Preserving Memories at the Corner

Gate 4 from Tiger Stadium still stands

I stopped the car outside the old gate on Michigan Avenue and began explaining to my mother-in-law the history of Tiger Stadium. I pointed out the people cleaning up the field and told her what I knew about the Navin Field Grounds Crew, the purely volunteer group of baseball lovers who maintain the sacred field that Detroit's city government has neglected since Tiger Stadium closed in 1999.

We were just driving through after a great lunch at Green Dot Stables and did not not plan to get out of the car. My wife and I had walked on the field before, and my youngest daughter was content to be secured in her car seat (and it's never a good idea to upset the status quo of our two-year-old). But then one of the grounds crew members walked up to the car and invited us to walk around what is left of the old ballpark. At first we declined, but my six-year-old daughter piped up from the backseat that she wanted to walk on the field.

Any time my daughter is interested in something I love, I jump at the opportunity to share my interests with her. So my mother-in-law, my older daughter, and I hopped out of the car and wandered onto the field. I explained to them the history of the ballpark and made sure my daughter knew how her grandpa took me to games and her great grandpa took him to games at this stadium.

A member of the Navin Field Grounds Crew at work

The names Hank Greenberg, Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, and Charlie Gehringer mean nothing to my daughter, but Grandpa is legendary to her. That's the beauty of this old field. Baseball fanatics love it for the legends that played there, but Detroit Tigers fan cherish it for the memories their families made and the traditions they have passed on since the Tigers first played baseball on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull in 1896.

Before we left the field, we watched the last remaining member of the Navin Field Grounds Crew sweeping home plate. We stopped and talked with him about the old ballpark and the future of the stadium site, and we thanked him for the work he and his group did to preserve the field for future generations.

Home plate at Tiger Stadium

As we walked away, I looked at the pitcher's mound and noticed a baseball resting on it, as if it was eagerly waiting for a couple of teams to show up for a pickup game. And pickup games and organized games still happen at the Corner throughout the summer, but the Tigers are long gone from the site.

The pitcher's mound at Tiger Stadium

My children will never see the Tigers play baseball at the Corner, but it's an important part of the city's history. I just hope that the planned development for the site preserves a grass field and as much of the original layout of the field as possible. I also hope that the field is open to the public so that someday my children can walk out on the field with my grandchildren and tell them about grandpa watching games there as a kid and their memories of walking on the field as children.

As we left the field, my daughter asked if we could take the baseball, but I told her that it belonged to the field. We left it behind, still waiting for a baseball game to return to the Corner.

First Game at Comerica Park

The entrance to Comerica Park from inside the stadium

Last summer, my wife and I took my two daughters to Nationals Park in D.C. to see the Detroit Tigers play the Washington Nationals. My youngest was still an infant, but I spoiled my older daughter with junk food. She had a hot dog, a ton of popcorn, and a giant pretzel...and she loved it. But it wasn't Detroit.

I remember the excitement of sitting in the back of my parents' station wagon while we rumbled over the brick paved streets of Corktown near Tiger Stadium. I was mesmerized by the enormity of the old ballpark towering above Michigan and Trumbull, the vendors peddling souvenirs and peanuts on the street, and the bustle of the pregame crowd.

Four-year-old me at Tiger Stadium in 1978

The ballpark was even larger on the inside, with its upper deck wrapping around the entire stadium with old, blue steel posts holding it up. It smelled old, but that was the odor of tradition. It wasn't just the tradition of great ball players like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, but also the tradition of fathers and sons (and mothers and daughters) who made pilgrimages to this stadium to cheer for their team.

Tiger Stadium in 1978

Tiger Stadium may be long gone, but I had to take my girls to the Tigers' current home, Comerica Park. We went to a 7:00 p.m. game on July 4. We parked in the lot outside the old Michigan Theatre, and walked through Grand Circus Park to Comerica Park. The area around the stadium was bustling, like I remember Corktown doing decades ago.

On the Road at Camden Yards

Scoreboard clock at Camden Yards

I finally went to my first game at Camden Yards in Baltimore yesterday to see my Detroit Tigers play. Even though I have lived in the D.C. area for a while, I had never been to a Tigers game in Baltimore because the games always seemed to land on days when I had a conflict. Plus, it is a lot easier for me to take the Metro to a game at Nationals Park in D.C. than to drive an hour (or more) to Baltimore, especially for a night game.

I had this game circled on my calendar ever since the Tigers exhibition game against the Washington Nationals was rained out in March. After having two of my last three Tigers games rained out, I decided to wait to buy tickets so I could keep an eye on the weather. A few days before the game, possible rain was forecast, so I waited until the day before the game to make a decision. After confirming that rain was not likely, I went on StubHub and found a cheap seat in foul territory in left field.

Getting to Camden Yards

The game was scheduled to begin at 12:35 p.m. on Wednesday morning. I left my house in Northern Virginia at 9:20 a.m. I avoided most of D.C.'s rush hour and made it to the stadium’s parking lot in an hour. I parked in Lot F, which is south of Camden Yards near M&T Bank Stadium where the Ravens play. The lot is under an overpass, which probably would help to keep a car cool on a sunny day, and it only costs $8. I read about other lots that were closer to Camden Yards or near Baltimore’s restaurant scene in the Inner Harbor, but most charged significantly more. I had been to Baltimore before, so I went with the cheapest parking option.

Johnny Unitas Statue outside M&T Bank Stadium

Lot F is not too far from Camden Yards, but people who have trouble walking might want to find parking closer to the ballpark. Other than walking past the Ravens' stadium, the walk from the lot to Camden Yards was not scenic…pretty much just concrete.