Shea: My Favorite Moment at Shea
Last Wednesday, I started making posts about my Five Favorite Moments at Shea Stadium, from games that I attended.
In addition, each post will be followed by a quick video segment of me talking about the specific moment.
To see Number 5 click here, to see Number 4 click here, to see Number 3 click here, and to see Number 2 click here.
My favorite memory in Shea Stadium, without a doubt, is Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS.
For starters, I loved that team. I loved Ventura, Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, Bobby Valentine and John Olerud, among others, acting as under-dogs all season, not wearing their last names on their jerseys, while fighting the Braves right down to the last pitch.
The rivalry with Atlanta was real, and helped out by Chipper Jones, who a few weeks prior said, ‘Now all the Mets fans can go home and put on their Yankee hats,’ after beating the Mets in an extra-inning, regular-season game in September, and John Rocker who later said, ‘How many times do we have to beat them before their fans will shut up.”
Not only was Game 5 the most entertaining game I have even watched in person, it was the best baseball game – as the on-field chess match between Valentine and Bobby Cox was quite evident. The game had outstanding defensive plays, drama, rain, a 14th-inning stretch, and a unique ending that will always be known as a Grand-Slam Single from Ventura.
The thing I remember most was the feeling of inevitability that slowly overcame the stands in the bottom of the 15th. With the Mets down a run in their final at bat, despite the the Braves stranding 19 runners, Shawon Dunston led off with a single following countless foul balls. From that point forward, the once silent, dejected crowd came to life, the buzz grew up a cheer, which grew to an electric belief that the Mets would tap in to their history of magic and win the game, and they did, off the bat of Ventura who pulled a ball over the left-center field wall but was tackled by his teammates a few feet before second base.
