Sparky Anderson, a Detroit Tigers Legend

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Sparky Anderson

Sparky Anderson, photo by Baseball Images.

Remembering Tiger Manager George “Sparky” Anderson on Absolute Michigan recounts how the Hall of Fame coach who managed the Tigers from 1979-1995 and was the first manager to win a World Series for both a National League and American League team. His 1,331 wins are the most in Tigers’ history

Read on for all kinds of columns and video about this Detroit Tiger legend.

See it bigger in Baseball Images’ Detroit Tigers slideshow.

More Detroit Tigers from Michigan in Pictures.

legends stood here: Exploring Detroit with Absolute Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

legends stood here

legends stood here, photo by buckshot.jones

All week on Absolute Michigan we’ve been featuring Detroit with fresh looks at Michigan’s largest city from a wide range of folks including Johnny Knoxville and David Byrne and topics that include Detroit’s art resurgence and movie-making in the Motor City.

About the photo, Scott writes:

At this very spot, some of the greatest to ever play the game, played right here. Under a blue Michigan sky they crafted their legend. From the deadball era of Ty Cobb to the steriod era of “My head didn’t get bigger, my hat shrunk” Barry Bonds, the greats of the game played.

I figure most of us folks in Detroit have a fond memory, or two, of this place. I saw Ron Leflore in the midst of a 30 game hitting streak, sitting down the first base line. Out in the left field stands I watched the Bird win a game sitting next to my brothers and our old man. I took my daughter to her first game in 1982. She was still an infant, it was early June and the old park was still as cold as a meat locker. In the last year of the park, my son and I attended a game. We moved all around the stadium, finishing up in my favorite part, the upper deck bleachers, right to the left of the flag.

I truly loved that place.

Check this out bigger and in his excellent Detroit Journal: Words & Pictures series (view slideshow).

Lots more Detroit Tigers and Detroit photos from Michigan in Pictures.

Miguel Cabrera and your 2010 Detroit Tiger All Stars

Posted on by farlane

Homerun!
Homerun!, photo by Curtnrod

With top vote getter  Justin Morneau of the Twins suffering a concussion, the Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera will start for the American League at first base (batting third) in tonight’s All Star Game. As a reminder, Major League Baseball’s celebration of its superstars actually has meaning – the winner gets home field advantage in the World Series.

Cabrera makes his fifth All-Star appearance in seven seasons, and although he finished second to Morneau with 2,586,207 votes, he’s second in the majors with 20 home runs and 68 RBIs, has a 19 game hitting streak going and is having a great season. In addition to Cabrera, the Tigers Jose Valverde has been named the closer for the game by AL manager Joe Girardi and 11-5 Tiger ace Justin Verlander will be on the team as well. The Tigers roar into the break 25-5 since June 9th and although a loss to the Twins put them 1/2 game out, you have to like their performance so far.

See this photo from Cabrera’s first season as a Tiger bigger in Sam’s Detroit Tigers slideshow and go AL!

Comerica Park, Home of the Detroit Tigers

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Extra! Extra!

Extra! Extra!, photo by RLHyde.

The page on Comerica Park at ballparksofbaseball.com says that in the mid 90s:

…Tigers President John McHale said that Tiger Stadium had 10,000 of the best seats in baseball, but was supported by 40,000 of the worst. It was clear that Tiger Stadium lacked many of the amenities of newer parks being constructed at the time. In 1995 the city agreed to help fund a new stadium and in March 1996 voters approved a plan to build a new ballpark in downtown Detroit. Following other ballparks that were built during that decade, the Tigers new ballpark was built mainly of steel and concrete, with a brick exterior. Constructed in downtown Detroit, construction began October 29, 1997.

For the first time in over 100 years, opening day baseball was played at a different location other than at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Nearly 40,120 fans filled Comerica Park on opening day, April 11, 2000.

The $300 million ballpark is 345′ down the leftfield line, 330′ down right and 420′ in straightaway center. For the name, Comerica Bank pays the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority $2.2 million per year. Here’s a satellite map of Comerica Park at 2100 Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

Whatever you feel about the Tigers’ move from Michigan & Trumbull, it’s hard to deny that Comerica is a beautiful ballpark. The Detroit Tigers section for Comerica Park has some sweet panoramas of Comerica Park and past ballparks that the Tigers have called home.

Ryan says that this looks better the bigger it gets, and he’s right. Check it out on black or background bigtastic.

Need more? Here’s the Comerica Park slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr!

Happy Ernie Harwell Day!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Ernie Harwell & George Kell broadcasting for the Detroit Tigers
George Kell Ernie Harwell 1961, photo by doctor_gogol.

For, lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land
~Ernie Harwell quoting the Song of Solomon (listen)

The Detroit Free Press notes that today is not just the Detroit Tigers home opener against the Cleveland Indians, but also that April 9 is now Ernie Harwell Day by decree of the Michigan Senate.

The Detroit News Rearview Mirror on Ernie Harwell writes that the Baseball Hall of Fame and longtime Detroit Tigers announcer was born on January 25, 1918 in Washington, Georgia, was so tongue-tied as a youngster that kids made fun of him and became the only broadcaster ever traded when the minor league Atlanta Crackers traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers for farmhand Cliff Draper.

In 1950 Harwell was lured to the rival New York Giants, where one year later he broadcast the debut of Willie Mays. From 1954 to 1959, Harwell was the voice of the Baltimore Orioles.

George Kell was finishing his Hall of Fame career as a player with the Orioles, and one day Ernie invited him into the radio booth. Kell later landed a job with the Detroit Tigers and in 1960 the Detroit club signed Harwell to become Kell’s partner. “It’s the best move I ever made,” Ernie said. “I’ve been very happy in Detroit.”

…Baseball author Bruce Shlain reflects: “Somehow he brings the proper pitch and phrasing to a whole season, with a rhythm and pacing that only a select few have ever commanded. In many ways a Harwell broadcast is profoundly musical, as befits a man who has published 55 songs with composers such as Johnny Mercer. Many an announcer has aspired to sounding as if talking to a friend in his living room, but Harwell effortlessly establishes the same rapport on the air as he does in person.”

Be sure to check out this shot of Ernie & George Kell out bigger and see more in Doctor Gogol’s Stadium Workers set. In honor of Ernie and the home opener, I suggest you settle back and watch the Tiger Briggs Stadium Detroit slideshow.

Check out more Detroit Tiger features on Michigan in Pictures and play ball!

Play Ball! Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2010

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

have a seat in my time machine

have a seat in my time machine, photo by 1ManWithACamera.

The Detroit Tigers open the 2010 baseball season in Kansas City at 4:10 PM today. The Baseball Almanac says that since 1901, the Detroit Tigers are 58-50 on Opening Day. On April 26, 1992 when Larry took his nephew Aaron to his first Tiger game, the Bengals came up short to the Blue Jays, 2-4. Here’s hoping that the boxscore in 2010 looks more like the 15-2 crushdown that the Tigers laid on the Texas Rangers last year.

Over on Absolute Michigan we have our Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2010 Blog Roundup. More at absolutemichigan.com/Tigers and from Michigan in Pictures.

Check this out big as a ballpark and see more in Larry’s Detroit Tigers and their ballparks set (slideshow).

Detroit Tigers, Champions of the American League (in 1907)

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Detroit Tigers, Champions of the American League in 1907

Detroit Tigers, Champions of the American League in 1907, photo by Boston Public Library.

We’re not going to be able to say the same thing 102 years later, but the 2009 Detroit Tigers certainly played well above preseason expectations.

The photo above shows the 1907 Detroit Tigers, who won the AL pennant but lost to the Chicago Cubs:

Top row, left to right: John Eubanks, Claude Rossman, Sam Crawford, Bill Donovan, George Mullin, Ed Willett, Fred Payne and Ed Killian. Center: Davy Jones, Red Downs, Ty Cobb, Bill Coughlin, Germany Schaefer, and Elijah Jones. Front: Ed Siever, Jimmy Archer, Hughie Jennings, Boss Schmidt and Charley O’Leary.

See this bigger in the ridiculously awesome McGreevey Collection slideshow (view collection) from the Boston Public Library.

The collection consists of early Boston baseball photographs dating from 1875 to 1916. Represented are many of the most important ballplayers of the 19th and early 20th century including Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Mike “King” Kelly, Kid Nichols and many others. Also included are panoramic photos of the ballparks of the era including the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston and the Polo Grounds in New York. The centerpiece of the collection is a series of photographs related to the first World Series in 1903 between Boston and Pittsburgh.

R.I.P. Tiger Stadium

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

R.I.P.

R.I.P., photo by Ralph Krawczyk Jr.

Ralph writes:

Supporters of renovating what remained of Tiger Stadium surrendered Monday in a failed court effort to postpone the final demolition, sparking the end of a legacy that began in 1896…

You can read about the demolition in the Freep, watch it on YouTube, check out other Tiger Stadium pictures on Michigan in in Pictures and read Tiger Stadium stories on Absolute Michigan). You can also see more photos of this iconic park in Raph’s Tiger Stadium set (slideshow).

I’m not sure, however, that you can explain to me why Detroit seems hell-bent on demolishing its most prominent pieces of heritage.

Everybody’s heard about the Bird

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

1954-2009

1954-2009, photo by Boston Wolverine.

Detroit Tiger rookie phenom Mark “The Bird” Fidrych died yesterday in an accident. There’s lots more (including a great interview) at Remembering Mark “The Bird” Fidrych on Absolute Michigan.

Samara took this photo at a Red Sox/Tigers game in Boston. It’s part of her baseball miscellany set (slideshow). She also wrote RIP, Mark ‘the Bird’ Fidrych which you should read if at all possible.

Play Ball! Detroit Tiger tickets on sale today!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Comerica Park

Comerica Park, photo by Mario.Q.

Tickets for the Detroit Tigers’ 2009 regular season home games at Comerica Park go on sale today (March 7) at 10 AM. Opening Day tickets are available – there’s a four ticket per person limit on Opening Day tickets. To get your tickets, head over to the Detroit Tigers web site. There’s a great Tiger highlight video there but I wonder why they’re saying “don’t miss Miguel Cabrera and company in action at Comerica Park” on the site. Placido? Magglio? Carlos? Did I miss something?

Check out Mario’s Detroit Tigers photos (slideshow) – like this one they’re all uploaded wallpapery delicious! Also have a look at the Tigers’ baseball show from the Absolute Michigan pool.

And oh yeah: GO TIGERS!