The Glory Years of the Detroit Tigers: 1920-1950

6. The Old Ballpark Where Legends and Memories Were Made

The Old Ballpark Where Legends and Memories Were Made Are there entertainment venues more cherished than major league baseball stadiums? People flock to concerts primarily because of the performers. For rock music enthusiasts, outdoor venues are often more appealing than a great concert hall. Because athletic events are the most popular entertainment attractions, more people attend them on an annual basis than any other segment of this form of enjoyment. In professional football, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, and boxing, the competition areas are standardized and they all look similar. Baseball stadiums, however, have a deep tradition of uniqueness; each ballpark has features that give character and personality to the place. Over time these distinctive features become legendary and an allure all their own. It is safe to assume that in the early years many of these unique characteristics were caused by the size of the footprint, the restrictions of location, and that when modifications of the structure occurred, the style of the new structure looked something akin to an addition to a house. In more contemporary times, unique features are part of the design process. Baseball owners and managers can design the dimensions of the field, its playing surface, the height of fences, and many other peculiarities for the advantage of the home team and its intended s i x 392 c h a p t e r s i x style of play. To even imagine that possibility in other professional sports is pure comedy. Baseball fields are somewhat akin to golf courses where being green is a premium; there is a deliberate attempt to create an environment that is park-like. Thus throughout much of baseball’s history, these venues were referred to as ball “parks.” When I interviewed Tiger players and personnel in September of the final season at Tiger Stadium about their first impressions of this ballpark, the universal top-of-mind response was: “It was so beautifully green.” Baseball stadiums have had an evolutionary heritage like most original downtown buildings; they were initially built as wood-frame structures. The increasing congregation of people and businesses made these facilities susceptible to fires, and these buildings began to be replaced by structures with more permanent and fire-resistant materials—brick, steel, and concrete. Modes of transportation, most especially the automobile, caused transformational changes in terms of where people lived, worked, and parked. These forces and others greatly increased the appeal of baseball in Detroit, and Frank Navin and Walter O. Briggs continued to enlarge the seating capacity and enhance the entertainment venue. For those who love the game, the ballpark is a magical place. It is a time capsule of personal memories great and small. It is hallowed ground like the Gettysburg battlefield, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, or Arlington Cemetery. The literature of baseball is replete with books about ballparks; more are published every year because there is an insatiable appetite for them. Books like Lawrence Ritter’s Lost Ballparks and Phillip Lowry’s Green Cathedrals have become classics and are cherished. For Tiger fans and baseball stadium enthusiasts, Richard Bak’s A Place for Summer and Michael Betzold and Ethan Casey’s book Queen of Diamonds share memories and a history that is beloved. When old stadiums are replaced by new venues, no piece of the past is more sought after in the auctions that follow than stadium seats. The people who buy them become custodians of a lost ballpark and there are personal shrines in homes all over the country. Presumably many of these preservationists find themselves thinking about those who sat in their stadium seats and what they must have witnessed. The most exciting game that Tiger fans observed while occupying these cherished seats occurred every year at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, opening day for ninety-nine years. Is there a greater souvenir or physical take-away than an official major league ball snared at a game? After the competition to retrieve the ball ends, there is a spontaneous exchange of high-fives among those seated near the one who finally secured the ball. One can bet that the (Continued on p. ) The Old Ballpark Where Legends and Memories Were Made 393 Particularly after the Tigers won back-to-back pennants and its first world championship in 1935, Detroit became a great baseball city and the team set attendance records on top of records. As this photograph captures, the Tigers...