my first visit to Citifield
I ahve been a Mets fans all my life, probably something to do with the fact that my dad grew up in Queens and was a Mets fan too. I liked the Yankees (and still do) but my hearts always been with the Mets. I decided I had to go see the new Citifield, so yesterday I went with my family to Queens to see the Amazin's play that Cards.
My ticket buying experience was a bit... disapointing. Gone are the days where you had field level, loge, mezzenine and upper deck and there were a handful of sections within the levels. Now there are literally about 40 different seating zones, none of which give you any idea as to where they are in the park. Oh sure, the on screen guide (and the mets guidebooks) have them color coded, but if you're color deficient like me, it's hard to tell the aquamarine section from the pale blue section from the pink section.
Further complicating things is the fact that games are now priced differently depending on the opponent, time of year and time of day. You've got Platinum dates, gold, silver, bronze and value dates.
The seats I ended up selecting were in the Ceasar's VIP section and cost $69 because this was a value game. The same seats today against the Yankees would be $169, almost 150% higher.
We needed handicapped seating because several members of the family are in wheelchairs. I had hoped to get there early so I could have time to wander the stadium, take pictures, watch batting practice, etc... but that was not gonna happen and I arrived just as they were playing the National Anthem. So much for having extra time to get to our seats....
They say that there are no bad seats in Citifield, and I can't speak to the views from the outfield or down the left field line, but I was pretty damn happy with our seats. Here's a view of the baseball diamond, then of left field.
I recently bought a Canon SX10 which has a 28-500mm zoom lens. How good is 500mm? Well check out these two pics. One is a Cardinals batter, the other is the guy in the highest point of the upper deck, just out of view to the left in the 2nd picture above...
The food at Citifield is great, but as a friend pointed out that's because the oil in the fryer hasn't been fermenting for 37 years like it did at Shea, so give it some time... the staff is fairly attentive and the stadium itself looks fantastic, a real old school feel. I would say more but I didn't get a chance to explore, I'll have to do that next game I go to....
After the game I discovered that I was parked on the old second base at Shea. The parking lot at Citifield is located where the old Shea Stadium was, and they've marked off where each base plus the pitchers mound was in the parking lot. Below is the pitcher's mound.
Personally someone should paint a big fat X about 10 feet from 1st base, the site of the greatest gift the Mets ever received in their 37 year history, courtesy of Bill Buckner... The rest of my pics are here
Oh, btw, the Mets won in a squeaker, 3-2.
:)
My ticket buying experience was a bit... disapointing. Gone are the days where you had field level, loge, mezzenine and upper deck and there were a handful of sections within the levels. Now there are literally about 40 different seating zones, none of which give you any idea as to where they are in the park. Oh sure, the on screen guide (and the mets guidebooks) have them color coded, but if you're color deficient like me, it's hard to tell the aquamarine section from the pale blue section from the pink section.
Further complicating things is the fact that games are now priced differently depending on the opponent, time of year and time of day. You've got Platinum dates, gold, silver, bronze and value dates.
The seats I ended up selecting were in the Ceasar's VIP section and cost $69 because this was a value game. The same seats today against the Yankees would be $169, almost 150% higher.
We needed handicapped seating because several members of the family are in wheelchairs. I had hoped to get there early so I could have time to wander the stadium, take pictures, watch batting practice, etc... but that was not gonna happen and I arrived just as they were playing the National Anthem. So much for having extra time to get to our seats....
They say that there are no bad seats in Citifield, and I can't speak to the views from the outfield or down the left field line, but I was pretty damn happy with our seats. Here's a view of the baseball diamond, then of left field.
I recently bought a Canon SX10 which has a 28-500mm zoom lens. How good is 500mm? Well check out these two pics. One is a Cardinals batter, the other is the guy in the highest point of the upper deck, just out of view to the left in the 2nd picture above...
The food at Citifield is great, but as a friend pointed out that's because the oil in the fryer hasn't been fermenting for 37 years like it did at Shea, so give it some time... the staff is fairly attentive and the stadium itself looks fantastic, a real old school feel. I would say more but I didn't get a chance to explore, I'll have to do that next game I go to....
After the game I discovered that I was parked on the old second base at Shea. The parking lot at Citifield is located where the old Shea Stadium was, and they've marked off where each base plus the pitchers mound was in the parking lot. Below is the pitcher's mound.
Personally someone should paint a big fat X about 10 feet from 1st base, the site of the greatest gift the Mets ever received in their 37 year history, courtesy of Bill Buckner... The rest of my pics are here
Oh, btw, the Mets won in a squeaker, 3-2.
:)