Jul 09 2008 01:06 PM
This article and accompanying pictures were in the New York Times in May...
| ]May 11, 2008 Tiger Stadium Faces Partial Demolition Amid Opposition By JOE LAPOINTE DETROIT — After the Tigers played on opening day, a pickup truck full of guys drove across Woodward Avenue from Comerica Park on the near East Side to old Tiger Stadium on the near West Side, a mile or so away. They entered the abandoned stadium through a large locked door by using an attachment to the front of their vehicle as a battering ram. They crashed the gate and took an unguided tour until approached by a security guard. “My guard said, ‘What are you guys doing?’ ” said Fred Rottach, who supervises the place for the city. “They jumped back in the truck and drove away.” This is extreme behavior even for touchy-feely fans whose affection for the ballpark is well known. Before the Tigers left in 1999, a booster club sponsored two group hugs in which devotees linked arms and gave the stadium a squeeze. Since then, various plans for redevelopment have come and gone. The stadium sits empty. Late last year, the city auctioned mementos like grandstand seats, a dugout urinal, Al Kaline’s locker and the fence in front of the right-center-field light tower, hit by a Reggie Jackson home run in the 1971 All-Star Game. Last month, the city tentatively awarded a partial demolition contract for the stadium, which opened in 1912 as Navin Field. An opposition group, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, has until June 1 to raise $369,000 to try to save part of Tiger Stadium, even temporarily. The group includes Ernie Harwell, the retired Tigers radio broadcaster. If that goal is reached, Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said he would seek greater financing in the 2009 federal budget to preserve the oldest part of the structure around the infield and redevelop the playing field for amateur teams. “The field is sort of sacred ground,” Levin said in a telephone interview. Levin, who grew up in Detroit, said he attended the 1945 World Series in the ballpark, then known as Briggs Stadium, after Hank Greenberg returned from World War II to help clinch the pennant. The grounds around Michigan and Trumbull need a commercial development plan, Levin said, to coincide with a historical renovation, even if only the stadium’s corner footprint is saved. Jeff Wattrick, a spokesman for the conservancy, said three “civic-minded philanthropic groups” had discussed contributing money to stave off a full demolition that may begin in weeks. But he said he could not reveal their names because he did not want to spread false optimism. “So many different plans have come and gone,” he said. “We sensed a real fatigue.” Wattrick said the Tigers had not expressed much interest in the effort. A team spokesman, Rob Matwick, said he wished the group well but added little else. “We do not have an active role,” he said. Complicating everyone’s calculations is the deal the Detroit Economic Development Corporation made with the two demolition companies that have promised to tear down Tiger Stadium for the scrap steel, copper, aluminum, brass and nickel they can salvage. It would take less than a year to demolish, said Waymon Guillebeaux, a vice president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. But it would be even faster and cheaper, he said, to tear the place down without preserving even a corner. So the demolition companies have promised to pay the city $300,000 if they do not have to preserve the corner piece, Guillebeaux said. But they want an answer by June 1, he said. The companies — MCM Management Corporation of Bloomfield Hills and the Farrow Group of Detroit — did not respond to a request for comment. Guillebeaux said that his group was cooperating with the preservationists, but that the economic downturn discouraged such plans. Detroit has been hit harder than many cities. “To try to raise money to just hold on to a portion of an old stadium might not be easy,” he said, adding that developers would be more interested if the site were cleared. The stadium’s outfield is thick and green but much shaggier than a major league field. Dandelions speckle it with yellow. A short, skinny tree protrudes from the concrete in the lower deck where the box seats used to be. What was once the pitcher’s mound is now round and flat. The lower deck and parts of the upper deck have almost no seats. Rottach, the city’s overseer of the property and a native East Sider, walked across the field and recalled the 1968 Tigers winning a World Series game there and all the championship football games between the city’s public and Catholic leagues. He also turned a measured eye to the present and said that remaining structural pieces are valuable. They are from the first half of the 20th century. “The steel is the highest of the high grades,” he said. “Steel was cheap then.” Adding that all metal prices had “gone through the roof,” Rottach said the demolition would be a green project with about 85 percent of the materials recycled. Under sun and blue sky, he walked beneath the upper deck in right field, which hangs over the warning track and once turned apparent flyouts into home runs. One spectator impressed by this architectural feature in the 1960s was Jeff Wilpon, the chief operating officer of the Mets. He used to visit Detroit to see his grandfather, who would take him to baseball games in the summer and to Lions games on Thanksgiving. So Wilpon insisted that the new Mets stadium have a similar overhang in right field. “You’re in fair territory,” Wilpon said of those seats. “We copied that a little bit.” Whatever the stadium’s fate, the neighbors are eager for something to happen because the area is not dormant. The land lies near a casino hotel, a recent arrival. Nearby residential neighborhoods include a new subdivision with streets named after Motown artists like Marvin Gaye and Martha Reeves and a revived 19th-century neighborhood called Corktown, once populated by Irish immigrants. Timothy J. McKay, executive director of the Greater Corktown Development Corporation, said he supported the preservation attempt but added that the conservancy would have to entice investors. “We want to see some changes,” he said. Knowledge of history is a critical part of healing an inner city, McKay said. He added: “This is an old city. But history here is discounted by a lot of people.” |
What used to be the pitcher’s mound
is now round and flat amid the weeds.
Tiger Stadium, which opened in 1912 as Navin Field, may be nearing its final days. Last year, the city of Detroit
tentatively awarded a partial demolition contract for the stadium.
The structure has been empty since 1999 when the Detroit Tigers moved to Comerica Park, about a mile away.
Dandelions grow in the outfield, which is thick, green and much shaggier than a major league field.
Late last year, the city auctioned mementos like grandstand seats, a dugout urinal, Al Kaline's locker and the fence in
front of the right-center-field light tower, hit by a Reggie Jackson home run in the 1971 All-Star Game.
There are almost no seats left in the lower decks and parts of the upper deck.
The remaining structural pieces are valuable. The steel, from the first half of the 20th century, is of the highest grade.
Two demolition companies have promised to tear the stadium down in exchange for the scrap steel, copper, aluminum,
brass and nickel they can salvage.
Demolition would take less than a year, but would happen even faster
and cheaper without preserving any corner of it.
About 85 percent of the materials would be recycled, making the demolition a green project.
But fans have a strong attachment to the stadium. Before the Tigers left, a booster club sponsored two group hugs in
which devotees linked arms and gave it a squeeze.
The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, a group opposed to the demolition, has until June 1 to raise $369,000 to try to
save part of the stadium.
If the money can be raised, Senator Carl Levin said he would seek federal funding to preserve the oldest part of the
structure around the infield and redevelop the playing field for amateur teams.
While the stadium is dormant, the area surrounding it is not. Whatever the stadium's fate, neighbors are eager for
something to happen.