Tiger Stadium
Tiger Stadium is a stadium located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. It
hosted the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team for nearly a century before that
franchise moved into the new Comerica Park in 2000. It also hosted the Detroit Lions of
the National Football League for many years. It was declared a State of Michigan Historic
Site in 1975 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989. It
is scheduled for demolition in 2007. The stadium also nicknamed 'The Corner' for it's
location on Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Boulevard.
History
Tiger Stadium opened in 1912, the same day Boston opened Fenway Park, but baseball
had been played on the site since 1896, five years before the Tigers or the American
League existed. Navin Field, the original name of the park, was built on the site of old
Bennett Park. It was named after owner Frank Navin, and it was renamed Briggs Stadium
in 1938, two years after Walter Briggs took over the team. Briggs Stadium was renamed
Tiger Stadium in 1961.
Seating
Tiger Stadium’s best seats puts fans as close to the action as any ballpark in the league.
However, some of the lower-deck seats behind third base have their views of both the
mound and home plate blocked by posts. And in some of the seats the upper deck
blocks your view of any ball hit in the air.
Changes
There have been a few modifications over the years, including various replacements of
the center-field scoreboard and a large food court called Tiger Plaza (1993). However,
the features that made Tiger Stadium unique remain. Only Tiger Stadium has a flagpole
in play (in center field). Its bullpens are set down each line, dugout style. The right field
upper deck that hangs out over the front row of the lower deck is so distinctive that the
Texas Rangers copied the look (without an actual overhang) for The Ballpark in Arlington.
Current State of the Stadium
Demolition is imminent for the stadium. As Detroit tries to rebuild its downtown as well as
its image with new construction, it's left with older buildings gone vacant, many of them
historic. None of them are bigger, or arguably more important to Detroiters, than this
one. The mayor has stated that keeping part of the stadium as a field for youths is ideal,
but may not be financially feasible. It will be up to the developer if they would like to keep
any of the stadium as a memory. The city has taken bids for memorabilia groups to strip
the stadium and sell the items, but as you can see in many of the photos, people have
broken into the stadium to steal a piece of the stadium. The old english D on the back of
the padded Tiger's Dens seats are the most popular for the thieves.
*61 - The Movie
In the summer of 2000, the HBO movie 61* was filmed in Tiger Stadium. To make the
field appear to be Yankee Stadium, the seats were painted green and a third deck and
skyline of the Bronx were added through the use of CG. In the credit roll at the end of the
film, Yankee Stadium is listed as a character played by Tiger Stadium. Coincidently, it
was at Tiger Stadium that Roger Maris hit his first home run of his record-breaking 1961
season. The paint used to change the colors of the seat to green was a paint that could
wash off, and part of the deal was that the seats would be returned to the original state,
even though their was no use for them anymore.
