Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Tiger Stadium: Report Claims Demolition is Being Planned « Previous Next »
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Tigersfan9
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Username: Tigersfan9

Post Number: 20
Registered: 03-2005
Posted From: 24.221.70.72
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 3:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

DETROIT (Jan. 16, 2006) - Once the Bud Bowl events at Tiger Stadium commence, the City of
Detroit will begin a very painful process. The beginning of the demolition of Tiger Stadium.
But before that begins, the city will sell-off all salvageable items; such as seats, foul poles,
scoreboard and even the walls in the outfield.

The process of the sale has not been decided upon. But we will have all pertinent information
posted as soon as it is announced.

http://www.smokedbaseball.com/ Tiger_Stadium_Demolition.html
-----------------------

Not sure how reliable this site is, or who is behind it, but the information is at least worth passing on. Any additional information (other than the obligatory "tear that schitt down" comment) would be greatly appreciated.
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 6554
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.159.20
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 3:40 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Now the question is how long Olympia collects money to maintain the site after it is demo'ed. I say 3 years from now they are still getting money from the city.
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Ndavies
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Username: Ndavies

Post Number: 1616
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 129.9.163.105
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 3:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I had heard similar information from someone I consider a very reliable source. However, there are more behind the scenes discussions going on that greatly affect the final results of Tiger stadium. This is just step one.
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 6557
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.159.20
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

NDavies - Have you heard if anything is lined up for the site or is it a demo with hope of landing development (which is fine by me in this case)
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Ndavies
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Username: Ndavies

Post Number: 1617
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 129.9.163.105
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Those are the discussions going on. Still way too early to know.
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Merchantgander
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Username: Merchantgander

Post Number: 1532
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 150.198.164.127
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It would be interesting to hear what the folks of Corktown think.
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Dialh4hipster
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Username: Dialh4hipster

Post Number: 1359
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.250.205.35
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think they would say "Tear that shite down."
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Supersport
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Username: Supersport

Post Number: 9817
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 64.118.137.228
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

It would be interesting to hear what the folks of Corktown think.




I believe many are hoping for a hockey arena. :-) Mixed use of course, with some royal oak style lofts and a few hockeytown cafes in there too. The master plan was to draw in MTV's Real World in the near future.
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Gdub
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Username: Gdub

Post Number: 967
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.248.7.98
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 5:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cool. Maxie's Deli could really use some more parking.
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Adamjab19
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Username: Adamjab19

Post Number: 609
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 69.47.170.119
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 6:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I want a seat damnit! or one of those piss troughs! (gross, i know)

It will be sad to see it go but it's been sitting around too long with no progress of developement. Seems like there are a few people at fault for that but it seems to be too late right now.
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Rms
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Username: Rms

Post Number: 11
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 141.211.114.43
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 7:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was a bleacher creature - always sat in section 750, and tickets were only $2.50 in the 90's if I recall. Amazing deal. Strange to get nostalgic over pissing. Adamjab, your mentioning the pissing troughs got me thinking. You probably mean the rectangular troughs like a "pig's trough". I remember as a kid pissing in these strange circular urinals there...a la ring-around-the-rossie. Now who thought up that weird peice of plumbing? For those that liked to look at the wall and pee....haaaa tough nuts for the piss shy.
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Kova
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Username: Kova

Post Number: 181
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 141.213.184.173
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 7:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

the city will sell-off all salvageable items; such as seats, foul poles,
scoreboard and even the walls in the outfield.


funny how big the sports memorabilia market has exploded in the last few decades. My father basically got an entire row out of Olympia and a nice chunk of rink boards, all of which are still in our garage despite the many attempts by mom to throw em out :-)

(Message edited by KOVA on January 27, 2006)
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 229
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 207.200.116.139
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 9:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have a brick from the Olympia sitting on my patio out here in Vegas. Wouldn't part with it for anything. Well, anything under 1K anyway....
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Shark
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Username: Shark

Post Number: 181
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 65.43.45.248
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 10:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

I remember as a kid pissing in these strange circular urinals there




Uh...weren't those the sinks???
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Tomoh
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Username: Tomoh

Post Number: 69
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.40.205.183
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 12:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'd assume people in Corktown just want it to stop being a big speculative question mark quietly dominating the neighborhood and obviously to be redeveloped for the better. Is it too much to ask that the actual field live on partially as public green space for people to gather? I also don't know how I feel about it being used for a hockey arena that will sit unused for most of the year (as opposed to all of the year now). Then again, the Arena District (for their hockey team) in Columbus, Ohio, with a movie theater and fake brick, pedestrian streets is by many measures a success.
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 945
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 12:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Weren't the circular urinals at the State Fair grounds?
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Wolverine
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Username: Wolverine

Post Number: 108
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 141.213.196.136
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 1:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I had thought I heard from a reliable source that demolition of the stadium will begin this summer.

I'm just stating what I've HEARD and know as some added info, not necessarily factual.
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Ddmoore54
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Username: Ddmoore54

Post Number: 261
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 66.51.151.36
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 4:09 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, now I feel justified for over spending on Bud Bowl tickets in order to say one final goodbye.

Any idea on what kind of price those seats would go for?

So the new thing in large homes is private movie theaters. If I was older and wealthier, I would buy a couple rows of seats from Tiger Stadium, put them in the theater room with stadium seating, install astroturf, and have a muralist paint Tiger Stadium on the walls. Talk about the next best thing. Damn, I day early and a dollar short.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 2962
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.160.138.107
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 6:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The gang troughs at Tiger Stadium were along the walls. They should have taken them to Comerica Park because the lines can be long there. No waiting ever at Tiger Stadium.

Ray1936, jjaba will trade you brick for brick. He's got Studebaker bricks after the giant fire. Interested? How can a Red Barn brick compare to that?

jjaba would like Kaline's Corner for his patio.
Now that would be sumthin'!

Andrew in Windsor has the best "Tear that schitt down." If he says it here, it is time to bring on the wrecking balls.

jjaba took his girlfriends to Sec. 24 for Tiger games at Briggs Stadium, upper deck. He kissed them on the strikes. They kissed him on the balls! (With a nod to Soupy Sales.)

jjaba, Old Timey Tigers Fan on the Westside.
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623kraw
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Username: 623kraw

Post Number: 754
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.41.224.200
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 7:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wasn't it "He kissed her on the strikes and she kissed him on the balls? (Soupy Sales was still on when I was a kid.)

Tiger Stadium would be the perfect new "Olympia Stadium" it's already half-way there...

Olympia_TigerStadium1.jpg
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Audible_nectar
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Username: Audible_nectar

Post Number: 57
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 12.214.103.152
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 10:25 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Well, now I feel justified for over spending on Bud Bowl tickets in order to say one final goodbye."


Same here.

I have never been to Tiger Stadium (missed out when it was open, and I am not from the area - I'm visiting for Super Bowl). But I have always been fascinated by stadia - and particularly a place like old Tiger Stadium. The "Bud Bowl" event became a higher priority for me not just because of the event itself - but where it was being held. The site just told me "you must get tickets for this....."
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Canuckr
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Username: Canuckr

Post Number: 12
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 71.67.157.248
Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 11:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I second everything that Audible_nectar just said, however I live here.. Really wasn't a big baseball fan, so I never went to a game.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 232
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 207.200.116.139
Posted on Sunday, January 29, 2006 - 12:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jjaba...I'll pass on the Studebaker bricks. FWIW, one other brick on the back wall is from the old City Municipal Garage on E. Jefferson (2650) that came down in 1985, and one more from the Stroh's Brewery on Gratiot. Also one from the 12th Precinct cell block on W. 7 Mile.

.....Ray1936, heading west on E. Jefferson looking for jjaba's car on the west side....

dpd
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Urbanoutdoors
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Username: Urbanoutdoors

Post Number: 15
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Sunday, January 29, 2006 - 1:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I live in corktown and I feel that a new stadium would be a huge mistake for the residents of this community. Tiger Stadium was great, I am one of its biggest adversaries, and I hate to see it go for whatever reason, it is a deeply entrenched part of detroit's history. Are you guys serious a hockey arena to take its place!
That would be the most devistating thing that could happen to the residents of this area. Detroit taxes are already to high because of big box projects that cater to suburbanites and not its residents. If the Stadium is to go than at least make functional use of the space. A multi use retail, housing project would benifit thye area to a much greater degree.
Corktown is home to some of the most historic homes in this area. Some of which were demolished because certain people felt it was more profitable to have a parking lot instead of a house on that lot. That type of thinking has left lots abandoned and residents frustrated. The nieghborhood is making a fair recovery even though sports have moved out. Nemo's is still thriving as well as the Lager house. Slows is a great new addition and soon the mercury bar.
I don't mean to be a pecimist but wouldn't it be rediculous for the man who in someways destroyed its econmoic vitallity and plent of history in the making, to be able to waltz back in and try to act like its savior. All while destroying more of the citys history.
The matainence of tiger stadium is costing the city too much money and I hate to see it go but I would hate to see it go especially to Mike Illitch. Illitch will get his stadium but he would much rather have it in his own back yard in illitch village.
The city can't afford many ammenities that the suburbs so openly enjoy. Building a new stadium would only worsen the plight, for the benifit of few.
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Corktownmark
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Username: Corktownmark

Post Number: 160
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 68.61.194.191
Posted on Sunday, January 29, 2006 - 6:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I wouldn't speak for the nieghborhood. From where I live residential with some meaningful historic preservation sounds just great. I think we will get more infill housing if the profit potential for parking lots is removed permenantly.
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E_hemingway
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Username: E_hemingway

Post Number: 467
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.42.176.123
Posted on Monday, January 30, 2006 - 10:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm rooting for whatever plan preserves the actual field with a little bit of the stadium seating around it. Mixed use residential and commercial around the periphery would be fine, as long as the field in the middle is preserved. That's the real history.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 37
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 129.9.163.106
Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 5:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

E-Hemingway--I agree. I would like to see the "hallowed ground" of the diamond and outfield preserved, perhaps as a softball facility for after work leagues. Imagine the thrill of playing on that same field as Kaline, etc. This would feed Nemo's and the other area establishments in the summer months. The Hockey arena will most likely go around the Fox area. How about building the hockey arena in a truly forsaken part of town, let's say......somewhere up E.Vernor? The area would have nowhere to go but up. Olympia was not in the CBD, and I always felt that it's presence kept that area more alive than others.
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Genesyxx
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Username: Genesyxx

Post Number: 426
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 12.2.196.17
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 9:58 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A tree grows in Tiger Stadium. Not just a tree, lots of trees. The city would rather tear it down rather than let development take place. I'd hate to see it go, but something's got to be done.

I say if they tear down Tiger Stadium, then they should tear down MCD too.
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Klingon
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Username: Klingon

Post Number: 19
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 24.123.89.18
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 11:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The only reason I want to go the Bud Bowl is because it is in Tiger Stadium ...I have great memories of seeing games there ... I have tickets to the Bud Bowl ...can't wait.
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Allman7
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Username: Allman7

Post Number: 11
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 139.76.128.72
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 12:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Guys, I seldom post but am a huge Tiger Stadium fan from way way out of town (Birmingham, Alabama). I was planning on coming up for Bud Bowl, but with tickets going for the prices they are and airfare it became cost prohibitive. I got to see the grey (ish white) old lady one last time in 2004 and I'm hoping to come up for about 4 games this summer (maybe she won't be gone) but was wondering if any of you lucky few who get to go to this would mind taking some pictures and or picking up some memorabilia from the thing. I'd be more than glad to compensate you for the stuff as long as it isn't astronomical. I've got a couple of pieces of Frank Navin's silver service set from the Navin Field era and some other stuff but a row of Tigers Den seats would look great in my place no matter if I have to tear down a wall or two to find a place for em.

(Message edited by allman7 on February 02, 2006)
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Klingon
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Username: Klingon

Post Number: 22
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 24.123.89.18
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 12:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I can't wait to take a ton of pictures.
I'll post them
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Quickdrawmcgraw
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Username: Quickdrawmcgraw

Post Number: 38
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 63.77.247.130
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 12:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, I look forward to the outcome of the Corktown CDC on the best uses for the Tiger Stadium site. I still say convert to a hockey arena that will blend in with the existing community and offer multi-level parking. The city and neighborhood should work together and rezone those parking lots and encourage housing infill.
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Tigersfan9
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Username: Tigersfan9

Post Number: 23
Registered: 03-2005
Posted From: 64.118.151.178
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 1:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MOTOR CITY JOURNAL: Time to play at corner
Tiger Stadium to open doors for 3-day Bud Bowl
BY BILL McGRAW
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

February 2, 2006

In the old days, during the decades of baseball at Tiger Stadium, if you sat in Seat 1, Row 1, Section 119, you had one of the greatest views in the major leagues.

It was a box seat, hard against the short wall that separates the stands from the field. The on-deck circle was nearby, and you could hear the wood-on-metal clink as players knocked dirt from their spikes with their bats. You could see the tension in their faces as they waited to face Bob Gibson or Goose Gossage or Dizzy Dean.

Today, there is a tree growing behind Seat 1, Row 1, Section 119.

It's a real tree. Its trunk is about an inch in diameter. It is about 5 feet tall. It is growing out of a crack in the concrete. And it is like other trees sprouting all over concrete areas of the stadium, which is also scarred by rusty girders, peeling paint, standing water, loose wires, missing panels and drafty corridors.

Tiger Stadium has become just another abandoned building. It is subject to the same entropy that eventually envelops all throwaway property, be it a train station, department store, mansion or bungalow. Trees and lesser vegetation thrive in and on top of many of Detroit's architectural relics, so why should they not grow in the city's most hallowed abandoned structure?

That's the harsh reality that hits you if you are visiting for the first time since Sept. 27, 1999, when the Tigers defeated Kansas City, 8-2, in the final game of their 6,854-game run at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Since then, the stadium, owned by the City of Detroit and managed by the Ilitch organization, largely has been off-limits to outsiders and media.

It was open Wednesday to a reporter and photographer as workers prepared for the biggest event since the stadium closed.

Over the next three nights, the stadium outfield will be the scene of the Anheuser-Busch Bud Bowl, an invitation-only extravaganza in a climate-controlled tent filled with holograms, high-tech videos and music. Visitors won't be able to leave the tent, except to smoke and watch extras in baseball uniforms playing catch on the artificially lit field.

They won't be able to look into the Tigers dugout and see the players' dust-covered bench. Or the rotting bat rack that leans to the right. Or the spooky tunnel that leads to the home clubhouse. The tunnel is dark, and when you look into it, your face feels a gush of wind.

A wind also blows along the inner corridor, where fans used to walk. An office door is open. A 6-year-old memo sits crumpled on the floor, a stern warning to employees from former Tiger President John McHale against selling team equipment, especially team equipment that is autographed by players.

About a foot of brackish water sits in the tunnel that connects the visitors' dugout to their clubhouse. The infield grass, once one of the most carefully tended lawns in Michigan, is choked with weeds, but the dirt retains its reddish tinge, and the pitcher's mound rises out of the earth much like it did during ball games.

The broadcast booth fastened to the upper deck is boarded shut, but one window remains open. It looks like it is ready for someone to sit inside and call a game. You realize it is the booth where Ernie Harwell used to sit, and all at once a gloomy Wednesday at the old park seems brighter after all.

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll /article?AID=2006602020533
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll /gallery?AID=2006201001

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