Comeric Park - Detroit Tigers

Comerica Park is an open-air ballpark located in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It serves as the home of the Major League Baseball Detroit Tigers organization, replacing historic Tiger Stadium in 2000.

One day after visiting the legendary football stadium, "The Big House" in nearby Ann Arbor, I had a few hours to explore the Detroit area before heading to Toronto that evening. The city of Detroit is known by two familiar nicknames, The Motor City and Motown, while also going by popular 20th century nicknames, including Hockeytown after the legendary Detroit Red Wings NHL franchise and Detroit Rock City after the popular KISS song. Comerica Park was part of a revitalization plan for Detroit that included the construction of Ford Field, home to the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.

Several minutes after arriving to Comerica Park, I had purchased my ticket for the tour of the ballpark and met the tour guide, Stanley. Since the tour wasn't scheduled to begin for several minutes, I took turns sharing baseball stories with Stanley and his fellow tour guide. As I came to find out, one of them used to live in the same city as I do, so talk about a small world after all. Much to my surprise, the tour guide took off his Detroit Tigers 2012 American League Championship ring off and let me take a look at it. Never did I think on this day here I would have been given permission to physically touch but get to see the Tigers 2012 ALCS ring as close as I did. Sure, I've seen various awards through-out the past few years, but this was amazing!

The tour kicked off a few minutes later as our tour group proceeded into the part of the stadium nicknamed, "The Jungle." This area of the park is located within the Pepsi Porch picnic deck between the 100 and 200 levels. The next area that we visited on the tour was a living tribute to Detroit Tigers legends that could be compared to the New York Yankees "Monument Park" at Yankee Stadium. Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Hal Newhouser, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg and Al Horton have individual statues dedicated to them, each made in a unique way that the player was known for in their playing time.

Just shy of the player statues is the massive LED video scoreboard that I was informed reaches nearly 10 stories in height, ranking 4th in MLB stadiums. Located at the ends of the scoreboard are two of the eight Tigers statues that are located through-out the ballpark. These tigers eyes light up following a home run or victory for the team.

>Many tours of professional sporting venues always include a brief visit to a "designated suite" on the tour that can be your typical suite that anyone can purchase if they have the money or in some cases, the owner suite. We were treated to the Detroit Tigers Champions Suite on this tour. Four suites were converted into the Champions Suite that contains the legendary Tigers 1968 and 1984 World Series trophies, Justin Verlander's 2011 American League MVP and Cy Young Awards and Miguel Cabrera's 2012 American League MVP Award. In route to winning the 2012 AL MVP Award, Miguel Cabrera left his mark in MLB history becoming the first player since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to win the Triple Crown in batting. The Triple Crown Award is located inside the Champions Suite only a few feet from his MVP Award.

Comerica Park contains many artifacts and historical pieces that make up the Tigers history spanning one generation to another. Making up a unique portion of the lower seating bowl is the Tigers Den, special seats that offer in-seat service, VIP hospitality and great views of the ballpark. These seats are are sold as full and partial season ticket plans. Leftover seats are also offered as single game tickets. Stanley informed us to check StubHub should we ever want to sit in these seats.

Our tour of Comerica Park ended with a visit to the press box, visitors locker room and dugout, the training room and playing field. This was the fifth tour I've taken of an MLB ballpark and is one that I won't forget for sometime.

COMERICA PARK FACTS:
Hosted the 76th MLB All-Star Game in 2005
2006 and 2012 World Series
Sold-Out Jay-Z/Eminem concert on September 2nd and 3rd, 2010
Vans Warped Tour annual stop

Tiger Stadium Hollowed Grounds

Tiger Stadium was a stadium located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. On April 20, 1912, Navin Field was opened, the same day as the Boston Red Sox Fenway Park. It hosted the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team from 1912 - 1999 and the Detroit Lions of the National Football League from 1938 - 1974. The stadium was built on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumball Avenue that gave it its nickname of "The Corner." Tiger Stadium as it became to be known in 1961 by team owner, John Fetzer, was previously known as Navin Field and Briggs Field, both after its previous Tiger owners. Under the Tiger Stadium name, the stadium witnessed the World Series titles 1936 and 1984.

Beginning in 1938, the NFL's Detroit Lions began a partnership that allowed them to host their home games at Briggs Stadium until 1974. The Lions eventually moved to the Silverdome in nearby suburban Pontiac. As the 1970s went on, the facility gained a reputation for its aging and obstructed views, but it was still loved by baseball enthusiasts for its historical feel. Despite several attempts to keep Tigers baseball at Tiger Stadium, the final home game was played on September 27, 1999 in a winning effort against the Kansas City Royals. The Tigers moved to their new ballpark, Comerica Park in downtown Detroit leaving Tiger Stadium unused.

Since the Tigers departure, the city of Detroit spent nearly $4 million dollars between 1999 and 2006 maintaining the stadium. The HBO film, 61 was filmed in Tiger Stadium during the summer of 2000.

Partial demolition of the stadium was completed in September 2008, leaving all but the lower deck of the stadium spanning from dugout to dugout that included the upper deck portion. Unfortunately, to those who fought to preserve the

While the stadium may longer be there, a group of volunteers known as the Navin Field Grounds Crew has resorted and maintained the playing field since the spring of 2010.