Tiger Stadium likely to be demolished...

That was actually discussed, but it is a little too big, and too much maintenance for that. They have done a fabulous job with the former Summit arena.

 

Speaking of domes, whatever happened to the Silverdome in Pontiac? Is that still standing?

I really hope they don't demolish BC Place after the Olympics. I thought tearing down the Kingdome was a huge mistake and ditching the Metrodome would be even worse, from a football standpoint. The weather in Seattle and Minneapolis in November and December can be rather dicey.

 

I believe the Silverdome is still standing.

They used it as a practice field when the Super Bowl was in Detroit a few years ago.

 

That does sound pretty pathetic.

Reminds me of the pictures I've seen of the interior of Connie Mack Stadium, taken in the mid '70s, field overgrown with weeds. It was the bleakest place.

 

Here's a Crosley Field impound lot photo:

http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/past/crosley1971.jpg

Some from Shibe Park after the fire:

http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/shibe/shibedemo705.jpg

http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/shibe/shibedemo705.jpg

http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/shibe/shibedemo711.jpg


And Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/displayPhoto.pl?path=/pnp/habshaer/nj/nj1000/nj1029/photos&topImages=113135pr.jpg&topLinks=113135pv.jpg,113135pu.tif&title=1.%20%20FOUNTAIN%20AND%20MAIN%20ENTRANCE,%20LOOKING%20SOUTHEAST%20%3cbr%3eHABS%20NJ,9-JERCI,16-1&displayProfile=0

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/displayPhoto.pl?path=/pnp/habshaer/nj/nj1000/nj1029/photos&topImages=113162pr.jpg&topLinks=113162pv.jpg,113162pu.tif&title=28.%20%20NORTH%20DUGOUT,%20LOOKING%20WEST%20%3cbr%3eHABS%20NJ,9-JERCI,16-28&displayProfile=0

 

Thanks Buck.

I find them somewhat haunting, although, if I was alive at that time, I would have loved sneaking around the abandoned parks.

 

I love the Crosley Field one.

We have this beloved abandoned ballpark, what could we possibly do with it?

Ah, throw some cars in there.

 

One thing I've always thought they should do with old ballparks is keep them open for a year or two (or more, if people love them that much) and rent them out to groups to play, or for people to just run around in.

I was thinking that while seeing the pics of people watching the Tiger Stadium demolition. If I were the construction guy, I might have invited them on the field for one last time to just walk around.

 

It almost looks like the cars are all lined up awaiting the start of a humongous demolition derby.

I have to say, it's not quite as bad as I thought the picture would be.....I guess I was expecting to see these rotting hulks of cars, just sort of parked wherever and left to die on those spots.

What highway is that beyond the left-field wall? I once saw a clip of a home run hit to left field in the waning days of Crosley Field and noticed the vehicles whizzing by, and I always wondered what road it was.

The Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium pictures, though, are just heartbreaking.

 

Have we gotten to the part about how the stadium proves Jack Morris' awesomeness yet?

 

There is a replica of Crosley Field in Blue Ash. Apparently they're doing one for Riverfront too.

http://www.blueash.com/content/87/195/303/default.aspx#crosley

 

Well, a group of SABR guys -- many of whom made up the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy group that was trying to stall demolition of the park -- did get a chance to walk around the field and take pictures one last time, about two months ago.

I imagine plenty of people have had that chance in the last 10 years. Too bad it'll just be a plaque amongst apartment buildings or whatever the city ends up doing with the site once they ever get their heads out of their asses (and have any money.)