Tiger Stadium likely to be demolished...

As long as you're sitting in the first 10 rows. Otherwise, your view was obstructed somewhat by a post. And forget about the bathrooms. Saw many a game there as a kid but it's time for it to go. That said, they had the best hot dogs I've ever had.

 

Growing up in those parts, I've been to tons of games at Tiger Stadium. And then I went to Yankee Stadium last year. They're almost the same; at the very least, very similar.

That said, I loved everything about both.

I loved right field in Tiger Stadium, how the upper deck hung over the field of play. I've seen many a player drift back for a fly ball only to have it caught by some drunk in the first row or so.

I loved the bleachers, where, when I used to go, you could sit for $4. And the sun would beat down and literally bake you as you sat on the tin bleachers.

I loved Tiger Den. As corporate as you could get in Detroit. They tried to spice up the place with plastic covered cushioned seats with orange Ds on them (I think they're visible in the move 61* if I'm not mistaken).

I loved that a local Ford dealership once gave away free tickets to opening day for test driving Windstars. I was something like 17 years old and my dad, who worked at Chrysler for 37 years, test drove a Windstar for six consecutive days to get me and my friends free tickets — free obstructed view tickets in the right field upper deck, row O, P, Q, R, behind posts.

I loved moving cars using "The Tiger Stadium Bounce," where by several drunk men would latch onto the back bumper and bounce the car and on the way up actually move the car right or left. We used to straddle cars over curbs, move cars so others could get out, whatever.

I loved paying to park on some dude's lawn and wondering the whole game whether my car would still be there when the game ended. I also loved paying to park at the Firestone dealer you can see on that google map and then walking the cobblestone portion of Michigan to the game.

I loved Opening Day at Nemos, face pressed against the bar's front window because it was so goddamn crowded.

I was at the last opening day at Tiger Stadium and the very last game at Tiger Stadium — I cried at both.

I bought two seats out of the old girl when they went on sale last fall. I cried when they showed up at my door.

 

It was wonderful...
walk through the ticket gates and you were overwhelmed with this wonderful smell of years of cooked hot dogs, stale beer and a slight whiff of men's room...
Red Pelican mustard for the hot dogs, wonderful ice ream in the press box...
I was there for the 71 all-star game where Reggie jackson hit the light tower, the last game against Kansas City and the night Dave Rozema blew out his knee in a kung fu kick in a fight against the Twins
I drank beer on a fake ID from a buddy's college roommate "David Kevin Rathgeber... 423"...
I saw Lions' games from Coaches Corner (Centerfield bleachers for baseball) and I was there on the day Chuck Hughes died in an woulda-been ideal doubleheader when I was 9 -- Bears and Lions at Tiger Stadium and Wings and Montreal at Olympia the same night.

 

Chunk of the wall remains, as does a brick outline of where the left field wall was and home plate is encased in glass in one of the buildings. My alma mater's done some pretty damned bone-headed things (like not leaving up one piece of Pitt Stadium, a building that was older when it was razed than Forbes) but this wasn't one of them.

And count me in the group that thinks its sad that we tear down anything 30 years old or more. As much as I despised them, I wish that one of the 1970s multipurpose ashtrays would have remained so we could point to them and say, "thats what we used to play in." And say what you like about the ownership bullshit surrounding the Dodgers post-O'Malley, but they've unveiled a $500 million upgrade plan for Dodger Stadium that's supposed to make it feasible for the next 50 years.

 

That's outstanding. Truly outstanding.

 

That's cool, but Dodger Stadium is, of course, the basic template off of which all the new generation of virtually-identical HOK clone stadiums have been built.

 

My memories of Tiger Stadium:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET198805310.shtml

White Sox 10, Tigers 1, 5/31/88. Only game I ever saw at The Corner. I was 6. What I remember -- and can still see in my mind's eye -- is how blindingly white the stadium was as we walked across Michigan Ave., and how blue it was inside. Gorgeous, to me. Always will be.

Only thing I remember about the game is Pat Sheridan hitting a long home run in the 9th inning to avoid the Tigers getting shut out. The box score shows that Tanana got knocked out in the 2nd after a Gary Redus grand slam, but I was probably too busy eating ice cream out of my Tigers helmet cup.

I wish there was a way to salvage that place, but probably impossible after all the deterioration. Glad Billy Crystal made his movie before they tore it down, because it looked great in 61*.

 

Wow, Buck, helmet cups! Awesome memory.

I think I told this story before:
I'm in eighth grade, I go to the game with a friend, his mom, dad and brother. I ask the hot dog vendor roaming the stands for a hot dog. Back then, they were kept in steamers and the guy pulls one out with his tongs, puts it in a bun and hands it to me. As he does, the dog falls out and onto the concrete stairs beside my seat. He pulls out a new dog and puts it in my bun. And then picks the old one up and tosses it back in the steamer.

 

Oh, I had a collection of at least a dozen helmet cups when I was a kid. We used 'em mostly for candy at home, but they lasted at least into this decade before my mom threw them out.

 

Yes. Terrific.

 

That's a negatory.

I'd have had them check for mine, but what brain cells I had were mutated by the lead paint in the grandstand seats.

 

I keep waiting for Z-Man to post our trip to Detroit. Let's just say the game was the eye of a stupid storm perpetrated 100 percent by yours truly.

The game we saw -- Tigers/Jays '92 -- was uneventful other than Tigers immortal David Haas owning the future World Champs. But it was still chock full 'o memories:

-- It was a border war game. At least 35-40 percent of the crowd consisted of very loud, very boisterous Jays fans.

-- It was hotter than fuck. It was around 90 degrees with similar humidity. We sat in the front row of the upper deck bleachers -- best bleacher seats I've ever had considering the distance from the plate -- and had the option to go sit downstairs in the shade for a while, which was nice.

-- When we were in the upper deck, some kid with the family sitting next to us was jumping from row to row being an annoying fuck.

He screwed up his last jump, though, tripped over the bleachers, and went head-first right into the steel girder support on the bottom of the railing for the front row. Kid cried his eyes out, had a slight gash on his head, but was otherwise OK. He was lucky as hell, it was one of the worst headers I've ever seen.

-- Saw one of the most successful streaking attempts I've seen. Dude wrongfooted Detroit's finest for a good five minutes before getting the shit beat out of him. Tiger Stadium's expansive outfield helped his cause greatly.

-- The Tiger Stadium vicinity had several old-timey souvenir shops you can only find by ballparks, and to a lesser extent, in Cooperstown. They had the gear, but it's like going into an old bar. Creaky wooden floors, framed programs from long-forgotten games, displayed autographs from equally forgotten players.

I love those places. One of the few cool things about the Metrodome is the shop just north of the Dome that memorializes the Twins in the same way. There used to be one near County Stadium/Miller Park, but it's either moved or it's gone.

After the game, Z-Man and I got deported from Canada!