• Two words in English that Cuban shortstop Rey Ordonez knows how to say: “Hiya, cutie.”

• Food you cannot buy at Shea Stadium anymore: green-meat heroes and gray-tuna sandwiches. Food you now can buy: dry pulled-pork barbecue and wilted green salad.

• Relief pitcher John Franco on which radio stations are not among the clubhouse boom-box pre-sets: “No metal, no hard rap, no techno.” And who made the rules?
  

  “Me -- it’s my radio.”

• Attention, Senator Pothole. The only area of the entire stadium parking lot to be repaved over the winter: the Diamond Club section for luxury-box-seaters and club personnel.

• Mr. Met, call your agent: According to stadium concessionaires, the supply of Mr. Met stuffed dolls ran out last year. And there are no plans to order more.

Related:

• Archive: “Gotham: Life in the New City”
• Articles by Billy Altman
• Table of Contents: Apr 13, 1998 issue of New York | Subscribe!