Citi Field of Dreams

Citi Field of Dreams

Pilgrimage to Citi Field – Queens

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            I grew up playing baseball about as poorly as any kid ever played the game. I compensated for lack of ability by being one of the best informed kids when it came to knowing the game’s statistics. It was natural for me to feel a connection with the movie “Field of Dreams” when it imagined an America understood by understanding baseball.

 

 

            I suppose if it were my calling I could one time preach the Gospel using the movie “Field of Dreams.” At least part of the Gospel is the story of how we find our way back to the Father in the way we deal with others. A large portion of the Christian life can be illustrated in answering the call to “Build it and he will come.” Or in finding that person for whom we need to “Ease his pain.” Finally as we unknowingly find the father in his connections with our fellow human beings we also begin to learn that we find him if we “Go the Distance.” But let's face it for me baseball is more than a game because when I was young baseball was the game!

            As one grows older (I will be 60 on my next birthday) there is a growing sense that the entirety of one’s life is being readied to be wrapped up and presented to our creator in the wholeness of who we have been and become in our lives. We discover in our senior years continual connections between our lives in our older age to the portions of life we experienced in our youth. Nostalgia for the past seems to be part of aging. For me the boy who loved baseball as a kid cannot quite separate seeing a San Francisco game and not instantly thinking of Willie Mays. This summer I went to the borough of Queens and to Citi Field to see the Mets and remembered those magical days of 1969. I had been a White Sox fan until they did the unthinkable and traded Luis Aparicio to the Orioles. I decided to find a new team to swear my fan loyalty to. I would seek a team I could not be accused of pulling for because it was a winner. It would be an underdog. That sort of team was spelled M-E-T-S.

 

Willie Mays; my favorite player- his statue in San Francisco

 

            Coming to a Mets’ ball game at age 59 brought back the memories I had from 1969 when my decision to be a Mets’ fan seemed to be rewarded. In those days we kids thought the baseball gods answered directly to something we did. If I went to bed late so I could catch the Mets’ score and the Mets had lost, then I realized I caused them to lose by staying up too late. But in 1969 everything came together for young Mets’ fans. The team didn’t have many great hitters. There were Agee and Jones, but the team was defensively sound and had an almost great pitching staff. The staff was anchored by the Mets’ version of Tom and Jerry; Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. They had a few young arms such as Gary Gentry, Jim McAndrew, Tug McGraw, and a Texan named Nolan Ryan had his moments, but Ryan was still a bit wild in 1969. The banners, in place outside Citi Field honored the righty-lefty one-two pitching punch that led the to a Mets' world championship in 1969.

 

 

            I would pass through the Seaver Gate to get to my seat. On the way I would be reminded of a game I listened to on the radio between the Mets and the then first place Cubs. It is known by Seaver fans as "the imperfect game.” He pitched a perfect game until with one out in the ninth Jimmy Qualls got the most famous hit of his 31 career hits. It wasn’t a perfect game, but it got the Mets closer to first place, and after this game the Mets went on a winning tear, winning 80% of their games in the months of August and September and keeping up that torrid pace through the National League playoffs and the World Series beating the Orioles 4 games to 1 for the World Series championship.

 

 

            But now it was Memorial Day 2015 as I made my way into Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. I got their early and took a photograph of the field. I had gotten a great seat for the game. A great seat seemed like a requirement for my first ever trip to a Mets' game. I took a photograph from where I would be sitting for the game. It was nearly time to start cheering, “Let’s Go Mets.”

 

 

            It was Memorial Day and I have to admit I should have watched more closely the ceremonies honoring those who served our nation and paid the price for which they were being remembered on Memorial Day. I was excited about being at the game and enjoying the atmosphere of the game, so took time to get some concessions, especially Italian sausage sandwiches which was a good New York selection. I did watch a good portion of the Memorial Day presentation but never thought of taking photographs. It wasn’t until after the Star Spangled Banner was sung that I captured a photograph of the service member who had sung the national anthem that day. It was a hurried photograph of the singer trotting off the field so the game could soon begin.

 

 

            Since I hardly follow player names or statistics these days, I focused more on trying to get some decent photographs of the day's action. In the first inning Bartolo Colon, the Mets’ starter struck out the side, three up and three down. Here I photographed him on the mound for the beginning of the second. He was not as overpowering in later innings but pitched well throughout the game.

 

            One of my favorite photographs is this Phillies’ pitcher in his throwing motion to home plate:

I also was happy to have taken this photograph of the Mets' relief pitcher.

            If a Met’s hitter hits a home run, an apple rises in center field to honor the accomplishment. The Mets’ hit enough homers that although I missed getting a photo of the first home run, I was able to still get a couple of photographs of the apple. I hurried to get this next shot of the homer apple and captured the image of a server. But maybe that is at it should be, a reminder how there is almost always someone working that helps make our entertainment venues enjoyable. There are those for whom baseball games are ways of paying some of their bills and helping work towards the dreams they have in life.

The Mets’ got enough homers that I eventually got this shot, where Mets’ players are celebrating.

It was a really good day for the Mets, a day that added one game to the win column.