Some still fighting to save Tiger Stadium, but Detroit movin

Some still fighting to save Tiger Stadium, but Detroit moving forward with demolition plans

DETROIT (AP) -Jim Northrup spent part of his youth in the stands at Briggs Stadium watching Ted Williams and the visiting Red Sox play his beloved Tigers.

He later roamed the outfield of the renamed Tiger Stadium as a player. Even so, he acknowledges - despite nostalgic yearnings - that the aging structure should be torn down.

"There is not much there to see now. It's not useful to anybody,'' the 67-year-old said. "All stadiums get torn down. There will be a lot of sentimentality, but how do you save it, and what for?''

The Detroit Tigers abandoned the 95-year-old ballpark at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull eight years ago. Ever since, city leaders have debated the fate of the previous home of Hall of Famers such as Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg and Al Kaline - and the site of several World Series and All-Star games.

The city of Detroit, which owns Tiger Stadium, agreed in July to hand authority of the stadium's future to the city's Economic Development Corp.

Some, though, still are fighting to make use of the historic venue.

A nonprofit group has until Monday to submit plans on saving part of the stadium. In the meantime, preparations to tear down at least some of the crumbling ballpark have started.

A demolition contract could be awarded this month with actual dismantling beginning as early as mid-November. Piece-by-piece, fans have bid on items from the stadium in a monthlong online auction. The city will use proceeds from the auction to defray the costs of demolition.

Detroit has spent $2.5 million in maintenance to Olympia Entertainment, owned by Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, on the stadium since Ilitch moved his Tigers across downtown in 2000 to Comerica Park. For many, it is a brooding symbol of blight that several cities with similarly obsolete ballparks have avoided.

Fabled Boston Garden closed to basketball and hockey in 1995 after nearly 70 years as a sports arena. It was torn down two years later. Proposals have surfaced for offices and condos on the site.

Chicago's old Comiskey Park was closed and replaced a year later with a massive parking lot. Baltimore's Memorial Stadium stood empty only three years before it was razed to make way for new homes.

"No good is served by having to put up with an empty, shuttered building,'' Maryland Stadium Authority spokeswoman Jill Hardesty said. "But you don't demolish until you have plans.

"You really have to know what's going in there. You want to have something that's vibrant there. You want something attractive.''

Boston Garden had also deteriorated to the point where a new arena was necessary, said Albert Rex, director of a historic advisers group in Boston.

"Boston Garden couldn't have stood empty for eight years,'' Rex said. "How do you maintain it, protect its history and have it not be a blight on the neighborhood?''

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has said he wants a mix of retail shops and new homes at Michigan and Trumbull, the site for professional baseball in Detroit beginning in 1896. Navin Field, which later became Briggs Stadium and then finally Tiger Stadium, was built there in 1912.

"We don't know what percentage of the structure will be saved,'' Detroit Economic Development Corp. authorizing agent Art Papapanos said. "The question here will be how people will review what is retained and what the future development on the rest of the site will be.''

Those decisions will be watched closely by Timothy McKay. The executive director of the Greater Corktown Development Corp. has been fighting for years to give people living near the stadium a voice in what replaces it.

Corktown is a 173-year-old neighborhood founded by Irish immigrants. Home to a mix of incomes, races and ethnicities, it sits in the shadow of Tiger Stadium.

The Corktown development group's vision for the site includes a sports museum - which has been proposed by the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy and Hall of Fame broadcaster and Detroit icon Ernie Harwell - along with a mix of retail shops and new homes.

"Baseball has left. The hulk itself isn't magical,'' McKay said. "It's the experience that creates the magic.''

The nonprofit Conservancy wants to keep the playing field, dugouts, locker rooms and about 3,000 seats. The group hopes its plan is enough to save part of the ballpark.

"Maybe this will be a centerpiece for other developments around it that will revive the neighborhood and help Corktown too,'' Harwell told The Associated Press last week. "No matter what happens, it will be a memorial to the great place there at The Corner that meant so much to everybody for so long.''

But if the plan is rejected or the Conservancy can't convince the Economic Development Corp. by next July 1 that it can get funding, Papapanos said the go-ahead for full demolition could be given to clear at least part of the land to make it attractive to potential developers.

McKay holds out hope that won't happen.

"We'd like to see the site honored ... not by some plaque buried beneath the floor of a shopping mall.''

I love the old gal, but she's gotta go.

Yeah, but it still makes me sad :'(

At least I got to see it over the summer. That was cool...

tigersaint wrote:

I love the old gal, but she's gotta go.

Better yet, tear down Comerica and move to Tiger Stadium!

I wish: I love Tiger Stadium: I drive by it everytime before I heard to Comerica: Don't get me wrong; i love seeing the Tigers play at Comerica Park: Heck even if they built Comerica like Three Rivers or Riverfront Stadium, I would still be a fan: However, Tiger Stadium was the best: I miss the shade, the shadows, the overhang in right, the bleachers and the history

Sadly, Comerica will never have that history: You know it will be renovated or more likely replaced in another 25- 30 years as it becomes obsolete; I hope when that day comes, they replace it with a stadium more similar to Tiger Stadium; In the meantime, get rid of day games; it is too hot at the Copa!@ Even in April!

Online auction of Tiger Stadium memorabilia draws $192,729
10/14/2007, 9:26 a.m. EDT
The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — An online auction of a collection of Tiger Stadium memorabilia drew about $192,729, not including seats from the former home of the Detroit Tigers that are being sold at a fixed price.

The most expensive bid in the auction, which ended Saturday, was $4,025 for a piece of a fence around a light tower hit by Reggie Jackson's home run in the 1971 All-Star game, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The fence piece came with a photo of the stadium and a Jackson baseball card.

Other top-selling items included $2,000 for Al Kaline's locker, $3,800 for a 1968 World Series banner and $900 for the home dugout urinal. About 20 items didn't draw bids, including some lockers and a whirlpool bath from the clubhouse.

"You never know what the people are going to find interesting," said Dan Rosenthal, chief operating officer for St. Louis-based Schneider Industries, which is handling the memorabilia sale for the city of Detroit.

Thousands of seats from the stadium are being sold separately. As of Saturday afternoon, about 6,000 pair had sold, bringing in $1.7 million. The city will get a cut after the cost of shipping and removal is deducted.

Some are fighting for something to be done with the historic venue. A nonprofit group has until Monday to submit plans on saving part of the stadium. In the meantime, preparations to tear down at least part of the crumbling ballpark have started.

Tiger Stadium has been empty since Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch moved the ballclub to Comerica Park in 2000. The city plans to use proceeds from the auction to defray the costs of demolition.

900 bucks for a urinal? Most be nice to have money like that to spend on a urinal! How much did the toilet seats sell for and did the Federal Government bid on them?

Nonprofit submits plans for saving part of Tiger Stadium
by Corey Williams | The Associated Press
Thursday October 18, 2007, 7:16 AM

DETROIT (AP) -- The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy has submitted its proposal to save a portion of the ballpark as the city moves forward with demolition plans for other parts of the aging structure.

Demolition bids for most of the stadium will go out in about two weeks and could be approved in November with actual dismantling the following month, Brian Holdwick said Wednesday.

Holdwick, a vice president of financial services for the Detroit Economic Development Corp., was part of the team reviewing the Conservancy's proposal.

"What they presented is consistent with what they were talking about from day one," Holdwick said, adding that it won't stop the city from moving forward with plans to demolish the 95-year-old ballpark.

The nonprofit organization, which counts Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell as a member, submitted about 200 pages of cost estimates and business plans, project manager Jeff Wattrick said.

The Conservancy wants to keep about 3,000 seats from dugout to dugout and the entire infield. The $10 million to $12 million project could be developed into a museum commemorating the city's sports history.

"We included some information about how we are going to get the funding. That's pretty basic in terms of reaching out to corporate donors and foundations," Wattrick said.

"They view it as realistic, so long as we can raise the money," Wattrick said. "With all the bluster about Tiger Stadium, if metro Detroit and baseball fans across the country can't help us come up with that for Tiger Stadium, maybe it's time for it to go."

The Conservancy had an Oct. 15 deadline to submit its plans, but Wednesday was the earliest the two sides were able to meet. The next deadline is March 31 when the Conservancy must show pledges or commitments for funding.

Speaking of Tiger Stadium...MY SEATS CAME IN TODAY!

How do they look? Can you actually sit in them?

catbox_9 wrote:

Speaking of Tiger Stadium...MY SEATS CAME IN TODAY!

Are you going to sit in them in front of the tv on opening day?

SoulRat wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

Speaking of Tiger Stadium...MY SEATS CAME IN TODAY!

Are you going to sit in them in front of the tv on opening day?

Probably not. They have to be bolted to something. When I get my basement (c. 2015 lol) I'll set 'em up down there. I should've bought 2 pairs!

Yeah, you shoulda!

SoulRat wrote:

Yeah, you shoulda!

eBay could help down the line. I want seats #3 and 4 if I'm going to do it. I lucked out big time and got 1&2 (I figure the odds of that were probably around 10%....there's probably an average of 20 seats per row which makes 10 pairs).

Beating the odds is so much fun, isn't it?

(I like that we can type isn't it, here)

tigersaint wrote:

Beating the odds is so much fun, isn't it?

(I like that we can type isn't it, here)

The more I think about it, the happier I am I beat the odds. I mean, if I had seats 11 and 12 people wouldn't go "whoa, cool!" they'd go "where's the other 10?" Now I just wish I'd bought another dozen pairs. Why can't I be rich? If I was rich I'd have bought 150 pairs and just cherry-picked the ones that worked best.

I wonder where my seat was....upper deck, obstructed view, field level, etc...

awwww, they didn't tell you? That stinks...

SoulRat wrote:

awwww, they didn't tell you? That stinks...

They're supposed to mail a certificate of authenticity in a sperate package. That hasn't come yet. Maybe it'll say...

.....best 2 seats in da house!!

Owner's private box??

tigersaint wrote:

.....best 2 seats in da house!!

Owner's private box??

Yeah! That's what they are....I know it!

Check them for pizza sauce stains.......

tigersaint wrote:

Check them for pizza sauce stains.......

LOL!

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

awwww, they didn't tell you? That stinks...

They're supposed to mail a certificate of authenticity in a sperate package. That hasn't come yet. Maybe it'll say...

I hope so, they should!

SoulRat wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

awwww, they didn't tell you? That stinks...

They're supposed to mail a certificate of authenticity in a sperate package. That hasn't come yet. Maybe it'll say...

I hope so, they should!

I need to know. I'd like to put my seats in the proper spot when I construct my life-sized replica of Michigan & Trumbull

LOL! idiot!

I drove by Tiger Stadium after the Lions Game: I noticed they removed the Tiger Stadium letters off the Stadium:

I guess someone bought them at the auction

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

awwww, they didn't tell you? That stinks...

They're supposed to mail a certificate of authenticity in a sperate package. That hasn't come yet. Maybe it'll say...

I hope so, they should!

I need to know. I'd like to put my seats in the proper spot when I construct my life-sized replica of Michigan & Trumbull

Now THAT, i would like to see. You'll only need about 49.998 MORE seats to get starte with that project.

gs78 wrote:

I guess someone bought them at the auction

I could have used a 15-foot "D" for my den.....