expandable to 90,000 seats, simply by completely enclosing the grandstand. It was also designed to be later enclosed by a dome if warranted. In March 1965, a plan was formally announced to add a glass dome and add 15,000 seats.<ref name="Storied">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Curt|author-link=Curt Smith (author)|title=Storied Stadiums|url=https://archive.org/details/storiedstadiumsb00curt|url-access=registration|year=2001|publisher=Carroll & Graf|location=New York City|isbn=0-7867-1187-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dome Is Proposed for Shea Stadium|first=Charles G.|last=Bennett|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0716F9355415738DDDA10994DB405B858AF1D3|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 18, 1965|access-date=August 20, 2008}}</ref> The Mets strongly objected to the proposal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Glass Dome for Shea Stadium? Mets Object; Project Would Cost $9 Million and Add 14,000 Seats|first=Paul L.|last=Montgomery|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/24/archives/glass-dome-for-shea-stadium-mets-object-project-would-cost-9.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 12, 1965|access-date=August 20, 2008}}</ref> The idea was later dropped after engineering studies concluded that the stadium's foundation would be unable to support the weight of the dome.<ref name="Storied"/>

The distances to the right and left field foul poles were initially both {{convert|341|ft|m}}. There was a horizontal orange line that determined where a batted ball was a home run or still in play. In [[1978 MLB season|1978]], Manager [[Joe Torre]] suggested moving in the fences to {{convert|338|ft|m}} in the corners with a wall in front of the original brick wall, to decrease the number of disputed calls.<ref>{{cite web|title=Be It Ever So Humble, There's No Place Like Shea|first=Paul|last=Lukas|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/080926|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=September 26, 2008|access-date=January 2, 2010}}</ref>

Originally, all of the seats were wooden, with each level having a different color. The field boxes were yellow, the loge level seats were brown, the mezzanine seats were blue, and the upper deck seats were green. Each level above the field level was divided into box seats below the entrance/exit portals and reserved seats above the portals. The box seats were a darker shade than the reserved seats. The game ticket was the same color as the seat that it represented, and the signs in the lobby for that section were the same color as the seat and the ticket. Before the [[1980 MLB season|1980]] baseball season, they were replaced with red (upper deck), green (mezzanine), blue (loge), and orange (field level) plastic seats.

[[File:Sheastadiumfromtheair.jpg|thumb|left|Shea Stadium in 2005]]
Unlike Yankee Stadium, Shea was built on an open field, so there was no need to have it conform to the surrounding streets.

Before Shea Stadium closed in 2008, it was the only stadium in the major leagues with orange foul poles. This tradition is carried on at [[Citi Field]] as the foul poles there are the same color.

After the Jets left Shea, the exterior of the stadium was painted blue and white, two of the Mets' team colors.

In [[2003 MLB season|2003]], large murals celebrating the Mets' two world championships were added, covering the two ends of the grandstand. The 1986 mural was removed after the 2006 season because of deterioration (the wall was re-painted solid blue, and a window was opened on the mezzanine level where fans could view the progress of Citi Field), but the 1969 mural survived until the final game at the end of {{baseball year|2008}}.

[[File:Shake shack citi.JPG|thumb|215px|right|The skyline from Shea's scoreboard, now on top of the [[Shake Shack]] in Citi Field]]

With its refurbishment in 1988, the scoreboard was topped by a representation of the [[New York Skyline]], a prominent part of the team logo. After the [[September 11 terrorist attacks]], the Twin Towers of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] were kept unlit, with a red-white-and-blue ribbon placed over them. The scoreboard was demolished in October 2008, but the skyline was preserved and is now located on the [[Shake Shack]] in Citi Field's "Taste Of The City" food court behind the giant scoreboard in center field.<ref>{{cite news|title=For Mets Fans, a Menu Beyond Peanuts and Cracker Jack|first=Glenn|last=Collins|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/nyregion/25metsfood.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 24, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009}}</ref>

During the [[2007 MLB season|2007]] and [[2008 MLB season|2008 season]]s, the construction of Citi Field was visible beyond the left and center field walls of Shea.

From 1973 to 1979, fans could estimate the distance of home run balls, since there were several signs beyond the outfield wall giving the distance in feet from home plate, in addition to the nine markers within the field.<ref name="History of Shea"/>