Baseball only part of Shea history

Shea goodbye.

Shea Stadium officially ceased to exist Wednesday when the final section of the New York Mets' longtime home came tumbling down. And while most Mets fans aren't shedding tears given the fact they have a new ballpark next door in Citi Field, they can wax nostalgic about the old dump in Flushing.

The Mets won their two world titles at Shea. The Jets won the 1968 AFL title there and used it as a launching pad to win Super Bowl III in Miami the following month. The Beatles rocked there. So did Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there. Spider-Man got "married" there.

But Shea also will be remembered for some less-than-celebrated moments:

Like the time in 1973 when roller derby had a tripleheader and more than 50,000 fans showed up.

Or in 1975, when the Yankees were playing their home games at Shea while Yankee Stadium was being refurbished and Elliot Maddox shredded his knee after slipping in center field. He sued, only to lose.

In 1977, Andre the Giant threw boxer Chuck Wepner out of the ring as part of a wrestler vs. boxer match. Shea was packed that night, too.

And if you thought nothing could trump the Beatles' visit in '65, guess again. Grand Funk Railroad outdrew the Fab Four when it played Shea in 1971. Maybe it was Humble Pie, which was Grand Funk's opening act that night, that put the show over the top.

Shea will become a parking lot. You can say good riddance, but the memories were pretty good.

• BOSS HIGH -- Starting in August, approximately 1,500 students in Lutz, Fla., will be attending classes at George M. Steinbrenner High School.

That's right, The Boss had a high school named after him.

The longtime Yankees owner has donated millions of dollars to the Tampa community, so it's a small payback. The school doesn't have a nickname or colors, but it will have athletic teams.

So, what should Steinbrenner High's nickname be? According to the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, the choices include Stallions, Chargers, Clippers and, yes, Yankees. Colors being considered include crimson, black and gold, navy blue with green and gold, and navy blue with orange. Apparently, the football team wouldn't look all that great in pinstripes.

• DO-IT-YOURSELF SURGERY -- To the best of anyone's knowledge, major league baseball players have medical insurance. But the Royals' Jose Guillen decided against having a doctor remove an ingrown toenail and opted to do it himself.

Guillen saw a doctor Wednesday. But after consulting with him, Guillen grabbed some tweezers and decided to perform the procedure on his own.

"I reached in there and poked around until I got the end of it," Guillen told bugsandcranks.com. "Then I counted one, two, three and just pulled. ... Oh, my God. It came out, but tears were running down my cheeks."

The Royals might be known as a somewhat frugal franchise. And, yes, times are tough economically. But certainly they could have had a trained professional take care of one of their ballplayers, couldn't they?

COMPILED BY STEVE CARP LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL