This is one of my pet peeves. Not only because I think that more than any other sport, Baseball is enhanced by the qualities of a historic venue but also because I can't stand to see waste.
Tiger stadium, in Detroit, was home to the Tigers baseball club for eons, at least until the new luxury suite packed Comerica Park was built 10 or so years ago. Since then, Tiger Stadium has been on shaky ground as Detroit city leaders and historic preservationists squabble with what to do with the empty park.
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Cold winter day in Michigan, and Tiger Stadium, aka "The Corners", awaits its fate.
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Spring day, and still no news... Ideas run the gamut from the typical Detroit philosophy of, "just leave the blasted thing there to rot, we don't have the cash to do much else", to "why not preserve the infield seats and the playing surface itself, and use it as a municipal ballpark, with maybe a museum space or..."
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In the meantime, the interior of the ballpark is gutted and sold at auction to souvenir seekers and baseball fans around the world. Even the seats...
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-Red and blue folding back seats all but gone, the interior is strangely colorless, but for the playing surface, which still looks like it could have a go at a game with just a bit of chalk.
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-The decision is finally made...throw the conservationists a bone, and give them an insurmountable fundraising objective to meet, and the park may live on as a municipal facility with reduced capacity, much in the mold of the original Navin Field. The outfield bleachers and scoreboard are removed first.
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Sure is nice to fly the colors one more time over the park, but shouldn't that flag be at half mast?
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-Not quite as homey as Navin, but certainly more financially manageable to the city, the fully encircled park is reduced to the infield configuration as proposed...now all that's needed is the cash.
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But of course, the cash would never come. This is Detroit after all, and cash for projects like this doesn't come easy...just ask the folks who want to save the Detroit Yacht Club. Regardless, in any city when a ball club moves on, the facility left behind is generally doomed. That's not really a bad thing if the facility is poorly conceived in the first place, like the late Veteran's Stadium, or the soon to be nuked former home of the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Stadium. It is a heart breaker when the lost park is one with so much history.
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-Ebbets Field in 1960, Shibe Park in 1976, Comiskey Park in 1991, ...now Tiger Stadium, and soon, Yankee Stadium. What's next? Fenway Park? They tried that already and all of Boston almost had a stroke.
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Wrigley Field?
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Luxury suites aren't everything, owners. All because ownership of a team with a modern park makes 100 million a year, and all you make in your shabby little Wrigley Field is 80 million, doesn't mean you should strip your city of the value of 'Place'. The difference between 100 million and 80 million in profit isn't 20 million...it's greed.
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There's a bicycle tie-in here too...this thread spells out what's in my head to all of you who have no idea what I'm talking about when I buy a 20 year old steel bicycle frame on eBay, and explains why I scoff at the carbon fiber wonder-bikes so prevalent today. When I ride, I want to feel a warmth from down in my gut that I can only get from a lasting machine with undeniable quality and strength. When I buy a bike, when I buy a car, when I buy a home, when I buy a pair of pants or even shoes, I'm looking for that warmth. I'm looking for 'Place'.
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*pictures from Wikipedia
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