Detroit Tiger Stadium

[Steve in Michigan]

Yes it is happening. I feel like a part of me will be thrown away. I just read that they started demolishion of Tiger Stadium. So many good times I had their as a boy growing up and many more as I grew older. The history that was made in that stadium I will never forget. I keep saying to myself...if I could have only seen one more game there, but it never happened. I can still hear the lineup of Mickey Stanley, Norm Cash, Willie Horton, Gates Brown, Eddy Brinkman, Bill Freehand, Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, Denny Mclain, Jim Northrup, Dick McAuliffe, Don Wert and so many others. I was lucky enough to see this group on gentleman a few times in 1968 and then other famous tigers later on like Kirk Gibson, Lance Parish, John Hiller, Ron Leflore, Rusty Staub, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammel, John Wockenfuss, Tommy Brookens and many others. I wish they would have made the stadium a museum for baseball. Baseball at its finest. I am not sure what it is, but baseball back them seemed so much different then it is today. Back then it was all about the game. You could get to the park early and the guys would be more then willing to sign autographs and talk to the crowd and you could afford to take the family. Now its about $$$$ without caring about the fans or especially the kids. The new stadium doesn't have that feeling the old one does/had. Its not seasoned as well and it probably won't get that feeling until it gets 40-50 years behind its belt. The team makes the history and the history makes the stadium and I will miss Tiger Stadium very very much! With that said, I hope some of you that live in the Detroit area are going down there to detect. There is virgin ground under that stadium and I can only imagine what lies under it. Good luck to you guys if you go down there and if you get the chance, take off the headphones for just a minute and listen to the history that was made on that very spot. I am sure you will hear the roaring of the crowd....A tigers roar!

 

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[dugdigger]

man you named everyone of my childhood heros. 8) I went there as a cub scout in 68'

 

[49r Relics]

I really hate to hear stories about stadiums being torn down. I met Mickey Lolich twice when I picked him up on two seperate occassions in my ambulance to take him to the hospital (Back in 1995-1996 when I was a Paramedic Firefighter). He was a very nice man and we treated him like the hero he was (so did the hospital staff). I remember the huge bench clearing brawls between the Tigers and the Oakland A's back in the 70's, those 2 teams really had it out for each other!

If you guys can get in there to detect, please let us know how you do.

HH, Mark

 

[Steve in Michigan]

HI Dug,

I was there many times myself as a cub scout in 68. You were probably there when I was. My mom was our den mother and she knew how much the kids loved baseball so we would go there alot. Who knows maybe you were in my cub scout pack! LOL Take care!

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan

 

[dugdigger]

i grew up in hazel park , if you get to hunt the stadium keep us posted. and watch your back the last time I was in that area it was a lot tougher than I remembered.

 

[finderzzs]

DITTO TO ALL OF YOU. I GREW UP IN TOLEDO AND MY FATHER WOULD TAKE ME TO THE TIGER GAMES. I'M STILL A DIE-HARD FAN TODAY. SO WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THEM LATELY THEY WERE PICKED TO GO ALL THE WAY THIS YEAR.

 

[Paul in WA]

This is sad news. I spent many saturdays there with my dad when I was a kid. I grew up in the Brighton/Howell area which was only an hours drive, so we went often. I have an autographed picture of Al Kaline & I'll try to get it posted here.

Paul

 

[Slingshot]

When they tore down the old Atlanta Braves stadium, a guy I know got in there and filled up a couple of buckets of dirt out of the infield. He later packaged this dirt in medium sized pill bottles and produced a label proclaiming where the dirt was from and had a short history of the stadium printed on it. He then proceeded to sell these for $5 apiece, and sold out. He sold many on ebay at auction, and these would sometimes go for over $10. I don't know his total take, but I figure it was quite a haul! I'd be getting some dirt if I were in your shoes, that might be some high dollar real estate!

 

[gmsparky]

i live in allen park, i went down twice to watch the demolition. babe ruth, ty cobb, mickey mantle,(i think lou gerhig played his last game there.) all the big names played there. i thought about what may be beneath the cement & asphalt there. they've played ball there since the late 1800's. before that it was a hay market on that corner of michigan & trumbull. also , right now they've ground the asphalt on michigan ave. down to the old brick road underneath. i can only wonder what's under that. guess we'll never know. also stopped around the corner at Nemo's for a good burger & beer.(s). at least we'll have another empty field when they're done tearing it down. hh

 

[mastereagle22]

I can tell you the new Bush stadium is NOT anything like the old one. I went to my first ever ballgame at Bush stadium. I spent a lot of happy times at the old place. I have gone to 2 games at the new one and don't care if I ever go back. Seriously I have turned down tickets to 10 different games in the last two years.

New is not always improved.

 

[Admiral de Salee]

My Aunt, who is now 90 and dying, would take us to Briggs Stadium in the 50's. I saw Mickey Mantle hit one out of the ball park. We usually went for Tigers vs. Yankees. Yogi Berra was always behind the plate.
I saw my heroes: Al Kaline, Charlie Maxwell, Frank Lary--and later Rocky Colavito and Norm Cash.
In a non-Yankees game, I watched Minnie Minoso throw his bat at the mound. It spun out there like a helicopter rotor blade, and Jim Bunning jumped in the air to let it go under him and land near 2nd base.

I was machining piston rods for Oldsmobiles in Lansing when they won the Series in '68. I drove down from Grand Rapids in '73 or '74 and watched Lolich beat the Yanks 4-2. Off year, we got box seats on the 3rd base line on a weeknight. In '84, I had just moved my little family down to Redford Township in July. Making the adjustment from tiny Coloma, MI, 250 yards from Lake Michigan, to living just west of Telegraph, plus working a new job, meant I didn't get to any ball games.

My last game in Tiger Stadium was maybe '89, during the playoffs against a Canadian team. They won, and I got to hear a guy do some 40's-style heckling of Wockenfuss, who was warm-up catching for a pitcher whose name I can't remember. When the guy finally (after about the 10th repitition of "HEY.. WOCK EN FUSS") got John to look up into the stands, he quickly said, "YA BUM!". That made the great utility infielder, and all of us, laugh.

I've never been to the park named after a bank. I might go there sometime, but I doubt it. I hit old Walter Hagen persimmon woods, and I only ever watched baseball played in an old ball park. I'll leave it that way.

 

[luckysgirl]

My x-husband played for the Tigers in the 80's for a short time. I spent two years of my life in that stadium....sorry to see it go.

 

[generic username]

i dont understand it, detroit loves to tear amazing and beautiful buildings and such down and still expect to attract people to the area. last time i was in detroit i was working a job and was amazed how nasty and dirty it was driving in from grandriver, out in the outskirts of town i saw plenty of trash and partially demolished run down buildings and the skyscrapers covered with smog clouds. long story short i have no plans to return, i enjoy living in the woods roughly a hour and 45 minutes north! detroits got some amazing history dont get me wrong but all the cool stuffs getting torn down and demolished.

 

[LI Tom]

If they can toss aside Yankee stadium,the ultimate shrine of Baseball,then greed rules all and tradition be Damned.