One minute you're imagining what your new home will look like [1], the next minute somebody tells you.
Bloomberg.com baseball writer Danielle Sessa broke details Friday afternoon of just how inspired by Ebbets Field the Mets' new ballpark will be. (If this link [2] doesn't take you there, there is a summary of the salient points at Gotham Baseball [3].)
The good news? If you've spent the past 48 or so years bemoaning the kidnapping of your beloved Dodgers the way — I don't know — a certain MLB owner seems to have, you'll be elated.
The bad news? It doesn't sound very Top Hat & Apple-friendly.
It's not right to prejudge something of which we've just now read but a few proposed highlights, but the Sheaness that many Mets fans cherish (judging by the comments we've been receiving on this topic) does not appear to be in evidence. If the Wilpons have their way, which they almost certainly will, Ebbets will live on and Shea will fade away.
To be fair, it's bound to be a very nice place. Seating capacity will be human-scale at 42,500. There are apparently touches of Petco Park with some standing room built into an office building overlooking right field. And, hey, there's an office building overlooking right field. One assumes this edifice and its retail space will be more attractive than the blight that towers over Madison Square Garden. Also, New York's bridges will be paid homage, which seems reasonable since one of them [4] is a Carlos Delgado poke away from the new site.
It sounds spiffy and it may be sweet. But it's not likely to be Shea in any sense of the word.
Take that for what it's worth.