Detroit Tigers Tickets

THERE IS A NEW BALLPARK in Detroit, Comerica Park, which means Tiger Stadium, will be demolished, even though people here have worked tirelessly to save it. It was one of the four remaining old major-league ballparks, along with Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium. Before it was replaced, Tiger Stadium shared with Fenway the claim of oldest ballpark in baseball, having made its debut in 1912. One could say it was even older: The site was also the home of Bennett Park, a wooden structure built in
1900. When that field could no longer be expanded to accommodate the increasing crowds, owner Frank Navin tore down the building and replaced it with a concrete-and-steel edifice, which he named for himself. The ballpark later underwent some renovations and a few name changes, but it always remained among the five or six best places to watch a major-league game.

The stands behind home plate were so close to the field that the screen, which protects fans from being struck by foul balls, extended all the way up to the roof. The only distant seats were in the outfield bleachers, and even those didn't seem all that far from the action. Sure, it was a bit crowded underneath the stands, and there wasn't much parking. But the history here, the emotional zeitgeist connecting generations of baseball fans, cannot be replaced.

JOHN SMOLTZ "When you're in the big leagues, you never get the chance to go sit in the stands too often. You get your perspective from the dugout, and it's totally different. The game changes when you're in the stands, so it's really all about perspective when you're used to the same routine-sitting in the dug-out, watching the ball at angles that you watch .. . versus what the fans watch. I have a lot of memories [of Tiger Stadium]. It's unique. It's not one of your most glamorous stadiums, but it has a lot of tradition."

JIM KAAT "In 1946, my dad took me to see a weekday doubleheader between the Tigers and the Red Sox on a Wednesday afternoon, forty-some thou-sand people. When I walked in-at the time it was called Briggs Stadium-it was the greenest green and the uniforms were the whitest white that I had ever seen. I just thought it was a magnificent experience to see the color come alive from not having color televi¬sion and only hearing games on radio."

F. P. SANTANGELO "I went to Tiger Stadium when I was seven years old, walked through the gate, saw the field, and I knew what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I was in the upper deck and John Hiller threw me a baseball, a left-handed relief pitcher for the Tigers, my very first big-league game."

RICO BROGNA "I'd say for me the most memo¬rable place was Tiger Stadium, when I walked in there the first day I was called up to the major leagues. I actually got there about ten in the morning for a seven o'clock night game, but I just wanted to sit there and take it all in. I remember, first thing I thought was 'This place is like a palace or cathedral.' And the green grass was very green. It was very well manicured. It was just the color of the grass and the smell of the stadium and everything, the whole atmosphere was breathtaking."

DAVE CAMPBELL (BROADCASTER) "I was about eight years old and my dad took me to Tiger Stadium. I walked inside there and I mean the field was green, it was, I don't think Disneyland was in existence in those days, but to me, that was about as close to going to Disney-land. I thought I was in a Magic Kingdom."

JIM EDMONDS "My first big-league memory was coming into Tiger Stadium. It was the first day I got called up. I remember getting off the free-way in a taxicab and seeing it from the outside. It was probably the most impressive moment in my life."

HOWIE ROSE (BROADCASTER) "Tiger Stadium, to me, epitomizes what all the old ballparks were about: intimacy, charm, and a certain distinct ballpark aroma. The ambience of that ballpark takes you back to your youth, whether you grew up in Detroit or not. I was only there to do a few games three years ago. The thing I'll remember most was having been warned, thankfully, by Gary Cohen to bring a glove. Obviously, it wasn't from the standpoint of catching a foul ball and taking it home like I would when I was a kid. It was self-preservation. As soon as I got into that [broadcast] booth, the first foul ball that came back our way, I looked for [Fran] Healy, my partner-this guy caught in the big leagues-and he's gone. He's out the door, he's nowhere in sight, and I'm pounding my mitt. So it was the confluence of two dreams: to play in the big leagues and to broadcast in the big leagues. Because I'm actually sitting there with my headset on and the microphone on, broadcasting a game while I'm pounding my mitt, doing everything but call¬ing the pitches."

DAN OK RENT (AUTHOR) "My father took me to my first baseball "game in 1954 when I was six years old. This was in Briggs Stadium in Detroit, and I was overwhelmed by how green it all was, a green both comforting and thrilling. That has traveled with me to every baseball park I have ever visited. No color could possibly warm me more than this one."

SPARKY ANDERSON "The first stadium I ever saw was Briggs Stadium in Detroit, and I couldn't believe how big it was. I was seventeen years old and played the American Legion tournament there."

HOBIE LANDRITH "Having grown up in Detroit and having caught bat¬ting practice for the Tigers when I was fifteen, it was such a thrill to pick up a handful of dirt and remember the great catchers who played on this same diamond-Mickey Cochrane, Paul Richards, Birdie Tebbetts. Briggs Stadium, as it was known then, was a field of dreams for me, and I thank God my dream was realized."

HANK GREENWALD (BROADCASTER) "My first time in a baseball stadium was in my native Detroit at Briggs Stadium in 1943. I guess I was awed by how big the field looked. I'd never seen so much grass in my young life. The Tigers played the Philadelphia Athletics that day, and I remember see¬ing this tall man in a business suit standing on the steps of the dugout. It was Connie Mack, the manager. My other recollection of that day was watching the newspaper photographers who were down on the field during the game and would follow runners around the bases to get shots of them sliding in. They actually ran after them, lugging their cameras and wearing fedoras."

DAVE RIGHETTI "[Tiger Stadium] was a little bit of a nightmare for the Yankees in the eighties. Mostly because of the way it was built. In the locker room, the lockers are about a foot wide, guys are always bumping into each other. Going in the tunnel to the dugout, you're ducking the whole way. When you get to the dugout, you can't stand up straight. If you're a bullpen guy, there was this thing we called the Subma¬rine. Basically, it was an underground concrete pit, a pillbox. You sit down in this hole and you can just barely peek out to see the game. You felt claustrophobic when you went to Detroit."

STEVE PHILLIPS (METS GENERAL MANAGER) "On my last day of second grade in June of 1971, I came home and began my summer vaca¬tion with the chicken pox. My parents had planned an end-of-the-school-year treat for myself and two of my brothers that included us going to Tiger Sta¬dium for free Bat Day. Because of the chicken pox, I was not able to attend that game and obviously was very distraught. Luckily for me, in order to make up for this tremendous disappointment, my father was able to get two tickets to the All-Star game, which was being held in July at Tiger Stadium. As I recall, we were sitting in the upper deck in right field and it was an absolutely beau¬tiful evening. We got there early enough for batting practice and the players were launching balls into the stands regularly. When the game began, the most memorable event that evening was sitting in the upper deck when Reg¬gie Jackson came to the plate and hit that remarkable home run that hit the light standards on top of the right-field roof. I still recall watching the ball come our way, as many had during batting practice, but yet keep going and going and going, and then losing sight of it as it went on top of the roof, over our heads. As I think back to that day, I can't help but feel glad that I had the chicken pox on the last day of school."