Top 10 Shea Stadium Moments

Fifty years ago, the Beatles changed the way America witnessed live music by performing the first stadium show of its size and scope. On Aug. 15, 1965, the boys from Liverpool played a record-shattering concert at New York’s Shea Stadium, which would be televised on BBC and ABC, immortalized in a documentary, and further the massive reach of Beatlemania in the ’60s. The Mets called Shea home from 1964 to 2008, and captured the franchise's two world championships in 1969 and 1986 at the stadium. Here are our top 10 moments in Shea Stadium history.

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Jul 7, 2014

Top 10 Shea Stadium Moments

#10: Tom Seaver's Near Perfect Game | July 9, 1969

Tom Terrific took a perfect game into the bottom of the ninth inning only to lose it on a one-out single to left-center by Cubs rookie Jimmy Qualls. Seaver finished with a one-hitter and 11 strikeouts.

#9: Mets score 10 runs in 8th inning to beat Braves | June 30, 2000

Down 8-1 to the rival Braves, the Mets scored 10 runs in the eighth inning, capped by Mike Piazza's tiebreaking, three-run homer off Terry Mulholland. The 10 runs matched the most ever scored in an inning by the Mets and nine were driven in with two outs. It was a double dose of fireworks for the soldout crowd of 52,831 on Fireworks Night.

#8: Bud Harrleson vs. Pete Rose | Oct. 8, 1973

Hell broke loose in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the NLCS when Pete Rose tried to break up a double play. Bud Harrelson, the Mets shortstop, thought Rose went in high and elbowed him. Rose countered that he merely went in hard. The two discussed the situation briefly at second base before it was on. Rose pushed Harrelson into the dirt, Mets third baseman Wayne Garrett shoved Rose off Harrelson, and the rest of the squads soon arrived. When Rose came out later to left field, Met fans showered him with beer cans, batteries and other items.

#7: The Black Cat Game | Sept. 9, 1969

While the Cubs were batting at Shea, a black cat walked behind the on-deck circle where Chicago third baseman Ron Santo was standing, and stayed even through the crowd yelling. The cat proved to be a bad omen for the Cubs, whose half-game lead over the Mets evaporated quickly. Chicago went 8-17 in September, giving the Mets the division title.

#6: The Who and The Clash perform together on back to back nights | Oct. 12 and 13, 1982

One of the great double bills in New York music history featured a crowd of 50,000 watching the giants of the 1960s British rock playing their "Farewell Tour," and the vanguard of the British punk scene at their peak commercially. The Clash later released a popular album titled Live at Shea Stadium.

#5: Bound for their Super Bowl III upset, the Jets defeat the Raiders | Dec. 29, 1968

The Jets advanced to Super Bowl III with a 27-23 win over the Raiders in the American Football League Championship. Quarterback Joe Namath tossed three touchdowns. Two weeks later, Namath and Co. shocked the world with a 16-7 win over the Colts.

#4: Meet the Beatles | Aug. 15, 1965

The lads from Liverpool were at their Beatlemania heights when they played their first U.S. concert in front of 53,275 at Shea. It was the first U.S. concert to be held at a major outdoor stadium and set records for attendance and revenue.

#3: Baseball's healing power | Sept. 21, 2001

After a pregame tribute to the victims who died in the World Trade Center attacks, Mike Piazza hit an eighth-inning, game-winning homer against Atlanta to lift the Mets to victory in a game that marked baseball's return to the city for the first time since the terrorist attacks. Said Piazza afterward: "I'm just so happy I gave the people something to cheer. There was a lot of emotion. It was just a surreal sort of energy out there. I'm just so proud to be a part of it tonight."

#2: The Miracle Mets | Oct. 16, 1969

The Mets captured the franchise's first World Series title with a 5-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Here's how New York Times writer Joseph Durso had it the following day: "The Mets entered the promised land yesterday after seven years of wandering through the wilderness of baseball."

#1: Another miracle | Oct. 25, 1986

Down to their last out, the Mets rallied with three straight singles, a wild pitch, and a Mookie Wilson grounder toward Bill Buckner. You know the rest.