Tiger Stadium likely to be demolished...

ha ha ha, aren't you a funny fucking guy?!

(and, sadly, right on the money :'()

But hey, we'll always have '92 and '93.

 

Actually, AA, they don't have any events there anymore. It costs too much in upkeep just for the minimal maintenance needed for those occasional events; now they just pay the insurance.

In fact, they tried to open it up to have a performing stage for the rodeo again this year and couldn't get the permits for public occupancy, it was in such bad shape.

 

Would have been a bitch if you had cut him off and given him the finger, then realized who it was.

 

Was in Detroit several years ago and after visiting Joe Louis Arena and Comerica Park, made it a point to look up Tiger Stadium. Thing was locked up tight, so I couldn't get in, but the outside looked very old and neglected.

It's downtown, so the land has to be worth something --- far more than to let an abandoned stadium just sit and rot. I'm surprised something hasn't been done already. But I agree, put a plaque or marker there. The old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota was where the Mall of America stands today.

 

University of Houston moved its home games back on campus to a renovated Robertson Stadium (early home of the Houston Oilers in the 1960s) several years ago.

All of the other events have moved to the newer Reliant Stadium, including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the world's second-largest rodeo. It has a two-week run every February with mega-entertainers each night and generates a significant amount of revenue.

The high school championship games usually get split between there and the Cowboys' stadium in Dallas, although if two west Texas schools are involved, they might play it in Lubbock or someplace like that.

It's really strange for those of us who remember the Astrodome as a showcase to drive past it on the freeway and see how Reliant Stadium just dwarfs it in size and scope.

I actually went to a music fest at the Dome around 2002 or so and was shocked at how bad of shape it was in --- barely three years after the Astros left. The restrooms were beyond filthy. Maybe 1 in 10 concession stands were open that day for a sizeable (20,000 or so) crowd. It was terribly hot (mid-summer and no AC on) and everything looked rundown. Which, of course, it was. I know they used it as a housing spot for Katrina refugees in 2005, but I'm not sure they have a long-term plan for it.

 

Thanks to Retrosheet for help with the dates:

July 14, 1991 - At seven years old, I saw the last Tiger pitcher to win 20 games, Bil Gullickson, but he didn't have it that afternoon. Got chased in the third and the Tigers got hammered 18-4. Brian McRae had six RBIs.

June 21, 1997 - My uncle invited our family to an afternoon Christian convocation in the stadium in which some of the ballplayers gave testimonies and such, then we all stayed to see them beat the snot out of the Red Sox, 15-4. Got so bad that backup shortstop Mike Benjamin pitched the eighth for Boston.

August 14, 1999 - Got to the stadium one last time to see the Tigers play Anaheim. They lost 7-4, and our seats, in the back of the left field lower deck family section, were just a poor view, as you couldn't see the ball if it was more than 15 feet in the air.

Overall, I'm certainly sad to see it go, but I think it was time. No matter how much we try to romanticize it, building's just a building in the end.

 

It's more on the fringe of downtown.

But being right next to a couple freeways should still make it attractive.

At one time (and this was a long time ago), there was talk of a Walmart for the land.

 

I've mentioned this before, but you gotta remember that half the Astrodome is underground. (Very odd in Houston, but true.) That's why Reliant looks like it's twice the size.

I've actually toured the Dome in its current condition, and it is dark and creepy.

 

Folks I know in Houston say that if the Astrodome wasn't the first-ever domed stadium it would have been torn down by now.

It is kind of weird to walk out of the east side of Reliant and see the Dome right across the street.

 

Maybe Joel Osteen can buy the Astrodome for his next church.

 

Mattress Mac needs a new store too.

 

Some of the saddest photos I've ever seen were those of Crosley Field being used as the City of Cincinnati's vehicle impound lot in the early '70s. The Enquirer's printing plant is on the site now.