Tiger Stadium is the home of the Detroit Tigers of the American League.
The 1960's and 1970's brought the demise of most of the original classic major league ballparks; Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Forbes Field, Crosley Field, Sportsman's Park, Yankee Stadium and so on. A few survived the carnage, but the 90's have picked them off one by one. Comiskey Park fell in 1990 and Cleveland Stadium was sunk into Lake Erie in 1996. Only three remained... and then there were two.
1999 is the final season of baseball at Tiger Stadium, which has stood in some form or another under one name or another at the corner of Trumbull and Michigan since 1912. The new Comerica Park will host the Tigers in 2000 while the old home is left to slowly fade away.
Tiger Stadium is a classic double-decked urban ballpark. Squeezed into a city block, the second deck sits right on top of the lower deck. The seats down below are claustrophobic and really not very good, to be honest. The upper deck and the pillars obscure much of the view. The best seats are upstairs where the structure looms over the field giving a great overall view while maintaining an intimacy so essential to great baseball viewing.
The sight of these two levels wrapped so closely around the field on all four sides is awesome and so intimate as to be utterly unique and soon extinct. I haven't been to Wrigley yet, but it is open in the outfield, so I can not imagine that it's close seating generates the wonderful claustrophobia of Tiger Stadium, where the whole world is shut out and all you see is baseball with a ballpark pressing down on the field, straining to give every fan the closest possible view.
The great roof is supported by a complex lattice of girders and I-beams, as is the upper deck, access to which is obtained by crossing bridges through the web of steel while looking down at the people sitting below.
Sadly, Tigers management has let the park go to seed somewhat. The steelwork was rusting and unpainted and a general sense of decay pervaded the place. This shoddy management was evident throughout as parking did not exist, concessions were badly run, and vendors didn't seem to care whether they sold their merchandise or not.
Regardless, I am grateful for having seen this gem of a ballpark before it meets it's sad and unworthy end. I can understand why some fans were unhappy about the decision to abandon Tiger Stadium. Unlike Fenway, which is simply too tiny to support full scale makeover, Tiger Stadium seems to be perfectly capable of supporting a full renovation and modernization. Structure could be added to provide wider aisles, modern amenities, new seats, and so forth. This park does not need to die, but that fight is long since lost.
