Super Bowl Tours in Dallas

I've been to one Super Bowl and to the Super Bowl week activities for two, but I've never been able to tour the Super Bowl locker rooms.

Super Bowl 45 will have tours of the locker rooms and other areas of the Cowboys stadium.

If you're going to be in the Dallas area during Super Bowl week, this is a must see! The events in the days before the Super Bowl are a ton of fun. There are a lot of autograph opportunities and chances to see current and former players. I wish I was going to be at this one!

More about the tours here.

Philadelphia Spectrum Memorabilia for $25

I always find out about these things a day late!

For $25, fans could enter the Spectrum and take whatever they wanted. It sounds like an awesome deal to get stadium used items like folding chairs, signs, bar stools. My first basketball and hockey games were at the Spectrum, including my first failed autograph attempt (thanks Moses Malone).

More on the last chance for Spectrum memorabilia here.

Best Uses for Texas Stadium Locker Tile

I picked up one of the Texas Stadium tiles that Steiner and the Cowboys were selling. It's a piece from one of the lockers at Texas Stadium, before they blew it to pieces.

It looked cool on the site, but now I'm not sure what to do with it.

Do I:
- Frame and matte it with some Texas Stadium turf and an autograph photo?
- Use it as a drink coaster?
- Set a small flower pot on it?

Texas Stadium Demolition and Implosion

I just received an email this morning from the Cowboys trying squeeze as much out of that stadium as they could. They were selling parts of the locker room and pieces of concrete. I have stadium seats already, but the locker room floor pieces sounds interesting too.

So long Texas Stadium.

Meet the Mets and Bring Your Bling

What's next? A used car sale in the Mets dugout? Bring your hand-me-down Mets shirts to Citi Field? How about garage sale in the parking lot?

USCoins.com is hosting a 2-day Sell Your Gold campaign to Citi Field. And when you bring your bling, you can meet Mookie Wilson, George Foster, Darryl Strawberry, Eddie Kranepool and Ron Swoboda.

Thanks BBTF and SNY.TV

Tiger Stadium Seats - More for Sale

More Tiger Stadium seats are for sale! A four row seat will set you back $400.

Not a bad price considering Shea Stadium seats were $869 for two and nothing against Shea, but Tiger Stadium was around a bit longer. The Detroit Historical Society is selling them. You can find more info here.

Thanks to Cardboard Connection for the tip.

Comiskey Park Anniversary

White Sox Park, later named Comiskey Park, opened on this date in 1910.

At the time, White Sox park was the biggest and most expensive park in major league baseball. The Sox lost to the worst team in baseball at that time, the St. Louis Browns 2-0.

Ed Walsh was the best player on the White Sox that season, who weren't that far removed from the "Hitless Wonders" team that won the World Series. Walsh started 36 games and finished 33 of them going 18-20 with a 1.27 ERA!

In the park's final season (1990) Bobby Thigpen set a new major league saves record and two up-and-coming stars began to establish themselves: Frank Thomas and Sammy Sosa.

I wish I could have made it to the old park before it was taken down.

Name that Baseball Stadium Contest

Is it really a contest if you don't win anything? Do bragging rights count?

Can you name this MLB baseball stadium? The photo was taken in the summer of 1992. I've cropped the photo to make it more difficult.

Unlike other cool blogs who give out some nice stuff - this is just a fun Friday game.

Doc Gooden Autographs Citi Field

Mets fans have been unhappy with the lack of team history in their new ball park, but getting Doc Gooden's graffiti on random walls doesn't exactly solve the problem.

Gooden attended one of the first games at the new stadium and took the time to sign autographs, get his picture taken with fans, and sign his name on a blank wall inside the stadium like it was the inside of a high school bathroom stall. Seriously, who says "hmm, there isn't anything written on this wall, I think I'll sign my name here." Now some Mets fans are unhappy that team officials plan to clean and erase the wall when the Mets leave for their next road trip.

Seriously Mets fans (and I'm one too), after living through Shea, we should just be happy that the team actually wants to keep this stadium clean.

I agree that the Mets need to do more to acknowledge their history inside the park. Perhaps one of the 1,000s of LCDs in the stadium could run a loop of Mets highlights, add some wall murals, etc. However, the way to add team history to the park isn't to give Doc Gooden a sharpie marker and ask him to run wild in the halls.

Doc has been on the autograph circuit quite a bit lately. I saw him at MAB and Chicago Sun Times shows last year and he's already scheduled for other MAB shows this year. Get him to sign a baseball there instead of a wall in $iti field. Gooden is great person to meet at a show. Every time I've seen him he's been great with the fans.

UPDATE: The Wilpons have agreed to preserve Doc's sharpie skills by moving the signature to a new location. The Mets of the past deserve better than an autograph brick.... come skill sets, do something to acknowledge Mets greats instead of letting them run wild with a fresh sharpie!


Source: NY Post

Texas Stadium Seats Memorabilia

Thanks for the guesses on the giant memorabilia close. You were close, but the 95lb box contained two Texas Stadium seats! This is easily the biggest and heaviest piece of memorabilia that I have.

This year I had to choose between Shea Stadium seats and Texas Stadium seats. I don't have the room or budget for both. I went with Texas Stadium because I've been a Cowboys fan longer and the seats were cheaper than Shea's. Although I'm still hoping I can talk my wife into getting Shea seats somewhere this summer as long as the economy doesn't go in the tank and I keep my job!

I really like that the seats are #s 1 and 2 and have Row 2 on the side of one of them, but where are the cup holders!? In the next week or so I should get the COA from Texas Stadium and a map of where the seats were taken.

Right now the seats are connected to a piece of particle board, but I've ordered some seat feat so they'll look better and be more sturdy. The seat didn't come with actual "feet" because the frame connects to the concrete in the stadium.

I'll shine the seats up a bit, but I don't think I'll do any refinishing. I like keeping them as is - yeah, the natural look!

Now I can boo TO, cry every time Romo throws another interception, and ask my wife to wear a pink Romo jersey like Jessica Simpson from my own Texas Stadium seat.

Mark the Shea Moments in the Citi Parking Lot

Yesterday I commented on Steve Popper's Amazin' Stories blog about the last pieces of Shea Stadium falling. The site of so many Amazin' moments in Mets history is about to become a dark sea of asphalt.

It's not practical for replaced stadiums to remain in place (for long) while the nails, bolts, and memories begin to fade. However, the Mets can at least preserve some of the history by marking the locations of historical Mets moments.

The Phillies and White Sox mark the homeplate and pitching mounds of previous stadiums among their parking places. There is still part of a wall on the Univ. of Pitt grounds where Forbes Field once stood and there is a pitching mound and home plate to mark the first World Series where Huntington Avenue Grounds was hosting to the Boston Red Sox.

The Wilpon family need to do something similar in the Citi Field parking lot. They need to follow the pattern of their NL East rivals, the Atlanta Braves. The Braves do a real nice job of marking home plate, the bases, pitching mound, and of course the site where Hank Aaron's 715th HR flew over Fulton County Stadium fence.

I'd like to see the Mets mark the plate, bases, and pitching mound. More importantly I'd like to see the mark the location of Cleon Jones making his famous last out catch of the 1969 World Series in the left field of Shea and a spot where Mookie Wilson's ground ball rolled beyond Bill Buckner and first base during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Lets add a marker on the location with the exact quotes from Vin Scully's great call on NBC, "Little roller up along first... here comes Knight and the Mets win it!"

I ask the Mets organization and the Wilpon family to preserve these moments of Mets history by marking the locations in the new Citi Field parking lot.

UPDATE: Thanks to Steven Popper for presenting the idea to the Jeff Wilpon Wednesday night, Feb. 18.

The Last Piece of Shea Stadium (sigh)

All that is left of Shea... a ramp. OK, so it's not as depressing as the Tiger Stadium demolition, but still weepy.

Thanks to Metsheads for the picture.

Florida Marlins Baseball Stadium Vote Today

Update: The vote was postponed on Friday, 2/13.

Miami-Dade County Commissioners and Miami City commissioners are voting today (Friday the 13th) on the proposed new baseball stadium.

It's a tough time to allocate public funds to a baseball stadium in today's economic times. From what I understand, this is a tough call because a lot of people aren't happy about the proposed location and the funds involved.

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the new stadium and linked to a good Biz of Baseball article on the vote.

Are the Mets and Citi Breaking the Naming Deal?

According to Fox Business News, Citi is rethinking their $400 billion naming rights deal with the New York Mets. Citi is under contract to pay the Wilpon family $20 million a year for 20 years.
The report claims that "Citi likely won't be able to back out of the naming-rights agreement immediately..."

If the Mets and Citi break the deal, can we get rid of the stupid Dominos Pizza Patch?

One benefit of this recession could be the stupid naming rights! Remember when ball parks were named for pioneers of the club, the area where the stadium was built, or to honor veterans of the Armed Forces? Now we have no idea where FedEx Park, Fifth Third Field, and AT&T Stadiums are located.

I'd like to see us go back park names like Veterans Stadium, Dodger Stadium at Chavez Ravine, and the Polo Grounds.

New Florida Marlins Stadium Images

New images have been released for the proposed Florida Marlins baseball stadium.

Miami-Dade County Commissioners and Miami City commissioners vote February 13 on the new stadium (hopefully Friday the 13th doesn't jinx the vote for baseball fans).

It's hard to tell exactly how this could look once finished, but clearly is a move away from newer ball park designs in Baltimore, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and a couple of others.

Thanks to the Biz of Baseball for posting images.

Texas Stadium Last Game Ticket Stub

So the team laid an egg for this game.
So the team closed Texas Stadium by not being able to tackle.
So the team's offense choked until it was too late.

It's still a cool ticket stub!

This is a ticket stub from the last game at Texas Stadium - it is my latest purchase from eBay. I'm starting to really like ticket stubs from major events - I think they really help tell the story of the event.

I'm trying to get a few things from Texas Stadium before it's blown to Texas dust.

I exchanged email with the Cowboys Customer Service people yesterday about selling Texas Stadium turf. They still have tours scheduled through the end of this month, but they plan on cutting it and selling pieces of it in Feb. or March.

Name the Stadium

Can you name this baseball stadium?

It's from September 4, 1983. Nice looking cars driving by!

Yes, I am borrowing this concept from Phungo's "Spot the Sig" contest only this one is less organized and more chaotic.

Yankees and Mets ask NY for More Money

How far will the Yankees and Mets dig into the pockets of NY residents?

In a time when large corporations are walking to congress with their hands extended, ESPN and the AP are reporting that the Mets and Yankees are asking for more than the $1.5 Billion the city has already granted them. The teams want $450 million more in public bonds to help finance their new stadiums.

This is amazing. Nearly half a million people lost their jobs in November, the "Big 3" automakers are considering Chapter 11, our 401(k)s have been beaten into the ground, and the Yanks/Mets think now is a good time to ask the city for more public money!

I think New York tax payers have paid enough - $1.5 Billion seems more than reasonable.

And the "thank you" New Yorkers get from these new ball parks are: $500 seats, 2x the PSL cost, expensive ball park food, and two teams that can't spend their way into playoffs.

It's time for Mayor Bloomberg to remove himself from the Plaxico Burress situation and tell the Steinbrenners and Wilpons that they've received enough public funds.

Texas Stadium Memorabilia Auction

You have until Dec. 6 to bid on items from Texas Stadium. Doesn't a bathroom sign from from Texas Stadium make the perfect stocking stuffer?!

Here's the link. Check it out, if you're in to collecting stadium memorabilia, there are some cool things here on the list. I've always thought ticket turnstiles would be awesome, but I need to place to put them first.

You can also bid on the "throne of champions." Guess what that is!

NY Mets Last Game at Shea Stadium Ticket

I bought this off eBay last week. It's a ticket from the last game at Shea and the stadium In-Focus paper that highlights the greatest moments in Shea history.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my Shea items. I have this newspaper, the ticket, a brick from Shea and dirt from Shea stadium. I have to make something out of these pieces, but I haven't figured it out yet.

Any suggestions?