As Yankee Stadium begins its final months of use, including hosting its final All Star game, there will be a lot of reflection of the great moments not just in baseball, but in sports that have taken place in one of sports’ greatest stages. From Don Larsen’s perfect game to the 1958 NFL Championship dubbed the greatest game ever when the Baltimore Colts defeated the N.Y. Giants in overtime to all the great title fights staged there. While Yankee Stadium’s death is iminant, in Detroit, Tiger Stadium’s death has begun.
This week construction workers began the demolition of this great ballpark on Michigan and Trumbull. Now Tiger Stadium’s guts are exposed and many Tiger fans are no doubt shedding a tear as this great ballpark comes down. Tiger Stadium has meant so much to those from Detroit and all over Michigan. A current co-worker of mine who grew up in the Detroit area shared with me memories of watching Al Kaline, Denny McLain, Willie Horton and all the great Tigers play in that ballpark. To him there was nothing like spending a summer afternoon or evening watching the Tigers at Tiger Stadium, a feeling shared by many Tiger fans from all over Michigan.
No matter what the sport, ballparks have a romantic connection that is easily shared. My best memories in my youth is watching the Arkansas Razorbacks with my dad at Razorback Stadium, a structure that looks nothing like it did when my dad and I went to games but thank god is not coming down anytime soon. I can talk all day about watching Steve Little kick a 67 yard field goal against Texas, still an NCAA record or watching great players like Earl Campbell before they were big time. In fact my first Hog game my dad and I went to was in 1975 against Tulsa, who had a receiver named Steve Largent. He went on to become a Hall of Famer. These are memories that I treasure just like Tiger fans who feel that same way about Tiger Stadium, only that structure will be gone living only in their mind.
I unfortunately never saw a game there but I have been to Tiger Stadium. 4 years ago while producing a motorsports event in Detroit, I checkout out Tiger Stadium on a free afternoon. I was hoping one of the gates would be open so I could see inside since the ballpark is totally enclosed. The huge padlocks on every possible opening prevented that. I just saw the outside structure and the huge light towers on the roof. I wanted to go inside and picture some of the great moments in that ballpark. The best I could do from outside was trying to find the light tower Reggie Jackson hit with his massive home run in the 1971 All Star Game.
I’m glad I was able to pay a visit to Tiger Stadium before she came down. Goodbye Tiger Stadium, at 96 you live a long life.
--John Wilkerson
Tiger Stadium: 1912 - 2008
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