Shreyas Bolar

Dr. Martin
Honors 1000
November 8, 2016
Tiger Stadium to Comerica Park: The inevitable change
The tiger stadium, home of the Detroit Tigers from 1912 to 1999, was one of the most
popular attraction in the city during its time. It started with a capacity of 23,000 and ended with
52,400 seats. The Comerica Park holds a capacity of 41,297. All four of the Detroit Tigers
world series win have happened when they played at Tiger Stadium. While the new and
improved Comerica park with its big screen TV and amazing view of the city for all its viewers
is good, the Tiger Stadium held a certain essence of the city that will be missed.
Per Martell in 1949 when asked about peoples attitude toward Detroit, 54 percent listed
favorable attributes while 46 percent listed unfavorable attributes. Whether people liked Detroit
or not, they all came to see the Tigers play as the Tigers sold over 50,000 tickets to all their
games that year. In 1975, the tiger Stadium was declared a State of Michigans Historic Site and
in 1989, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to Logan E. Gans
Cities and areas with current facilities that are still useful do not need new stadiums and should
use their taxes to fund higher priority projects (crowds taxes to pay). The tiger stadium had
been renovated multiple times and was in good condition
In Cohens Encountering Mass Culture, he states that Mass culture in the 1920s
helped Chicagos young people build bridges between isolated ethnic neighborhoods. While
trying to be American. The tiger Stadium in Detroit had the same affect. You could support and
root for the tigers no matter who you are and everybody shared the same way of seeing as they
all want their team to succeed.
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play major league baseball. He broke
the color line in 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers selected him to play first base. Through
Boyles Arc of Justice, we can see that it was hard for African Africans to live in a stable house
in Detroit. The Ossian Sweet case showed a failure is social democratic space as now not
everybody was given the same rights for the land. Through all of this around 10% of the visitors
for every game were African Americans (Detroit Tigers).
Comerica Park opened for the public in 2000 which was also the first year the Tigers
played in that stadium. It has attractions apart from the actual ground to keep the fans happy.
Some of the attractions include Big Cat Food court, Comerica Carousel, Tiger Den Lounge, and
Walk of Fame. While these improve a fans experience at the Park, most of these could have
been added to the already established tiger stadium. Comerica Park was built to comply with the
way of seeing of City Profitable. Having a newer stadium would allow the owners to increase the
price of tickets

As more people, could afford it, people left the city and went to live in the suburbs. The
standard of living raised after WW1. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald he compares
the east egg to the west egg. The east egg as a symbol of representing the already established
aristocracy and the west as a symbol of the self-made rich.i As the standard of living went up, it
was easier for people to go to the games and support their team.
In the book The Detroit Tigers, Al Kaline, a hall of fame baseball star who played for the
Tigers stats after looking at Tiger Stadium for the first time When I got to the ballpark, I walked
right behind home plate and it was absolutely the most beautiful place Id ever seen in my life.
that had a lasting impression on me when I first saw it (Anderson, Detroit Tigers). Al Kaline
who is nicknamed Mr. Tiger saw Tiger Stadium as city beautiful. The tiger stadium represents
Diego Riviera style of thinking whereas the Comerica represents Charlie Chaplins.ii The whole
point of the Tiger Stadium was for the people to come together and root for the same team. There
was not a lot of things for people to do in the stadium other than watch the game, but through
modernity and technology the Comerica Park is completely different. It follows Charlie
Chaplins individualistic approach. He thought it was better to remember the history and be
happy for what the city has been through, but it the end move on to better things. The Comerica
Park takes a more individualistic approach in the sense that people go to the games for
themselves.
The city has finally decided to reconstruct the old Tiger Stadium and make it a youth
sports facility as well as the headquarters for the Detroit Police Athletic League (Detroit Free
Press). The legacy and memories of the stadium will always live with the people of Detroit. The
tiger stadium could have been renovated and used again as the place that the Detroit Tigers play
iniii. Instead the city decided to use tax payers money and build a newer stadium. The new
stadium gave the fans something new to look forward to and it soon become the popular way of
seeing. The tiger stadium was all but forgotten until this year when the demolition of the stadium
has begun with the hopes of building something useful. Tiger Stadium is a piece of urban form
that was destroyed for another piece of urban form.

iv

The east egg represents Detroit as it has already been established as a city with great working conditions and
good houses. But if you want to show your hard work, then you go live in the west egg represented by the suburbs,
where only people with money would live in.
ii
Taken from the deans lecture
iii
Citation from in group collaboration. We all thought it would be better if the city had just renovated the old tiger
stadium instead of building a newer one.
iv
Picture taken this summer when I went to see the tigers play at Comerica Park.
v
Picture of the tiger Stadium after the lights were installed for night games.

Work Cited
Anderson, William M. The Detroit Tigers : A Pictorial Celebration of the Greatest Players and
Moments in Tigers History. Wayne State University Press, 2008. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
Bethencourt, Daniel. "Construction Begins at Former Tiger Stadium Site." Detroit Free Press 27
June 2016: n. pag. Print.
Cohen. "Encountering Mass Culture." N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
"Comerica Park Information - Ballpark Attractions." Detroit Tigers. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew Joseph Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York: Collier, 1992.
Print.
Gans, Logan E. "Take Me out to the Ball Game, but Should the Crowd's Taxes Pay for
It?" Virginia Tax Review Spring 2010: 751. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
Macmillan. "Arc of Justice | Kevin Boyle | Macmillan." Macmillan. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov.
2016.
Martelle, Scott. "The Auto Era." Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. 6984. Print.
Tiger Stadium. 1982. Ballparksofbaseball, Detroit.