By Jeff Bernstein

Embedded in the fabric of what used to be Shea Stadium, were the Met moments, dates and memories that will live forever for all of us: Game 6 1986, The Imperfect Game, Oct. 16, 1969, “Ya Gotta Believe”, Piazza’s post-9/11 home run, the back-to-back chokes in Shea’s final two campaigns, the debuts of Gooden and Strawberry, the farewells of Willie Mays and Bob Murphy, and the emotional returns of Seaver and Piazza. 

While those memories are for everyone and were played out in plain site of all of us, there are other special memories for Shea Stadium goers over the years.

“We’ve been the first ones down every Sunday morning for the past four years,” said the Long Beach resident who says he’s been coming to Shea “since I was born. We start cooking bacon and eggs at about 6:30, 6:45.”

For Frank Schmidt from Glendale, his magic moment came in his first visit to Shea.

“I went to my first game in 1982 when I was five-years-old.  My dad brought me, God rest his soul.” Schmidt revealed. “They used to do the ‘Miracle Moment’, when they picked one seat in the whole stadium and you win a whole bunch of promotional stuff. But, the big thing was they put you up on the Diamond Vision. They gave you a box filled with bags of peanuts to throw out to the rest of the stadium and I’ll never forget that. I’ve been to a lot of big games, but that’s the greatest moment that I ever had there.”

Some Shea attendees over the years didn’t wait patiently to be recognized while sitting in their seats. They wanted to be part of the on-field experience. Well, at least Corey and Peter from Brooklyn felt that way.

“We went to the clincher in 1986.  And when the game was about to end we were trying to find a way to get onto the field,” Corey recalled. “We didn’t realize that the netting behind home plate was elastic. So we jumped from the loge onto the net and were thrown up like it was a trampoline. Peter fell behind home plate, almost hitting the seats. He bit his tongue and had blood coming out all over the place.”

Of course the boys still weren’t deterred from their main objective.

“We ran up to try and take home plate, but there were already cops there arresting the first guy who tried to take it,” Corey continued. “So we just ran the bases, went into the outfield, and then into the bullpen. We took that home plate, instead. Peter still has it in his house.”

Shea security personnel put a lot more effort into this year’s final finale, making sure that no fan walked away with any mementos that Met management could eventually sell for a profit.

Yup, things just aren’t the same as they were back in 1986…or in 1964 when Shea opened. 

Jim Brady was at the opener.

“It was chaotic. They must have turned away 10,000 fans,” said the Bay Ridge octogenarian.  “There was no place to park. I pulled into the parking lot and had to pull right back out again.  I had to go all the way to Flushing and take the train to the game. “But, I still got there for the first pitch.”

Brady’s daughter Janet accompanied him to the Shea finale.

“We made it our business to make sure he got to the last game.” she said. “My brother went out of his way to get four tickets.”

“So, now I may be the only fan who can say I’ve been here for the first and last games at Shea,” Brady said. 

“And we’ll be putting theses stubs into the grave with him,” Janet added.

And even Mets management can’t do a darn thing about that.

Or can they?