Tiger Stadium
Tiger Stadium,Navin Field; Briggs Stadium,Detroit,MI,
Ball Park First Game
Date – 05/05/1912 (10)
Starting Pitchers – vs. Naps (Indians): 04/20/1912
Final Score 6-5 (DET)
Attendance – 24,384
Starting Pitchers George Mullin (DET); Vean Gregg (CLE)
First Batter – Jack Graney (CLE) Result – Popped Out
First Hits – Ossie Vitt (DET),Singled
First Run – Joe Jackson (CLE)
First RBI – Ty Cobb (DET)
First Homerun – Del Pratt (SLA) vs. Ed Willett (DET) on 05/05/1912 (2nd inning)
First Grandslam – Roger Peckinpaugh (NYA) vs. Lou North (DET) on 08/22/1913 (2nd inning)
First Inside Park Homerun – Donie Bush (DET) vs. Joe Engel (WS1) on 06/10/1912 (7th inning)
First No Hitter – George Mullin (DET) vs. Browns on 07/04/1912
Ball Park Lasts
Last Game – vs. Royals: 09/27/1999, Final Score – 8-2 (DET)
Attendance – 43,356
Starting Pitchers – Brian Moehler (DET); Jeff Suppan (KCA), Winning Pitcher – Brian Moehler (DET) Losing Pitcher – Jeff Suppan (KCA)
Last Batter – Carlos Beltran (KCA), result – Struck Out
Last Hit – Robert Fick (DET), Homered (8)
Last Run – Robert Fick (DET), Last RBI – Robert Fick (DET)
Last HR – Robert Fick (DET) vs. Jeff Montgomery (KCA) on 09/27/1999 (8th inning)
Last Grand Slam – Robert Fick (DET) vs. Jeff Montgomery (KCA) on 09/27/1999 (8th inning)
Last Inside The Park Homerun – Bobby Higginson (DET) vs. Alan Mills (BAL) on 07/06/1997 (8th inning)
Last No Hitter – Nolan Ryan (CAL) vs. Tigers on 07/15/1973
TRIVIA –
The first homer ever hit at Tiger Stadium was also the first of Del Pratt’s career. Robert Fick’s grand slam in Tiger Stadium’s final game is the only grand slam to close a stadium.
World Series:
1934, ’35, ’40, ’45, ’68, ’84
All-Star Games:
1941, ’51, ’71.
FIRST IMPRESSION
You felt that tingle, a sense of anticipation and incredible history, well before you reached The Corner, the intersection of time, space and baseball at Michigan and Trumbull. At first glance, Tiger Stadium was a shock to the system, an explosion of white in an otherwise dark and dingy working-class neighborhood. It was a jewel, guarded by vulture-like light standards that seemed ready to pounce from their rooftop perch.
From the hard streets of Detroit you stepped into an old-fashioned, throwback ballpark, not all that different from how it looked — and smelled — a half century earlier. Bodies packed into extremely narrow concourses of yellow tile; layers of peeling paint, exposed wires and pipes; old telephone booths, tiny concession stands; a century’s worth of hot dog, sausage, beer and peanut fumes literally dripping from the walls and melting your memory. A postcard from the past.
SIGNATURE FEATURES
It was during a 1930s renovation that the right field fence was moved in 42 feet and the upper deck was widened 10 feet at both its top and bottom, creating the stadium’s signature feature and the most famous overhang in baseball history. The right field line was only 325 feet away, 15 feet shorter than a left field line that also looked closer than it really was. The best seats in baseball could be found at Tiger Stadium. So could the worst seats, thanks to obstructed views created by support pillars. But you always had a sense of involvement, whether suspended over the right fielder in the front row of the overhang, seated within conversation distance of the players in the dugout or catching a few sun rays in the center field bleachers. Players were confined to the smallest dugouts and bullpens in the major leagues. Dugout ceilings were low and seats were angled awkwardly, forcing players to jump up quickly when balls hit to left disappeared from view. Relief pitchers were even more limited visually, relegated to life in sunken, caged bullpens (the Submarines) in foul territory down both lines.
QUOTABLE
“Walking from the old train station, I thought the park looked like an impressive battleship,” said Hall of Fame right fielder Al Kaline, recalling his first sighting of Tiger Stadium as an 18-year-old rookie. “But then inside, walking through the aisles and seeing the green, green grass and the thousands of seats around, and more than anything feeling the peacefulness, it seemed almost magical. On that day I was awestruck. Today, 46 years later, I find myself still humbled and overwhelmed.”
