Building a new home

More than two years before playing their first game at the new home, the expansion New York Mets break ground 62 years ago today for a stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

More than 3,000 onlookers watch the 1961 groundbreaking for a new ballpark that is projected to cost $18 million.

The stadium eventually will be named Shea Stadium after William Shea, the lawyer who is instrumental in bringing back baseball to New York – specifically, National League baseball – after the Dodgers and Giants abandon the city after the 1957 season.

The stadium originally is scheduled to open in time for the 1963 season, but labor and construction issues push the opening to 1964.

The cost also rises, jumping from its initial estimate of $18 million to its final $28.5 million – or, running the numbers here, $293.4 million in today’s dollars.

The Mets play in the old Polo Grounds for the 1962 and ’63 seasons before moving into Shea Stadium in 1964. They remain at Shea through the 2008 season before opening Citi Field in 2009.