Tiger Stadium: At the corner of Michigan & Trumbull

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

At the corner of Michigan & Trumbull

Michigan and Trumbull was the address for professional baseball in Detroit for 104 seasons. From 1896 when Bennett Park opened, until the last game at Tiger Stadium in 1999, Michigan and Trumbull was the most famous street corner in Michigan. Tiger Stadium by Irwin J. Cohen takes you on a visual tour of baseball in the Motor City from the beginning of the Tigers franchise to the historic final game played at Tiger Stadium. The pages are filled with photos (some never before published) of the stadium and Tiger legends from Cobb, Gehringer and Greenberg right up to Kaline, Lolich, Trammell, Gibson and others.

1968 Detroit Tigers / St. Louis Cardinals World Series program cover
The World Series went a full seven games and games three, four, and five were played in Detroit. Each game attracted the same 53,634 attendance numbers. (Author’s collection.)Click above photos for a larger view!		 Willie Horton of the Detroit Tigers
Affable slugger left fielder Willie Horton hit 36 home runs in 1968. In game five with St. Louis ahead three games to one, Horton made the most memorable defensive play in the history of the ballpark when he threw out speedster Lou Brock trying to score from second on a single. (Courtesy B&W Photos.)

Tiger Stadium by Irwin J. Cohen is available from the publisher online at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling 888-313-2665.

View other excerpts from Arcadia Publishing’s Michigan books at Michigan in Pictures!

On a more editorial note, I had originally thought when I requested these photos that this would be part of a requiem for this grand old ballpark. It still may, but with Tiger icon Ernie Harwell pushing a plan to redevelop Tiger Stadium as a smaller ballpark and museum complex, maybe not!

You can follow Tiger Stadium news at Absolute Michigan.

Tiger Stadium, in pictures

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Aerial View of Tiger Stadium

Tiger Stadium #1, found by m7k7k7

Many folks in Michigan have a piece of their heart stored at the Corner of Michigan & Trumbull. Wikipedia’s Tiger Stadium entry says the ballpark located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit hosted the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team from April 20, 1912 when it opened as Navin Field, through its expansion in 1938 when it was renamed Briggs Stadium (and began hosting the Detroit Lions as well) through 1961 when John Fetzer took control and renamed it Tiger Stadium. It saw two World Series championships, 1968 and 1984 and was the home of the Tigers until Comerica Park opened in 2000. It was declared a State of Michigan Historic Site in 1975 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989.

And it’s scheduled for demolition in October of 2007.

From honorary bat boys spending a few moments with a player to huge and cheering crowds, this ballpark has made millions of memories.

Now it waits for the wrecking ball, slowly falling to pieces. I don’t think that too many want to remove the Tigers from their palatial new home, but it would (in my opinion at least) be a wonderful thing if Ernie Harwell and his group could succeed in preserving a scaled-down park at the Corner so none of us have to say goodbye to an old friend (and maybe The Last Strike at Tiger Stadium wouldn’t actually be the last).

Here’s a whole lot more photos in the Tiger Stadium group on Flickr. If you have any photos (or memories) to add, post a comment below!

Read Ernie Harwell’s plan for Tiger Stadium on Absolute Michigan.

Surfing, Michigan Style

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Surfing01.jpg

Surfing01.jpg, photo by Evography.

Evography writes: Dropping in from the pier, the tricky part is not getting worked right back into the pier.

Check out his Great Lakes Surfing set (slideshow!!) for a bunch more photos, most of which are large enough for your computer background needs!

When you’re finished with that, head over to Absolute Michigan for a Michigan surfing extravaganza featuring tons of Great Lakes surfing videos (including some 1970s footage of folks surfing off this same pier!)

Which I should add is the Grand Haven Pier!

Sunset from Douglas beach

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

IMGP1498h

IMGP1498h, photo by norjam8.

The Wikipedia entry for Douglas, Michigan says Douglas (in Allegan County, pop. 1214 in 2000) and adjacent to Saugatuck, was originally known as Dudleyville and settled in 1851 as a lumber town. In 1861, residents changed the name to Douglas, maybe to honor Stephen A. Douglas or maybe because an early settler came name because he came from the Isle of Man (with a capital named Douglas). After the lumber went to rebuild Chicago, Douglas turned to fruit (especially peaches) and tourism.

Check out the Douglas Michigan history page for some cool old photos (and for Douglas business, events and city information. Here’s a Google map for Douglas to you can go there for the day or weekend. Douglas is also home to the Douglas Dutchers vintage baseball club who play a remarkably full schedule.

Norm has a ton more photos of West Michigan dunes and beaches and sunsets and sunrises.

Vintage Base Ball and the Kent Base Ball Club

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

2002 (213)

2002 (213), photo by xman12.

I think it’s pretty cool that just hours after Brian H got me interested in the Kent Base Ball Club, Detroit Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander hurled a no-hitter.

The Vintage Base Ball Association says that base ball (two words prior to the 1880s) is a re-creation of the game based on rules of the late 1850s, 1860s and 1880s. Michigan boasts 13 base ball teams – more than any state.

The Kent Base Ball Club of Grand Rapids is a founding member of the Vintage Base Ball Association.

Grand Rapids’ first team, the Kent Base Ball Club of Grand Rapids was formed on April 4, 1867, when a group of Civil War veterans formed a club to continue playing the game they had learned while in the army. Silas K. Pierce, who had recently moved to the city from Ionia, was elected as the club’s first president…

One hundred and twenty-three years later, in 1990, a group of local enthusiasts led by city historian, Gordon Olson, decided to reorganize the Kents and play the game of base ball as it had originally been done in the 1860s. Olson had found the original constitution and by-laws of the Kent Base Ball Club in the Grand Rapids History and Special Collections Center at the public library, and was curious to see how the old game compared to its modern counterpart. The newly reconstituted Kents now play an average of 12-15 games per summer, and have appeared in Columbus, Ohio; Fayette State Park, Greenfield Village, Old Kent Park (all in Michigan), and Doubleday Field at Cooperstown, New York. In period uniforms, they do their best to live up to the enthusiasm and dedication to sportsmanship and fair play that motivated the original Kents.

Every year in early June they play the Silas K. Pierce Cup (State of Michigan Championship) at John Ball Park in Grand Rapids and you can get a schedule, more history and links at their site.

xman12 has over 1200 photos of the Kent Base Ball Club in action.

Throwing heavy stuff at the Alma Highland Festival & Games

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Caber Toss!

Caber Toss, photo by BearlyWorking

This photo is part of a set of 2006 Alma Highland Festival photos featuring kilt-clad competitors lifting and hurling heavy objects.

The Alma Highland Festival and Games take place May 26 & 27, 2007 on the campus of Alma College (2007 is the 40th annual). In addition to the Great Lakes Scottish Heavyweight Athletic Events, the festival includes piping, drumming and traditional Scottish fiddling and dancing competitions. There’s also games for children, the Parade of Tartans, and lessons and Scottish clan tents when you can learn about Scottish culture.

In addition to explaining the dance and band competitions, Wikipedia’s entry on the Highland Games lists the Heavy Events as stone put, Scottish hammer throw, weight throw, weight over the bar, sheaf toss and:

Caber toss: A long tapered pine pole or log is stood upright and hoisted by the competitor who balances it vertically holding the smaller end in his hands. Then the competitor runs forward attempting to toss it in such a way that it turns end over end with first, the upper (larger) end striking the ground and then the smaller end, originally held by the athlete, following through and in turn striking the ground in the 12 o’clock position measured relative to the direction of the run. If successful, the athlete is said to have turned the caber. Cabers vary greatly in length, weight, taper, and balance, all of which affect the degree of difficulty in making a successful toss. Competitors are judged on how closely their throws approximate the ideal 12 o’clock toss on an imaginary clock.

Dancing through West Michigan

Posted on by farlane

The PitchKlompen Dancing

Some days the photo for Michigan in Pictures is easy to find. Some days it’s not. Today was one of those days and after a lot of time wandering around the Library of Congress, I went back to Flickr and started looking through photos matching a search for Michigan.

Somewhere around page 12, I found these two photos – Untitled (from a West Michigan Whitecaps game) by Em Smith and Klompen Dancing at the Tulip Festival by Norm Hoekstra (from a group of Tulip Time klompen photos) – sitting side by side. That seemed to me to be some kind of sign, and I read it to say: blog the photos and get back to work!

Happy Friday and I hope your weekend gives you a chance to kick up your heels!

The Detroit Red Wings and Hockeytown skate towards to Stanley Cup

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Champs

Champs, photo by my new clever name.

Wikipedia’s Detroit Red Wings page says that the Wings have won ten Stanley Cups, top among U.S. based teams, and third most in NHL history. With all those Cups and a rich heritage that includes names like Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman, it’s no wonder they boast a fan base that’s among the most passionate – and certainly most octopus rich – in pro sports.

Check out DetroitRedWings.com, Absolute Michigan keyword “red wings”, the Detroit Red Wings group and more Red Wings photos on Flickr.

…and do, do click to the large view of the photo above to get your desktop in shape for the Cup run!

Spring Training with emjsmith and the Detroit Tigers

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled, photo by emjsmith.

So I’m just going to blog a quick spring training photo from emjsmith today…

…and then an hour later, there I was, happily dizzy in a pile of baseball pics. I though about an amazing action shot, an even more amazing action shot, 103.3 MPH tuning up or even a shot of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. I finally settled on this one of Craig Monroe fiving the faithful because (for me at least) this is what spring training is all about: ballplayers warming up for the season and having enough time to pay a little attention to those who pay so much attention to them. If you have some time, check out her great slideshow of Detroit Tiger Spring Training photos.

Em shoots the Class A Midwest League for MLB, so be sure to tune in during the season. You can see more of her baseball pics at her blog and other work at Emily Smith Photography.

Opening day is Monday, April 2nd (details at Absolute Michigan)

Detroit Tigers Spring Training Salute

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

I Salute You

I Salute You, photo by loridz.

Lori Haskell was fortunate enough to get down to Lakeland to catch some of spring training. We’re still waiting for that box of oranges, but she did bring back a nice set of photos of a preseason Tiger game.

If you made it there, post a link to your photos (or just tell us about the experience) in the comments!