Tenant: New York Mets (NL)
Opened: April 17, 1964
Last game: September 28, 2008
Demolition: 2009
Surface: Bluegrass
Capacity: 55,601 (baseball)
Construction: Carlin-Crimmins J.V. (a joint venture of P.J. Carlin Construction Co. and Thomas Crimmins Contracting Co.)
Owner: City of New York
Cost: $25.5 million
Location: Center field (E by NE), 126th Street; third base (N by NW), Whitestone Expressway/I-678 and Flushing Bay; home plate (W by SW), Grand Central Parkway; first base (S by SE), Roosevelt Avenue; in Queens, near Flushing Meadow Park, site of the 1939 and 1964 World�s Fairs, just southeast of La Guardia Airport.
Dimensions: Foul lines: 330 (marked, l964), 341 (actual, 1964), 341 (1965), 338 (1979); power alleys: 371, 378 (current); center field: 410; backstop: 80; foul territory: very large.
Fences: Foul lines: 16.33 (4 wire and railing above 12.33 brick, 1964), 12.33 (brick, 1965), 8 (wood, 1979); power alleys: 8 (wood); center field small section: 8.75 (wood), most 8 (wood).
Shea Stadium is named after William Alfred Shea, an attorney who was instrumental in acquiring a new team for New York following the city's abandonment by the Giants and the Dodgers in the 1950s.
