Baseball in the Time of COVID

The tagline for the return of fans to Citi Field is “Safe at Citi.” It feels pretty real. While we’ve heard a lot in recent days about the relaxing of pandemic restrictions by the CDC and in the northeast states, the impact of that has not found its way to Citi Field. To get into the park you need to show proof of vaccination or a current negative COVID test result. In addition to hosting the Mets, Citi Field is also a vaccination site and more than 100,000 doses have been administered here. While there are some folks, particularly politicians, who are trying to make a partisan issue out of requiring vaccinations, I’m happy to know that the people sharing the stadium with me have been vaccinated.

As of mid-May they were allowing 20% capacity at Citi Field. You get your temperature taken on the way in and masks are required. Gaiters or bandanas won’t cut it. There are mask police who will come around and tell you to put in on if you slack off. Everything is touchless: parking, tickets, concessions. And we all filled out contact tracing forms. All in all, a pretty safe environment.

Fans at Citi Field — 20% looks like this

Mens room at City Field — Who wants to stand shoulder-to-shoulder at a urinal anyway.

Hand sanitizer at Citi Field — Once there were ketchup dispensers.

Strapped seats, Citi Field — If you didn’t buy tickets together and your buddy wants to sneak into your section and sit next to you, he’s likely to have a wire up his butt.

Trenton Thunder players — Heading south, we find these guys with uniforms that say Thunder. But in fact these are the Buffalo Bison. Confused? The Toronto Blue Jays couldn’t bring teams back and forth over the U.S./Canadian border, so they are playing in Buffalo, home of their AAA minor league team, the Bison. That required some construction on the Buffalo stadium, and that sent the Bison south to Trenton. They will be playing in what was the home of the Trenton Thunder, a 25+ years successful franchise that was abandoned by the Yankees as part of MLB’s shakedown of the minor leagues. So for at least part of the season, the Bison will be playing under the alias Thunder.

masked umpire — I don’t think they’d let you into Citi Field with that mask.

Rain delay at Citi Field — But no amount of mask wearing, vaccinating and temperature taking can save us from this.

6 Responses to Baseball in the Time of COVID

Yeah, Another Blogger says:

May 14, 2021 at 5:19 pm

Excellent idea to use Citi Field as a vaccination site. Any idea if they’re doing the same at Yankee Stadium?

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- Ken Dowell says:
  
  May 14, 2021 at 5:25 pm
  
  Haha. You can’t ask a Mets fan a question like that and expect him to know the answer.
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
  
  - sportsdiva64 says:
    
    May 15, 2021 at 7:42 am
    
    LoL, as a Yankees fan living in Mets Country, yes they are. Both stadiums are vaccination centers. They’re doing that for the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum and I think they’re doing it for the Knicks at MSG but don’t quote me on that
    
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kerbey says:

May 25, 2021 at 2:41 pm

I wonder if folks are going to trash all those mask and COVID signs or pile them up in attics, for posterity to “find very desirable” as collectors. One can only imagine as the years go by, how valuable those signs will be. “Grandma, was this the sweater and matching mask you wore back in the pandemic?” Grandma nods and pulls out a mandatory mask sign. I, for one, am happy to see them leaving, and happy to go grocery shopping and to restaurants maskless now.

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Ray says:

June 20, 2021 at 9:45 pm

Thanks for this blog post. I recently went to my first game post-COVID and was really impressed with how Citi was operating. The only down side were the concession lines, but not the end of the world.

Here’s a link to our podcast episode on our return to Citi if anyone is interested. https://behindthebagpodcast.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/our-return-to-citifield/

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- Ken Dowell says:
  
  June 20, 2021 at 10:32 pm
  
  Hopefully as the season goes on more of the concessions will reopen.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person