Shea Stadium Employee: Bill Meenan

  Allow me to introduce you to my Grandfather, Bill Meenan. Bill is partially responsible for molding my youthful brain into the Mets fanatic I am today. After retiring from Lever Brothers he decided that relaxing wasn't in the plan. Within 3 months he was already hired by the Shea Stadium security department. "Retired" in December 1971 and by April 1972 he already started his next career. Us Meenan's can be considered as slight work-a-holics and Grandpa paved the way. When this was written he had already put in over 21 years of service with the Mets and tacked on a couple more before officially retiring. He was the head guy at the Press Gate and I had the luxury of going to a ton of games as a kid. I don't say that to rub it in or gloat, but growing up I didn't really appreciate it as much as I would today. I just felt like Grandpa was the man and it was free. Just to the left of that gate (seen above) was his office. After finishing with his pre-game duties he would walk us up the ramp right behind home plate. I went to games all throughout the 80's and up until 1994 when he called it quits. Grandpa passed away shortly after retiring from Shea about 15 years before The 7 Line was even a thought. If he were here today he'd be proud that I'm doing my thing and keeping our Mets in the family.