* Isn’t he Darling?

Ron Darling, former Mets star and author of The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching, and Life on the Mound, was on The Daily Show last night. The more I watch the interview segments of the program, the less I like the job Jon Stewart does as host. he’s fine for the “news” items, but often seems weak when face-to-face. Just sayin’.

You can view the segment here. And you can read samples of Darling’s book here. It’s interesting to note that former teammate and co-broadcaster Keith Hernandez also has a book due out soon.

* And the walls come a-tumblin’ down

Because you can put the smaller pieces of debris on a bookshelf:

There have been a lot of derogatory remarks about Shea Stadium over the years — too old, too boring, too much walking, too few concessionaires, too smelly rest rooms, etc. But it was the ballpark of my youth, and as with any family, there are parts you love and parts you hate. And outsiders aren’t permitted to mouth off.

* NPR (National Pastime Radio) starts the year off right

Speaking of NPR…

Just happened to be flipping through the dial yesterday and came across The Brian Lehrer Show. Since it was a holiday, this was a highlights show, which included two segments on listeners’ memories of Shea and Yankee Stadiums, both of which closed with their team’s final home games in 2008.

* RK Review: So Long, Shea

Five Decades of Stadium Memories (Triumph Books, 2008)

Compared with some of the wonderful books that have been published about Yankee Stadium’s last season, this slim paperback comes across like a poor stepchild, an afterthought in the world of recorded memory. I know the Mets’ home since 1964 doesn’t have the same cachet of the august Yankee Stadium, and that Shea was a low-rent affair, but even so…

It’s as if the publishers of So Long, Shea decided they have “X” amount of pages (in this case, 128), so they really had to focus. “X” amount of space for each ten years, regardless of how much they had to skimp on the great team and players (where’s Jerry Koosman? Gil Hodges? Ed Kranepool? Marv Thronebery, for crying out loud?). By trying to do too much, the book accomplishes very little. It its on the most major of moments: the 1969 world Championship, the 1973 “You gotta believe” club; the brawling boys of 1986, and the Subway Series bound 2000 team. There’s also passing glances at the Jets, the Beatles ad other musical groups, boxing, and the Pope’s visit.

On the other hand, the photography is good, the text crisp, and even the captions manage to convey the history nicely. Triumph also had the good grace to wait until the final season was actually completed before publishing (unlike the Yankee Stadium titles). Still, I can’t believe there wasn’t a better way to present it.

Here’s hoping that somewhere down the line, someone will write the definitive book about the humble home of the Mets.

Rating: ◊◊ (out of five diamonds)

* New Mets books relive happy, sad memories

From Triumph books, again:

The New York Mets may have lost out on reaching the playoffs for the second time in as many seasons, but the team is still important enough to have two upcoming books published revolving around the 2008 historic season: and So Long, Shea and Shea Good-Bye.

So Long, Shea: Five Decades of Stadium Memories will offer Mets fans everywhere a special commemorative keepsake book that allows them to relive the greatest moments in Shea Stadium’s history.

When Walter J. Shea Memorial Stadium opened April 17, 1964, no one, not even big-thinking New Yorkers, could have predicted the extraordinary series of events that would unfold there over the next 44 years. From a memorable first decade that culminated in the most amazin’ Mets team of all time led by the indomitable Tom Seaver [this is arguable, since many consider the 86 mets to be the best], to the birth of the Jets and the emergence of Broadway Joe, to concerts which included the Beatles among a Who’s Who list of rock-and-rollers that have played there through the years, to pugilists, a Pope, and the star-crossed 1986 World Series champion Mets, Shea proved a most worthy venue for a city steeped in center stages.

So Long, Shea will be available this month.

Meanwhile, What really happened to the 2008 New York Mets? How could they have lost their bid to make the playoffs on the last day of the season -– for the second heartbreaking year in a row?

Who better to ask then Keith Hernandez, the Mets’ former All-Star first baseman?

Shea Good-Bye: The Untold Inside Story of the Historic 2008 Season by Hernandez with Matt Silverman allows fans to read the thoughts and observations of one of the team’s icons throughout the entire 2008 season so that the fans can see exactly what went wrong and why along the way. Read what Hernandez has to say about David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran.

Hernandez doesn’t just examine the Mets’ disjointed season, he also speaks frankly on the taint of steroids in the Mitchell Report, how the game has been compromised, the firing of Willie Randolph and, of course, his recollections and best stories from Shea Stadium in its final year.

Maybe it’s just me, but as much as I enjoyed Keith as a player, his announcing leaves me a bit cold. He’s one of those guys who always seems to find fault with modern athletes, who never seem to be as smart or dedicated as his contemporaries. Ron Darling, on the other hand, strikes me as more analytic and educational. I’m just sayin’….

* …many of which would like on your bookshelf

The Mets are hosting an on-line auction. The cheapest item as of this writing is a $50 stadium brick; the most expensive, is the letter “S” off the Shea Stadium sign (the “Stadium” S, not the “Shea” S) for $2,500.

The auction ends October 31.

* This week (Oct. 6) in Sports Illustrated

The main baseball story profiles Joe Maddon, manager of the Eastern Division Champion Tampa Bay Rays (how many ever thought they’d hear those words strung together?). There’s a sidebar on Angels skipper Mike Scioscia as well.

Other items include:

• A poll on who’s the best base-runner in the game.
• A “farewell” to Shea

*” What happened to the stadium???”

To paraphrase chopper pilot Frank Lapidus on Lost.

A front-page story in today’s New York Times reports how airplanes pilots use Shea Stadium as a landmark.

Hope they’ll still be able to find their way.

* The Take-Aways

To commemorate the final game at Yankee and Shea Stadiums, some of the NY papers put out supplements with their editions.

Newsday ran a 20-page insert, “Thanks for the Memories,” which included:

• “One final night to look,” by Mark Herrmann
• 21 events in Herrman’s “Catching up on history” (21. because the last game was played on Sept. 21. Get it?)
• “And somehow this shrine is not a landmark,” by John Jeansonne
• But the bulk of the supplement are the dozens of contributions of regular fans of their favorite recollections about the famous ballpark

On Monday, the New York Daily News published a 20-page wraparound which recapped the celebration of the Sunday evening finale;:

• An actual game story for the victory over the Orioles
• “Legends make last curtain call“
• “History of this House will never close,” by Mike Lupica
• A piece on the return of Bernie Williams, who received the biggest ovation
• Filip Bondy’s Bleacher Creature feature
• A story on Joe Torre’s favorite moment (boos to the Yankees for not including him in their program somehow)
• Bill Madden’s memories
• A critique of the celebration’s TV presentation by Bob Raissman
• A montage of Daily News pages of Yankee highlights
• A “By the numbers” page

The Daily News also gave some props to the Mets in “Memories of Shea: An Amazin’ History, 1964-2008″

• “Shea hello to home,” by Eric Barrow
• “Just Terrific,” again by Barrow, propounding Tom Seaver’s memories of the glory days.
• “The magic is back,” by Bill Price, moves the team into the 1980s
• “The Piazza party,” by John Harper, brings the fates of the Mets up to date
• “Shea Trippers,” by Michael O’Keeffe on the big non-baseball events

While not a give-away USA Today’s Sports Weekly tabloid published a Yankee Stadium keepsake edition. It’s well worth the $4.95 cover price and I recommend it highly, if you can still find it; it’s been out since the spring.

* Thank you

It may not have the same resonance as Yankee Stadium. It may even be a pit. But people seem to forget that Shea Stadium is closing, too. And the Yankees would do well to remember that they were guests there while their own “House” was being put back in order.

Shea Stadium (NY) (Images of Baseball)