“People will come…They’ll watch and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. The one constant through all the year has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This game, this field, this ballpark: It’s part of our past. It reminds us of all that was once good and could be again. Oh, people will come my friend. People will most definitely come.”

-James Earl Jones “Field of Dreams” 1989 

What once seemed a distant, dreaded vision is now down to days: Tiger Stadium today truly stands within the shadow of death — not to mention the wrecking ball — as the contract for the Tiger Stadium demolition has been officially awarded.

As soon as work crews are organized, the former home of greats Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Mickey Cochrane, Hal Newhouser, Harry Heilmann, Al Kaline, George Kell, Willie Horton, Mickey Lolich, Alan Trammell, Jack Morris, Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson and Cecil Fielder — not to mention visiting grounds for Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gerig, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Gibson, Bob Feller and virutally every other Major League Baseball Hall of Famer who ever played the game between 1895-1999 — will be no more.

Even saving a corner of the stadium from dugout to dugout is now in peril, with no guarantee even that will be left standing once the dust settles. For those that live in the Metro Detroit-area, it might not be a bad idea to take a drive over to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull to get one last look at her. This time, the end is truly nigh for the former Bennett Park, Briggs Stadium and Navin Field.

Forever in our hearts, you will never be forgotten. Like a fine wine, your memory will grow ever-sweeter within the confines of our nostalgic rembembrances. Time stands still for no man, or stadium. Long may people remember. Long may they remember . . .

- The Heckler

Top photo used with permission of Early Era Baseball Photos.com

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Majestic Tiger Stadium in all its former glory

Last call for ideas on the future of Tiger Stadium, folks — half-baked, all-baked, completely farcical, far-fetched or otherwise — please report to Detroit City Council. Last call, everyone, last call. Your time is nearing an end.

In the wake of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s recent call to demolish the hallowed former playing ground for the Detroit Tigers (in the hopes of a future developer building condos and stores on the site) Detroit City Council is nearing the end of its review of all ideas previously-proposed for the area – and more specifically – reasons as to why they were rejected.

The move came on the heels of two more proposals coming forward late last week, including one put forth by Avanti Press Inc. that would see the greeting card manufacturer move it headquarters from downtown Detroit to the renovated ballpark site.

Essentially, the on-again, off-again end-is-nigh forecast for the former Briggs Stadium and Bennett Park is coming down to a chicken-and-the-egg scenario: do you demolish first and seek projects later? Or do you secure projects first and then get out the wrecking ball?

“Let’s once and for all get this answered,” Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel was quoted as saying in the Detroit Free Press earlier this week. The Tigers have long-since moved on from Tiger Stadium, having played its last game there in 1999. The news was viewed as positive to both the Navin Field Consortium, a group looking to preserve part of the stadium for minor league baseball, as well as Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, a group looking to at least save part of the structure for future generations.

Detroit City Council could vote on the Kilpatrick-led initiative as early as today. All of us here at BaseballBigMouth.com strongly support the quickest and most-painless method of putting the ol’ girl out of her misery. Long-ignored and crumbling ever-more with each passing day, Detroit as a city needs to cleanse itself its latest urban blight – sooner than later.

- The Heckler

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Photo used with permission of Early Era Baseball Photos.com

The heartbeat of Tiger Stadium grew a little more shallow last night with the announcement that the Detroit Economic Corporation has approved a plan to demolish the hallowed baseball ground, pending approval from Detroit City Council in July.

The old grey mare, she ain’t what she used to be

Under the approved measure with an estimated cost of $2.95 million, the 95-year-old stadium would be demolished with the remaining site redeveloped into a mixed-use retail and residential property.

Financing for the project would come from the sale of stadium memorabilia by Schneider Industries, a St. Louis auction company. Items such as seats and various other locker room souvenirs are expected to be part of the offerings. If approved by City Council, the company would use a web-based auction to facilitate the sale of the predicted-to-be highly sought-after goods.

Steel from the structure itself will also be sold to offset the costs, with the intent of retaining some historical aspects of the stadium – possibly even maintaining a baseball field for area youth baseball leagues.

- The Heckler

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