R.I.P. Tiger Stadium

R.I.P., photo by Ralph Krawczyk Jr.

Ralph writes:

Supporters of renovating what remained of Tiger Stadium surrendered Monday in a failed court effort to postpone the final demolition, sparking the end of a legacy that began in 1896…

You can read about the demolition in the Freep, watch it on YouTube, check out other Tiger Stadium pictures on Michigan in in Pictures and read Tiger Stadium stories on Absolute Michigan). You can also see more photos of this iconic park in Raph’s Tiger Stadium set (slideshow).

I’m not sure, however, that you can explain to me why Detroit seems hell-bent on demolishing its most prominent pieces of heritage.

Play Ball! Detroit Tiger tickets on sale today!

Comerica Park, photo by Mario.Q.

Tickets for the Detroit Tigers’ 2009 regular season home games at Comerica Park go on sale today (March 7) at 10 AM. Opening Day tickets are available – there’s a four ticket per person limit on Opening Day tickets. To get your tickets, head over to the Detroit Tigers web site. There’s a great Tiger highlight video there but I wonder why they’re saying “don’t miss Miguel Cabrera and company in action at Comerica Park” on the site. Placido? Magglio? Carlos? Did I miss something?

Check out Mario’s Detroit Tigers photos (slideshow) – like this one they’re all uploaded wallpapery delicious! Also have a look at the Tigers’ baseball show from the Absolute Michigan pool.

And oh yeah: GO TIGERS!

Tiger Stadium demolition: When the walls come tumblin’ down

tiger stadium, photo by Rhonda_Marie

View bigger in Rhonda’s Tiger Stadium slideshow (view set). Demolition has begun on Tiger Stadium. You can follow the bouncing wrecking ball using any or all of the ways below:

• Latest Tiger Stadium photos in the Exposure.Detroit group (slideshow).
• “Tiger Demolition” seems to be the best Flickr search (slideshow)
• Detroit news photos of Tiger Stadium deconstruction are one of several things at their search for Tiger Stadium.
• It’s not really demolition, but a search for Tiger Stadium on Michigan in Pictures has some cool stuff.
• The links that you’re going to post in the comments… ;)

The Last Days of Tiger Stadium

Tiger Stadium Usher 2, circa 1999, photo by LAWRENCEcreative.

Greenberg, Kailine, Manush, Heilmann, Kell, Newhouser, Jennings, Harwell – the stadium may be gone, but the names live on. Brett writes:

These are pictures taken from the last season of Tiger Stadium. Rather than watching all of the the games, I would find myself wandering the hallways and aisleways trying to capture moments significant to this iconic place…

I hope these pics bring back some great memories as we all wait for the final brick to fall on this historic landmark.

View his Tiger Stadium, circa 1999 slideshow (photo set). Do it, for real. The scenes he captured of the daily life of this grand old ballpark are priceless.

Although a series of bids to save all or part of the ballpark over the last several years, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy has until August 1st to prove it can raise $12-15 million to preserve the diamond, dugouts, 3,000 seats and an area that would house Hall of Fame Tiger’s broadcaster Ernie Harwell’s collection of sports memorabilia. Detroit News story.

Here’s some more Tiger Stadium Stuff:

• A search of Michigan in Pictures for “Detroit Tigers” yealds a bunch of cool results (and suggests that I might have more than a little fondness for this team)
• My favorites are Tiger Stadium: At the corner of Michigan & Trumbull, Tiger Stadium, in Pictures and Last Look at Tiger Stadium (in which a group of Exposure.Detroit photographers got to spend some time in the ballpark last fall!)
• Absolute Michigan keyword Tiger Stadium has some great stuff on the Corner including the link and history-packed What Will Happen to Tiger Stadium?

quincy karma on US 12

quincy karma, photo by buckshot.jones.

This colorful capture is part of Scott’s A trip down historic US 12 set (slideshow). He writes:

I turned off the Interstate and took US 12 on my way back to Dearborn. Lots of small towns and rural scenes.

You can follow US 12 all the way to the Pacific ocean. In Detroit and Chicago, US 12 is known as Michigan Avenue. From the Water Tower to old Tiger Stadium, this route has lots of history.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_12 (and also see the US 12 in Michigan entry!)

Here’s Quincy, Michigan and US-12 on the Absolute Michigan Map of Michigan.

Nothing more I can say except “Thanks Scott for posting these in big, beautiful, background-sized glory!”

…and have a great weekend everyone!

Last look at Tiger Stadium?

Tiger Stadium, Detroit MI, photo by jnhkrawczyk

Jill was one of 18 members of the Exposure.Detroit photo group that got a chance to tour the soon to be demolished Tiger Stadium last Friday.

They brought back an amazingly collection of images. Some, with trees growing in the aisles and demolished seats are almost painful, but from other angles it looked almost as if you could play tomorrow (if you cut the grass).

I could go on and on highlighting pictures, but it’s probably best if you check out the photos of Tiger Stadium from September 28, 2007 (slideshow). More about the Detroit Tigers and Tiger Stadium on Michigan in Pictures.

Tiger Stadium: At the corner of Michigan & Trumbull

Michigan and Trumbull was the address for professional baseball in Detroit for 104 seasons. From 1896 when Bennett Park opened, until the last game at Tiger Stadium in 1999, Michigan and Trumbull was the most famous street corner in Michigan. Tiger Stadium by Irwin J. Cohen takes you on a visual tour of baseball in the Motor City from the beginning of the Tigers franchise to the historic final game played at Tiger Stadium. The pages are filled with photos (some never before published) of the stadium and Tiger legends from Cobb, Gehringer and Greenberg right up to Kaline, Lolich, Trammell, Gibson and others.

The World Series went a full seven games and games three, four, and five were played in Detroit. Each game attracted the same 53,634 attendance numbers. (Author’s collection.)Click above photos for a larger view!

Affable slugger left fielder Willie Horton hit 36 home runs in 1968. In game five with St. Louis ahead three games to one, Horton made the most memorable defensive play in the history of the ballpark when he threw out speedster Lou Brock trying to score from second on a single. (Courtesy B&W Photos.)

Tiger Stadium by Irwin J. Cohen is available from the publisher online at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling 888-313-2665.

View other excerpts from Arcadia Publishing’s Michigan books at Michigan in Pictures!

On a more editorial note, I had originally thought when I requested these photos that this would be part of a requiem for this grand old ballpark. It still may, but with Tiger icon Ernie Harwell pushing a plan to redevelop Tiger Stadium as a smaller ballpark and museum complex, maybe not!

You can follow Tiger Stadium news at Absolute Michigan.

Tiger Stadium, in pictures

Tiger Stadium #1, found by m7k7k7

Many folks in Michigan have a piece of their heart stored at the Corner of Michigan & Trumbull. Wikipedia’s Tiger Stadium entry says the ballpark located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit hosted the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team from April 20, 1912 when it opened as Navin Field, through its expansion in 1938 when it was renamed Briggs Stadium (and began hosting the Detroit Lions as well) through 1961 when John Fetzer took control and renamed it Tiger Stadium. It saw two World Series championships, 1968 and 1984 and was the home of the Tigers until Comerica Park opened in 2000. It was declared a State of Michigan Historic Site in 1975 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989.

And it’s scheduled for demolition in October of 2007.

From honorary bat boys spending a few moments with a player to huge and cheering crowds, this ballpark has made millions of memories.

Now it waits for the wrecking ball, slowly falling to pieces. I don’t think that too many want to remove the Tigers from their palatial new home, but it would (in my opinion at least) be a wonderful thing if Ernie Harwell and his group could succeed in preserving a scaled-down park at the Corner so none of us have to say goodbye to an old friend (and maybe The Last Strike at Tiger Stadium wouldn’t actually be the last).

Here’s a whole lot more photos in the Tiger Stadium group on Flickr. If you have any photos (or memories) to add, post a comment below!

Read Ernie Harwell’s plan for Tiger Stadium on Absolute Michigan.

Spring Training with emjsmith and the Detroit Tigers

Untitled, photo by emjsmith.

So I’m just going to blog a quick spring training photo from emjsmith today…

…and then an hour later, there I was, happily dizzy in a pile of baseball pics. I though about an amazing action shot, an even more amazing action shot, 103.3 MPH tuning up or even a shot of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. I finally settled on this one of Craig Monroe fiving the faithful because (for me at least) this is what spring training is all about: ballplayers warming up for the season and having enough time to pay a little attention to those who pay so much attention to them. If you have some time, check out her great slideshow of Detroit Tiger Spring Training photos.

Em shoots the Class A Midwest League for MLB, so be sure to tune in during the season. You can see more of her baseball pics at her blog and other work at Emily Smith Photography.

Opening day is Monday, April 2nd (details at Absolute Michigan)

The Ol’ Ballpark

The Ol' Ballpark, photo by femaletrumpet02 

This is part of a great set of photos by Lauren, who says:

Pictures of Old Tiger Stadium, which will be demolished to make way for a business district in Corktown. I attended my first Tigers game here in July of 1993 at the age of 9 with my dad. I remember that it was the Tigers vs. the Kansas City Royals. Dad and I had Grandstand seats, and I remember the electric atmosphere and the bleacher creatures doing their thing over in the bleacher.

Absolute Michigan has more about the future of Tiger Stadium (including a lot of history about this really cool ballpark).