Say goodbye to Detroit's Tiger Stadium...

[KCgridlock]

[Raining Inside]

I saw many games there when I was a kid. I guess Detroit needs more surface parking and vacant urban space. Enlighten me if something is actually getting built there.

[hudkina]

It's not being torn down for surfacing parking... The city has been requesting development proposals for much of the past 9 years, with most of them being unsubstatial. (They ranged from an amusement park to a Wal-Mart type store)

The current hope is that the main corner of the stadium will be saved as well as the seats stretching as far as first and third bases. The idea is to use it for local and high school teams.

The idea is that once the stadium is finally torn down all of the empty lots surrounding the stadium in the Corktown neighborhood that were once used for parking may start seeing new developments. After the Tigers left for Comerica Park, everyone wanted to wait and see what would happen to Tiger Stadium before they did anything with their lots.

Anyway, Great shot, KCGridlock. You came at the right(?) time.

[KCgridlock]

I added more shots...

hudkina, I couldn't figure out what they were ultimately doing, nobody seemed to know and the press was just saying that the home plate would stay. It's all I heard while in town. People really have an attachment to that stadium. Kinda sad it can't be saved. The chopper pilot told me that they have to keep the stadium wet just to keep it from burning down, so I'm sure that keeping any of the stadium will be nearly cost prohibitive.

[OhioGuy]

Kinda sad to see the old Tiger Stadium go. I saw my first major league baseball game there back in the summer of 1990.

[jodelli]

I took these Thursday and posted them elsewhere.

[LMich]

Really, it's sad to see it go. My family was never much into baseball, but I remember being taken there a handful of times as a young child, and it's funny how much I really remember. It was truly one of the great old parks, and while Comerica is nice, it's too much of a circus for my taste; too many moving parts.

From what I hear, they are trying to save the entrance and field. The wish and hope is that the lots created around the field by the demolition will be developed to ring the field.

Heck, who am I kidding, no one really knows what's going to happen beyond the fact that it is now quite apparent the thing is coming down.

[Top Of The Park]

from a bygone age...

[theWatusi]

I'm sure the place has a lot of memories, but damn if it isnt pretty ugly on the outside.

Keeping it wet so it doesnt burn down? Is there a substantial amount of wood in the structure?

[EuphoricOctopus]

Originally Posted by theWatusi

I'm sure the place has a lot of memories, but damn if it isnt pretty ugly on the outside.

Keeping it wet so it doesnt burn down? Is there a substantial amount of wood in the structure?

They added the metal siding back in the 70s, before it was white painted brick.

I think they are keeping it wet during demo, to keep down the dust. The nice thing is that 90% of the stadium will be recycled.

Fun facts:

The Detroit Tigers played baseball there since 1895 then known as Bennett Park and featured a wooden grandstand with a wooden peaked roof in the outfield and bleachers surrounding the infield. At the time, some places in the outfield were only marked off with rope.

Tiger Stadium (then known as Navin Field) opened the same day (4/20/1912) as Fenway Park.

Tiger Stadium was where Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run.

Night baseball came to Briggs Stadium (before it was named Tiger Stadium) on June 15, 1948. It was the first stadium to have lights.

[PhillyRising]

Hmmm......did anybody in Detroit ever think about reusing the stadium to lure a Major League Soccer Team? DC United has been using RFK Stadium in Washington for years (although they have a proposed plan for a new stadium that is stalled right now).

Such a shame to lose a local landmark but sometimes that is the price to be paid for progress.

[EuphoricOctopus]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

Hmmm......did anybody in Detroit ever think about reusing the stadium to lure a Major League Soccer Team? DC United has been using RFK Stadium in Washington for years (although they have a proposed plan for a new stadium that is stalled right now).

Such a shame to lose a local landmark but sometimes that is the price to be paid for progress.

The idea was floated around, but I believe we had two MLS teams and they failed.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Sorry to see it go. My dad and I went to a game there in 1993.

Great aerials as always, KC

[krudmonk]

It's better than Yankee Stadium and Fenway. The whole thing envelopes and looms over you. It's comfortable and ominous at the same time.

[jodelli]

The original 1912 field consisted of the lower deck along the first and third baselines. The rest was added on in phases up until 1938 after which it looked pretty much like it did in 1999.
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/past/navinout.jpg

[DC83]

shame shame shame...

[kool maudit]

in like 2000, a buddy and i went down to detroit with the goal of getting into a few of the abandoned buildings. we got into michigan central, and a few of the smaller old towers...but the best was tiger stadium. surveying the perimeter, we ran into a security guard with whom we chatted a bit about the city, the park, the state of things etc. anyway, when he found out we'd come down all the way from montreal, he let us in to wander around and we had the place to ourselves - bleachers, field, the whole 9.

[xzmattzx]

I've heard that they want to use the stadium for local baseball, as was mentioned. What I have heard, though, is that they would only tear down the outfield section, and re-create it into the layout during the 1930s or some other time period. They would leave most of the stadium as it is.

[jodelli]

Originally Posted by Detroit5000

It was the first stadium to have lights.

Not quite. Several other ballparks had them, the major league debut being at Crosley Field in Cincinnati in 1935.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/stadium/st_crosl.shtml

[Michi]

The tearing down of Tiger Stadium started some months ago when the city hired some four letter word to guard the place and instead let everyone and anyone in to steal all of the memorabilia/ private property. Problem Solvers did a few segments on that I believe. Had that progressed, what would the point in saving "nothing" be? My point is why is it so much of a shame that the heavy machinery is bringing it down, when months ago, people took from it the things of value?

Also, some members of City Council did not like to cooperate with the Greater Corktown Neighborhood Association because the residents who were involved did not compose a certain percentage of black people...that percentage being established by council members themselves. This association, I believe is the one who has the greatest vested interest in the property since it is a part of the neighborhood that the association members live. But as everyone knows, Detroit has next to no leadership under the roof of its "government" offices.

Thanks KC and jodelli for the photography documentation. I really wish I was there to produce my own of this important piece in Detroit/American history.