Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press
NEW YORK - David Wright, Jose Reyes - and Jackie Robinson. New York Mets fans will get a taste of the old Brooklyn Dodgers as they file into the team's new ballpark, which will include a tribute to the player who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947.
The Mets held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday to celebrate the 45,000-seat ballpark that will replace Shea Stadium at the start of the 2009 season. One feature will be the "Jackie Robinson Rotunda," which will tell the Hall of Famer's story and include a statue of him.
"You look at these plans in this packet and you just get excited," said Wright, the club's All-Star third baseman.
The $800 million stadium will be called CitiField, part of a 20-year sponsorship deal between the Mets and Citigroup Inc. that is said to be worth an average of $20 million annually. Mets owner Fred Wilpon declined to provide details on the financial arrangement.
The design is reminiscent of Ebbets Field, the storied home of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
"It is my hope that as individuals and groups walk through the rotunda that they will begin to be inspired," said Rachel Robinson, the widow of the baseball great. "I hope it will spread not just some joy but some critical thinking about our society."
Monday's event was largely ceremonial because construction on the new ballpark began about four months ago.
"The 21st-century New York Mets deserve a home befitting an emerging baseball dynasty, and they will have that in this new field," state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said at a ceremony also attended by the governor, mayor and Mets players.
Silver and other politicians joined the players and donned hard hats and Mets jackets before digging dirt with shovels in front of home plate.
The new Mets stadium will be part of a complete transformation of the New York City ballpark landscape by opening day 2009.
The Yankees are building a $1 billion, 53,000-seat ballpark that is also scheduled to open in 2009, replacing the old Yankee Stadium that was built in 1923.
Shea Stadium was built in 1964. It was named for attorney William A. Shea, who led the effort to bring National League baseball back to the city after the Dodgers and Giants left.
The stadium was the site of some of the most memorable moments in New York sports history, including the Mets' 1986 run to the World Series title and the 2000 Subway Series against the Yankees.