Tiger Stadium likely to be demolished...

This isn't breaking news by any means. But it seems demolition could start on the old ballpark in a few weeks - likely the beginning of June, unless and advocacy group can raise a lot of dough in a short amount time.

The New York Times had a nice story yesterday about Tiger Stadium's impending doom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/baseball/11stadium.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

And here's a great website that keeps you up to date on the situation.

http://www.preservetigerstadium.com/news.htm

I'm a Tigers fan but never went to a game at Tiger Stadium. I got to see the ballpark last summer when my father and I went to a Tigers-Red Sox game at Comerica. It's definitely in withered shape. But there's so much history there. It opened the same day in 1912 (April 20) as Fenway.

So what do you all think about demolishing such an old ballpark that serves no purpose - other than historical significance? What are some of your memories at Tiger Stadium? I would guess a lot of you on here don't have to be Detroit Tigers fans to appreciate such a ballpark.

 

It's not as old but just as historical, in many ways...the Astrodome. As much of a dump as it is now, you would think there's certainly something that could be done with it. There's been intermittent talk about turning it into a rather unique shopping center, hotel, or something along those lines.

What would/could they do with Tiger Stadium, and how much interest would there actually be in providing tours, etc., to an old, empty ballpark, even a historic one?

 

That sucks. Z-Man and I had a good time at Tiger Stadium back in the day.

 

This reminds me of Maple Leaf Gardens when the Leafs moved to the ACC.

There was much gnashing of teeth about the historical significance of the Gardens but in the end, now one cared. If you'd ever been to a game there, you knew it was a dump with skinny seats, crappy concessions and troughs in the men's washroom.

The last thing I heard was that it'll be turned into a Home Depot or something.

Who owns Tigert Stadium?

 

I'm not 100 percent positive on who exactly owns it, JR, but I do know that after the Tigers moved out, the city has put it on its own dime as far as its upkeep goes and the like. And with the obvious pathetic state Detroit is in -- I think it's become pretty much a liability on the books.
It's a Michigan historical landmark and has been since the 70s I believe. I heard Kwame and Co. wanted to turn the site into a Wal-Mart or some sort of housing area -- I can't really remember.
I mean it can't just sit there and rot forever because the city can't afford that, but the notion of that place -- which for most of us who grew up there was so special -- turning into a Wal-Mart certainly leaves a bit of a pit in the stomach.
But that's life I guess.

 

It's interesting that 2,000 years from now, anyone looking back on our society will likely have no idea what architecture was like from this (or any period) in American history.

The Roman Coliseum still stands to this day, but 30-year-old stadiums are eyesores that must be demolished to make room for a new downtown strip mall.

 

They can just ask Keith Richards what he remembers about it.

 

I had a pit in my stomach when County Stadium was razed, but I got over it. Life goes on.

 

Not sure what anyone would do with it, or even if anyone would be interested, but is there a possibility of selling the stadium to someone? That kind of influx could help the city's coffers quite a bit.

 

We seem to be getting better at it but there is still little or no appreciation for historical architecture in most North American cities.

I'm not arguing that Tiger Stadium should stay but leaving it alone would be preferable to razing it and putting up another example of Brute Architecture a la Wal-Mart.

Back in the 60's and 70's "urban renewal"was all the rage. It was the peacetime equivalent of destroying a city in order to save it.

The problem was, it was left up to the city planners, most of whom were engineers and knew fuck-all about the aesthetics of urban design but were certainly automobile centric.

I remember at one point Toronto planners recommended tearing down Union Station, one of the great railway stations in North America and Toronto's old city Hall which is about as visually representative of Toronto as the CN Tower.

The worst thing they could do is have no plan at all or sell Tiger Stadium off to the highest bidder.

I went to Tiger Stadium once: a '84 World Series game against the Padres. Fabulous.

 

The city of Detroit owns it and has owned it for quite a while. They always leased it to the Tigers for $1.

There was some talk about saving part of the stadium (from dugout to dugout) and the playing field. They would use the playing field for little league or whatever.

And then they would have retail space around it. But that never really got off the ground because Mayor Thug was against it.


As sad as it is right now, the City of Detroit neglected it for so long that about the only financially feasible thing to do is to tear it down, unfortunately.

 

Don't they have HS championship games and tractor pulls and University of Houston fb games at the Astrodome?