Tiger Stadium begins to be torn down. Was said to have been making all of the other abandoned buildings in Detroit jealous

In an effort to destroy the childhood memories of anyone 20 and older that grew up in the Detroit area, the city began to demolish Tiger Stadium Tuesday, starting with the outer wall of the left field bleachers.  It’s been nine years since the Tigers played their last game there (Todd Jones pitched the 9th inning in that final game) before moving to Comerica Park.  And just think, without Comerica, little kids coming to the ballpark wouldn’t have a Ferris wheel or merry-go-round to play on.  How did we survive baseball games before we had all of these distractions? 

Anyways, I guess it’s good that the Tigers left Tiger Stadium, I mean who wants to go to a game at some old ballpark anyways (besides Fenway Park and Wrigley Field which rank #1 and #2 in attendance this year, despite not having a rollercoaster or video games for me to play with.

There is a nonprofit trying to raise money led by Hall of Fame Tiger’s broadcaster Ernie Harwell to save the field, dugouts and about 3,000 seats, but regardless, Tiger Stadium will not be the same.  The field was opened in 1912 (the same year as Fenway and two years before Wrigley) and has as many memorable moments as those storied ballparks.  For your pleasure, here are 10 famous and sometimes personal memories of the ballpark on Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Boulevard.

#10 Cecil Fielder hits 51 Home Runs in 1990

Despite hitting #50 and #51 at Yankee Stadium, the majority of Big Daddy’s blasts came in spacious Tiger Stadium.  This was of course when hitting 50 Homers was a big deal.  No one had hit 50 in the 1980’s and only George Foster hit more then 50 during the 70’s.  And as you can tell, Cecil didn’t exactly look like a steroid user.

#9 Reggie Jackson’s All Star Blast at Tiger Stadium

Probably a top 5 moment in All Star game history, Jackson’s Homerun in the 1971 All-Star game struck the lighting fixtures above the right field bleachers on the fly.  A few years later, Jackson by passed the lights and became one of the few players to ever hit the ball out of Tiger Stadium.

#8 Nolan Ryan No-hitter  #2 (1973) / Roger Clemens 20 K’s  (1996)

Were trying to talk about the good times at Tiger Stadium, but unfortunately for people in the 1970’s and people my age, the 1990’s weren’t exactly good times at the ballpark for Tiger fans.  However, there were plenty of great performances by hall of famers who probably loved coming to the stadium to face

#7 Final Game in Tiger Stadium (Detroit 8 – Kansas City 2)

#6 Denny McLain wins 31 games in 1968

We’ll get to the 68’ Tigers a little down the list, but winning 31 games in one season (plus the Cy Young, plus the AL MVP, plus winning a World Series) had to be on this list.  Now take in to consideration that he won 24 games in 69’ and I don’t think there’s anyone that can come close to winning 55 games in 2 years. 

#5  Detroit Lions win 3 NFL Championships while Tiger Stadium is their home (1953, 1954, 1957).

Yes the Lions use to play their home games in Tiger Stadium as well.  I had to mention this at #5 because, well I am a Lions fan and yes it does take looking back 50 years to see that we once were good at football.  This is a picture of Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne, who led the Lions to each of their 1950’s championships. 

#4  Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker play 19 seasons together at Tiger Stadium

for 1,918 games, the Detroit Tigers had the same double play combination (AL Record) and not surprisingly, Trammell and Whitaker turned more double plays together then any other SS-2B  combo in the history of baseball.

3.  1968 World Series

Tiger Stadium actually wasn’t very kind to the home team as Bob Gibson and the Cardinals won 2 of 3 games played there.  However it was a come from behind victory in game 5 at Tiger Stadium led by Al Kaline’s 2 RBI single in the bottom of the 7th that led to McLain and Mickey Lolich’s gems in games 6 and 7 to bring home the title.

2.  Bless you Boys….Kirk Gibson HR in 1984 World Series

Before his heroics against Eckersley and the A’s, Gibson was taking it to Goose Gossage and the Padres in the 1984 World Series.  His 3 run home run off of the Padres closer is easily a top 3 moment in Detroit sports history.  The Tigers won the series in 5 games with the final 3 wins all occurring in Tiger Stadium.

1. Apologies to earlier Tigers and American Leaguers who did great things at Tiger Stadium.

I am just 24 years old, so while I don’t have the wealth of baseball knowledge from the first half of the 20th century, it doesn’t mean I don’t understand how many great players and events occurred at Tiger Stadium before the 1960’s.  The Tigers won World Series in 1935 and 1945 while playing at Briggs Stadium (what Tiger Stadium use to be called).  Tiger greats played there such as Al Kaline, Ty Cobb, Micky Cochrane, George Kell, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Hal Newhouser, and on and on.  We are also tearing down one of the last remaining places that every single American League hall of famer has played at (Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Bob Feller to name a few).

Violent J

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