No Way to Die

Tiger Stadium died on September 27, 1999. That’s when she took her last breath as the last game was played on her grounds and paying fans filed out her gates for the final time. She hung on. Her paint peeled and faded. Her seats sold. Tiger Stadium became shadow on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull.

Demolition began last summer. Fans visited to say what they thought were last goodbyes. Then it stopped. The stadium was left with a crumbling facade ranging only from dugout to dugout to tough out the harsh, grey Detroit winter. Today, demolition relaunched. Fans took pictures and said goodbye again. In two hours it was halted.

Baseball stadiums are more than just structures of concrete and steel. They are cathedrals from which fans order their lives. Stadiums are places where we create our national, regional, local, and individual identities.

This is no way for such an important place to be put to rest. Tiger Stadium is one of the most sacred places in baseball. Opened the same year as Fenway Park (1912), Tiger Stadium has not received her due respect. The Corner should have her dignity. Let fans say their goodbyes and let her go quickly. To use one of Roger Angell’s terms, let her live on in our Interior Stadium, our memories and recollections.

Nothing is accomplished by letting her stand this way. We can’t remember Tiger Stadium for what she was because of what she has become.