Demolition has begun at Tiger Stadium

He doesn't need to feel bad!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

HEAR THE SONG
Songwriter pens ode to Tiger Stadium

BY BILL MCGRAW • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • August 19, 2008

“They Used to Play Baseball Here” is an ode to Tiger Stadium, which is approaching 50% demolished.


The song is written and performed by Matt Watroba, a familiar name on the local folk music scene. In addition to being a musician himself, he has hosted the “Folks Like Us” folk music program on WDET-FM (101.9) since 1986, and also hosts a syndicated radio show, “The Sing Out Radio Magazine,” on XM Satellite Channel 15, which also appears on about 30 public radio stations across the country.

Watroba, 47, performed his song June 27 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.. he sang in front of an exhibit on stadiums.

On the CD, Watroba plays guitar, and he was assisted by David Mosher, who played mandolin, fiddle, bass and provided backing vocals.
Listen to the song

”They Used to Play Baseball Here” by Matt Watroba

the link doesn't work, can you send one to me?

laprimamirala wrote:

He doesn't need to feel bad!

yes i do....i wanna feel bad. i could use another good cry today!!

tigersaint wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

He doesn't need to feel bad!

yes i do....i wanna feel bad. i could use another good cry today!!

omg I don't want you to feel bad ANY MORE!!!

too late, i'm already ballin' like a baby.....

I am e-mailing it now. It is an mp3 file

Looks strange to see Tiger Stadium half demolished

Good riddance!

Spoiler:

bobrob2004 wrote:

Good riddance!

Spoiler:

More than half the stadium is gone;


Happy Yet Bob?

And as far as Yankee Stadium goes; I hate the Yankees!

And at least they got to host the All Star Game this year


Tiger Stadium should have in 1999

R.I.P Tiger Stadium!

I just found a good article that makes sense. I think Lap also mentioned this idea...

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
COMMENTARY
Save parts of stadium, then wreck the relic
Bill Kalmar

The partial tearing down of Tiger Stadium has raised the issue of whether nostalgia is overrated.

The brouhaha over the fate of Tiger Stadium has been going on ever since the last game was played on Sept. 27, 1999, and yet no viable use for the relic on Michigan and Trumbull has surfaced. The City Council has delayed a vote on destroying the entire stadium, letting Detroit development officials and a group of preservationists work out a tentative deal to save parts of the stadium from being torn down.

My memories of games being played at "The Corner" are still vivid. I saw Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio there and even witnessed Kirk Gibson hit that mammoth home run off Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage in the 1984 World Series. These are great memories, but the stadium in its current condition is like the ghost of Christmas past: decrepit, scary and infested with cobwebs.

In 2005, Busch Stadium in St. Louis closed as the team moved into new surroundings across the street. When the last game was played in October, the wrecking ball went into action with few whimpers from the fans.

Of course, there wasn't as much history as with Tiger Stadium, but everyone agreed it was time to move on. In many cases, monuments are temporary; memories are forever.

For those who relish their history and are reluctant to let go of Tiger Stadium, let's try this for a plan: Transport some seats, parts of the dugout, a section of the scoreboard and one of the famous urinals to The Henry Ford. Then we can visit our old friend any time we want.

It's time to relegate this relic to its final resting place.

Bill Kalmar is Lake Orion freelance writer. E-mail letters to letters@detnews.com.

Greenfield Village has old time games there every year, and it is their mission to save historic places... so why not move, what is left of Tiger Stadium, to the Village and have games in the rebuilt, historic corner of Tiger Stadium that is left standing!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Ernie Harwell leaves group seeking to save Tiger Stadium
Christine MacDonald and Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell quietly resigned several weeks ago from the non-profit trying to save a part of Tiger Stadium, and his foundation is forced to return some $500,000 he helped raise for the effort.

"We received that money under specific provisions, and when those provisions were changed, we had no choice," said S. Gary Spicer, Harwell's longtime attorney, who remains on the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, the non-profit attempting to save part of the former Major League Baseball stadium.

The announcement comes just a few days before another deadline for the group that is racing to save a portion of the stadium.

Harwell's departure came after a plan he favored was nixed in early September by the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. (DEGC), the quasi-public agency that handles city development.

The $3 million to $5 million plan would have preserved the baseball diamond and an unspecified portion of the stadium -- or possibly none of it -- and built a new museum that would house Harwell's vast collection of sports memorabilia.

Harwell resigned shortly afterward the decision, Spicer said.

"He's 91. His wife is ill. The only board he is going to be part of is his own," Spicer said, referring to the Ernie Harwell Foundation.

The only option now is an estimated $12 million to $15 million plan that would incorporate Harwell's collection and save an area stretching slightly beyond the dugouts and including up to 5,000 seats.

But Harwell is now mulling over "other options" to house his collection, Spicer said, some of which is currently on display at the city's Main Library. The plan that has been eliminated would likely have saved a much smaller portion of the stadium or possibly none of it.

Harwell's resignation and the returning of money put another obstacle in the effort to save a portion of the stadium by the conservancy group.

That non-profit now faces a Tuesday deadline -- which a City Council committee held firm on Wednesday -- to hand over a check promised to the city to hold construction crews from demolishing the remaining portion of Tiger Stadium.

Sources differ on how much money the nonprofit must produce. An official with the DEGC told the City Council Wednesday morning the target is $219,000. But Kathleen Wendler, a member of the conservancy, said they still are negotiating the amount, which she believes will be about $194,000.

Either way, Wendler predicts they'll have the cash, although it may take up until the final hour.

ShoreBank is in the process of "cutting a check" to the conservancy for $150,000, which Wendler said the group will have by Tuesday. Wendler said they likely have the rest from small fundraising efforts and private donors.

"Absolutely," Wendler said. "I think we are good."

A Detroit City Council committee voted unanimously Wednesday to hold to the Tuesday deadline. The full council is expected to vote on the resolution Tuesday on whether to go ahead with full demolition if the deadline isn't met.

The city repeatedly has extended deadlines for the nonprofit, said Waymon Guillebeaux, a vice president with the DEGC. But Tuesday's deadline must hold, he said. Guillebeaux told the City Council that DEGC needs to tell the construction crew by Wednesday to leave the site or continue the demolition.

"The demolition contract has to be honored," Guillebeaux said. "We need to let the contractor know or let them go."

The city maintains it would be cheaper to tear down the entire stadium, in part, because under the deal the construction company anticipated selling all the scrap.

Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins agreed, citing the previous deadline extensions.

"The cost would be prohibitive for the city to bear," Collins said.

But Councilwoman Martha Reeves, who has pushed to save a portion of the stadium along with her friend Harwell, questioned why there was "such a rush."

"Tiger Stadium stayed vacant and vandalized for so long," Reeves said.

Part of the delay in fundraising has been because the DEGC and the nonprofit haven't yet signed a memorandum of understanding on the details of the deal to save part of the stadium, Wendler said. Donors are hesitant to follow through on gifts when there isn't a signed agreement. She believes cash will begin to flow for the project once they get the agreement.

"They don't want to put money in and have the stadium demolished," Wendler said.

Under the former plan, the conservancy faced a Nov. 1 deadline to show it has a comprehensive financial plan for its goal to preserve part of the ballpark and operate a Michigan sports museum there. March 1 was the date the conservancy had to show it could meet fundraising goals, or the entire stadium would be razed. But Guillebeaux said Wednesday afternoon that all those deadlines are in flux because the DEGC is still negotiating an agreement with the non-profit.

"Everything has shifted," Guillebeaux said.

Guillebeaux said the cheaper option was taken off the table because it meant possibly demolishing the entire stadium. "We have to stick to the original agreement that we would work with the conservancy group to save a portion of this historic structure," Guillebeaux said.

Harwell's attorney said it was the group's intention to save at least of portion of it. Spicer said he's still helping the conservancy secure some foundation money aimed at allowing public and Catholic Little League teams to play on the diamond.

The ballpark at Michigan and Trumbull opened in 1912 as Navin Field, became Briggs Stadium and, after expansion and improvements, was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961. It closed in 1999 after the Tigers left for Comerica Park. There have been many failed efforts to find a new use for the ballpark.

You can reach Christine MacDonald at (313) 222-2396 or cmacdonald@detnews.com

They gonna tear the whole thing down

I don't care anymore

Everything Sucks

This will kill Ernie.

10/07/08 6:52 PM ET
Final Tiger Stadium demolition delayed
Conservancy near funds that would keep renovation afloat
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- Members of the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy expect the nonprofit group will meet its new Friday deadline to provide the city of Detroit with a portion of the money it needs to save what remains of the historic ballpark and keep its renovation project going.

"This is great news," conservancy board member Gary Gillette said Tuesday afternoon.

The Detroit City Council rejected a resolution earlier in the day that would've cleared the way to tear down what remains of Tiger Stadium, parts of which have already been torn down under a demolition project that began in June. The vote allows the conservancy a few more days to provide the money it is required to have in escrow under a memorandum of understanding it is finalizing with the city.

Demolition crews tore down the outfield bleachers and continued down the outfield lines during the summer. What remains of Tiger Stadium largely runs along the base lines and behind home plate. The conservancy wants to save and renovate most of what's left, along with the baseball diamond, to turn into a field for youth leagues and high schools with a lower deck of seating and an attached sports museum.

The demolition crew has remained at the ready in case the conservancy is unable to raise the money. What has already been torn down is being sold for scrap to pay for the work.

The conservancy was required to provide just over $200,000 in an escrow account as part of the agreement the city and the conservancy were expected to finalize shortly. Part of that is a $150,000 deposit to keep the project going and demonstrate that the conservancy has the means to follow through.

Another $69,000 is required to reimburse the city for providing security at the stadium between the time the demolition crew leaves and the time construction begins. Since that covers a six-month stretch, Gillette said the conservancy is negotiating to pay that in installments.

The group expects to meet both payments, then move forward with donations for the coming months, when another installment is due.

Members spent the past several days trying to raise funds to meet the deadline. Several board members made donations themselves, and Gillette said an "anonymous angel" made a large contribution Tuesday morning under the condition that their name not be released.

In addition, the group has received a surprising flow of donations through its Web site at savetigerstadium.org.

"We did get a flurry of contributions over the last 4-5 days," Gillette said.

Several conservancy members and other officials took their case to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, including vice president Thom Linn, Southwest Detroit Business Association president Kathy Wendler and Michigan House majority floor leader Steve Tobocman, who represents the area of Detroit that includes Tiger Stadium.

Total costs for the project have been forecast around $15 million. In addition to private donations, part of the funding is expected to come from state and Federal tax credits, as well as a $4 million earmark supported by U.S. Senator Carl Levin as part of a Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.

"Things will come together very nice in the future on this project," Gillette said.

The conservancy suffered a setback when Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell stepped down from the board last month and had to retract donations from his foundation to the conservancy. Harwell's longtime attorney, Gary Spicer, remains on the board.

Harwell's decision is not expected to affect the conservancy's effort to include a museum. Harwell has a large personal collection of baseball artifacts and memorabilia known as the Ernie Harwell Collection, which is currently part of the Detroit Public Library.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Friday, October 10, 2008
Deadline looms -- again -- for Tiger Stadium
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- --The non-profit group attempting to save a portion of Tiger Stadium from being demolished is meeting with city officials late this afternoon to show proof they have raised the money to continue with their efforts.

"We have raised more than the $219,000 required, and we are prepared to hand over a check," said Thomas Linn, a board member of the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy group.

Linn made the statement shortly after the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., a quasi-public agency that handles city development, issued a statement saying they had not received any money as of 3:30 p.m.

Today is the deadline for the group to raise $219,000, the first step in a $12 million to $15 million effort to save the baseball diamond and a dugout-to-dugout area of the former Major League Baseball stadium. The remainder of the stadium has already been razed.

Linn said the group would give a $69,000 check to DEGC officials and show proof of an escrow account in the amount of $150,000.

DEGC officials said they would make a statement about 6 p.m.

You can reach Louis Aguilar at (313) 222-2760 or laguilar@detnews.com .

New deal stalls Tiger Stadium demolition

By Zachary Gorchow • Free Press Staff Writer • October 10, 2008

Tiger Stadium preservationists and City of Detroit officials have reached a deal to save a portion of the stadium – for now.

A statement released by the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. said the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy had met the requirements to prevent immediate demolition of the remaining portion of the stadium.

“This agreement meets the requirements set by the Detroit City Council and ensures the site will be secure for the next five months,” said Waymon Guillebeaux, vice president of contract services for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. “It is now the Conservancy’s responsibility to meet the timeline it has agreed to.”

The Conservancy turned over a check for $69,000 to the DEGC and provided proof of an escrow account in the amount of $150,000. Preservationists pledged to come up with $219,000 to defray the costs the city would incur by delaying full demolition.

Prior to the DEGC’s announcement, Thomas Linn of the Conservancy said the group had raised the money.

“It’s an exciting day,” Linn said. “It’s only a small step, and there’s a lot more to do.”

Preservationists have until March 1 to raise $15 million for the project itself, which involves converting a dugout-to-dugout portion of the stadium into a restaurant, banquet facilities and office space while preserving the playing field for amateur use.

Under the agreement signed today, the next key deadline is Dec. 1, when the Conservancy must submit a plan for the site, a budget, an agreement with an architect and evidence it can pay for the architect.

Tiger Stadium gets new life
More than 94% of old ballpark is being recycled

By BEN LEUBSDORF • Associated Press • October 10, 2008

Going to a baseball game in Detroit used to mean heading to Michigan and Trumbull, the intersection that became shorthand for Tiger Stadium. Go there today, and all that remains is a small slice of the arena that once drew throngs of fans to see legends like Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg play.

The rest of the ballpark, which hosted thousands of games between 1912 and 1999, has been demolished, loaded into trucks and driven away.

But it’s not gone forever.

Bits and pieces of the old stadium may soon turn up in the body of a new Ford F-150 truck or underneath a freshly paved Wal-Mart parking lot in the suburbs.

More than 94% of the demolished part of the stadium is being recycled. That includes over 11.4 million pounds of steel and almost 17.4 million pounds of concrete and other debris.

Some of it won’t go far — crushed structural concrete from the ballpark will likely be used in southeastern Michigan as fill material under roads, parking lots and foundations. Some of the metal, like steel from the stadium’s blue structural beams, could end up in anything from new cars to kitchen appliances.

“That’s the beauty of metal,” said Chip Hering, executive vice president of Detroit-based Ferrous Processing & Trading Co., which processed scrap metal from the stadium. “Metal has no memory of what it used to be.”

Tiger Stadium has stood empty since the last major-league game was played there on Sept. 27, 1999. The Tigers moved to nearby Comerica Park at the start of the 2000 season.

The old ballpark is one of many vacant buildings in Detroit left standing for years on end, victims of decades of urban flight to the suburbs that has seen the city’s population drop from more than 1.8 million in 1950 to fewer than a million today.

With scrap prices sky-high — the price of scrap steel has increased 251% in the last five years — aggressive recycling has become more profitable. A recent survey by the National Demolition Association, an industry group, found about 75% of demolition material is typically reused or recycled.

The city of Detroit, which owned the old stadium, didn’t have to pay any money out of pocket for the demolition, which started in June. Instead, the joint venture doing the work, Farrow Group Inc. of Detroit and MCM Management Corp. of Bloomfield Hills, looked to turn a profit by selling the ballpark off as scrap.

“This project lent itself well to recycling,” said Michael Brehse, MCM’s vice president, who supervised the demolition. “There’s not a whole lot here ... that can’t be reused.”

The companies wouldn’t say how much they’ve made from the demolition. Initial projections put the value of the stadium’s materials around $1 million.

Starting in July, long-necked excavators munched on the stadium’s walls, smashing apart steel beams and slabs of concrete. Under streams of water sprayed by snow machines to smother the dust, workers sorted and separated the heaps of rock and twisted metal before weighing the materials and shipping them out.

The concrete — far less valuable than steel and other metals — went to an MCM-owned yard in Highland Park, where chunks of the stadium sat piled in late September. The rubble will be crushed into a pebble-sized material, likely to find use as filler on construction sites or in road and pavement projects in the Detroit area, Brehse said. Other masonry material will be used to make temporary roads in landfills.

The steel and nonferrous metals — 89,000 pounds of aluminum, copper and other valuable commodities from the demolished portion of the stadium — traveled to Ferrous Processing & Trading yards in and near Detroit to be cut to size or shredded before being sold to be re-melted.

Scrap metal is big business. The United States exported 34 million tons, worth $15.7 billion, to 143 countries in 2006, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., an industry group. Turkey, China and Canada are among the top destinations.

Hering, the company’s executive vice president, said local destinations for Ferrous-processed steel include the SeverStal North America Inc. mill at the River Rouge industrial complex in Dearborn and the North Star BlueScope Steel mill in Delta, Ohio.

SeverStal’s Dearborn plant produces steel for the auto industry as well as other products, and the company is a supplier to many automakers, including General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. North Star BlueScope makes steel with a long list of applications, including manufacturing goods.

Die-hard fans will probably never know exactly where the stadium’s remains end up. But workers at local scrap yards took note when the stadium’s distinctive blue beams showed up on the site.

“They got a kick out of it,” Hering said. “But we’re recycling Detroit every day.”

Figures the bulk of the scrap probably will go to India and China

Sounds like most of the Tiger Stadium scrap will go into US made cars and appliances. Think of the extra money they could make if they labeled the items as containing steel from Tiger Stadium!

10/11/08 12:59 PM ET
Tiger Stadium effort hits next phase
Conservation group has until Dec. 1 to present design plans
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

The effort to preserve a portion of Tiger Stadium is moving on to its next stage after meeting its initial fundraising goal to keep the stadium standing.

Members of the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy celebrated Friday after presenting the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation with proof of escrow accounts topping $219,000, the amount the city required to prevent immediate demolition of the old ballpark.

It's a major step for the nonprofit group's project to preserve the baseball diamond and part of the stadium itself, renovating it into a field for youth and high school games to go with a sports museum and other facilities.

"It's a big day," board member Gary Gillette said Friday. "Our board members and our key supporters are absolutely thrilled."

Efforts to raise the funds went into the day Friday as the conservancy tried to finalize donations, some from its own board members, and finish paperwork. By day's end, however, the group had the money it needed to meet the terms of the memorandum of understanding presented by the DEGC, a public-private partnership centered around city development, and the Detroit City Council.

Of the money presented, $150,000 was a non-refundable deposit to the city, essentially like an option on the property to counter costs if the project doesn't happen and demolition crews have to come back in. Another $69,000 goes to the city to pay for security on the site for the next six months once the demolition crew leaves in the coming days.

The next step is two-fold as the conservancy delves deeper into the planning stages for the project. It faces a Dec. 1 deadline to present redevelopment designs and budgets to the DEGC for approval. Estimates for the project have been forecast around $15 million.

Those designs, Gillette said, have been ongoing. It has been a unique challenge simply because there's no precedent. Most if not all old ballparks have been torn down once teams move to new ones, with maybe a monument or home-plate location noted where a stadium once stood.

"We have been all along working on the long-term plan," Gillette said. "In fact, the long-term plan has been more solid than the short-term plan,"

If the designs are approved, the conservancy will then have until Dec. 10 to pay another $150,000 deposit.

All the while, the conservancy will be trying to finalize funding for predevelopment costs as well as the larger project itself. That work has been going on since the summer. Now that they've met the first fundraising deadline and demonstrated the effort's viability, the other fundraising sources are expected to step up.

In addition to private donations, part of the funding is expected to come from state and Federal tax credits, as well as a $4 million earmark supported by U.S. Senator Carl Levin as part of a Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Congress has not yet approved the funding.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Where they gonna get 15 mil?


11 mil if they get that Federal Money

Which could be spent better elsewhere

I bet if the economy wasn't so bad

More people would be donating money

Michigan is just gonna hafta diversify. The auto industry is a good example of putting all the eggs in one basket...and having the basket tip over!

It's easier said than done, I know, but it's the only way out...

laprimamirala wrote:

It's easier said than done, I know, but it's the only way out...

But I don't like that Proposal 2 stuff;

I will no on it

me either..will vote no

laprimamirala wrote:

me either..will vote no