Tiger Stadium

Here's a list - from most recent to least - of Major League Baseball teams that I've visited in their home stadium:

Detroit Tigers

San Diego Padres

Texas Rangers

Seattle Mariners

St. Louis Cardinals

Chicago White Sox

Chicago Cubs

and 

Detroit Tigers.

Yes, that's right. The Tigers are on there twice. Because in the decades since my first college-era visits to the park to my visit just this month, there have been some changes to the Tigers' home field.

^ This is the new stadium, formally named Comerica Park. Yawn. It'll always be Tiger Stadium to me. 

The old Tiger Stadium, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, set the scene for my first few MLB games ever. She was a creaky old gal, built in 1912, expanded and improved here and there over the decades. One of her quirkiest renovations was the addition of a second deck of seats that extended out over the lower pavilion, hanging ten feet out over the field. 

By the mid-1990s, it was clear that her days were numbered. A new modern stadium rose up a few blocks away, and the grand lady closed out the 1999 season with a win against the Kansas City Royals. In that final game, the Tigers banged out a late grand slam that counted as the last hit, the last RBI and the last run in Tiger Stadium history. What a sweet way to close out her life as a big-time ball park. 

After a few more years of sentimental special events and many hopes and dreams of redeveloping the old structure, the stately matron was finally demolished. By something of a miracle, the original playing field was preserved, eventually redeveloped for youth sports and still put to good use to this day. Bless our dear lady's reincarnated heart. 

^ Another fun tidbit: the winning pitcher of the final game in the old Tiger Stadium which was also the last home game of 1999 also won the first game of the 2000 season in the new Comerica Park. 

These are the thoughts and memories of days long gone that meander through my head and heart as I sit along the left field line, enjoying a warm April sun and a tasty hot dog,

Times change.

The familiar heroes of the 1960s have been reduced to bronze statues on the left field wall.

And the new park is lovely.

All the same, I sure miss do the old girl.