Save the old Ballparks..Including Tiger Stadium .

[Jack-o-lope]

Im saying they should keep up the old ballparks for people to drive by or just walk in and see where the club used to play. They should never demolish Buish Stadium,Three Rivers Stadium,Riverfront Stadium,Memorial Stadium,Ebbets Field or even sportsman park and Shibe Park. At least they could have turned them into museums to tell about the teams and the events play there.Like the Old Yankee Stadium should not be demolished until after 50 years the last game was played.Give the old generation still time to look at it sop they can tell their kids stories about this old park.

[GotMelk?]

I agree especially about Yankee Stadium....Why in the world do we need a new Stadium anyway?

[Jack-o-lope]

For better seatting and less obstructed views.Like the old memorial stadium. How would you like to sit behind a pole?

[RichardLillard1]

Actually its for more luxury suites. There is presently nothing wrong with the sight lines at Yankee Stadium, the poles are gone and the decks are nice and close to the action. And as for sitting behind poles.... no one in Chicago or Boston seems to have problems with it. And the out field "porch" in right field at Ameriquest field is the most sought after seats in the whole park.

If you ask me that speaks for itself, the fans want to be close to the action, uhlike the new Comiskey (now US Cellular) when it opened and the first seat in the upper deck was not only higher up but farther back than the last seat at the original Comiskey Park. The new Yankee Stadium while being a cast improvment on the mistakes of the new Comiskey Park will still keep the fans further away than at the old stadium.

Another example of how much higher new upper decks are would be Jacob's Field. Do you really need three levels of suites? Top that with the fact that if you take two of those levels out you have just almost the exact layout of US Cellular.

The poles aren't so bad and with newer technology they could reduce the number of poles by about half of those that used to be needed. A place like Wrigley has (I beleive) 25 poles, they could rebuild it and use only around 12, less than half and everyone is right on top of the action.

Someone should tell the owners that they are getting hosed. Then again maybe they don't care because they have found a way to maximize the revenue while not caring about the game.

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Once again, another non-realistic post from Jack-a-lope.

It would be great if we could keep all these stadiums around. It would also be great if I didn't have to pay tax on everything I buy, or if Oil companies didn't gouge me for the price of a litre of gasoline. But the world is run by money.

It costs money to keep a building in good condition. It costs money to pay people to work in a mueseum. Most of all, the owners are letting an unused ballpark sit on land that is worth a fortune. Most of them want to sell the land to make some money.

I don't really disagree with any of your posts, but I just always have to point out that the world isn't run by people who's #1 priority is nostalgia. They want $$$.

[Clash City Rocker]

It would could be practical enough to de-convert yankee stadium to the '66 version. Throw up some pillars, the roof, rebuild the bleachers, fill in the field level...make the whole thing a museum. Who wouldn't go see that museum? A museum and an operatable ballpark. Stock it up with Cooperstown's basement relics and it would probably outdraw the HoF.

Hell, people would probably pay to work there.


Fenway looks better now than it ever did in the classic era, while YS looks like a 70's relic. Its so ironic Boston is doing everything right with Fenway and the Yanks are going to imitation crapsville stadium-wise.

[2Chance]

So true about the $$$, unfortunately. But it has always been so.

I just wanted to touch on the issue of the poles. That was one of the big points that always came up when they were preparing to get rid of Tiger Stadium, and there is one minor fallacy in that argument: it's a load of crap.

Even if you got an "obstructed view" ticket, it didn't mean you were sitting behind a pole and couldn't see anything. It meant you couldn't see all of the field at the same time.

Last June I had an obstructed view at Comerica Park. I sat really close to home plate, but the guy who sat in front of me was tall and had a very large head. His wife had one of those big hairdos from the 80s and despite our great seats, we watched half the game from the concourse. That's the risk you take whenever you buy a ticket anywhere. But I never had to move from my seat at Tiger Stadium.

[Doug Miller]

Is there a definite date for taking out Tiger Stadium? I had a dream about it a month back, and would like to go see it before it gets torn down. Never know, maybe they have an underpaid security guard that needs a few bucks that will let me in.

Doug

[EbtsFldGuy]

Nostalgia is fine, but reality is another.

I'd love to be able to go back and visit Ebbets Field as it was, but the need for land use in urban areas and the likelihood that not enough "old" fans would return to sustain such places is simply truth.

Is there any former park which has been preserved for any length of time?

Ebbets Field lasted less than 3 years after the Dodgers left, and the Polo Grounds stayed idle for 4 years before the Mets came for 2 years in 1962 and 1963. Shibe Park (Connie Mack Stadium) lasted nearly 6 years after the Phllies moved, but became a blight in the area.

[Seattle1]

Im saying they should keep up the old ballparks for people to drive by or just walk in and see where the club used to play. They should never demolish...Three Rivers Stadium,Riverfront Stadium...

Ugh not the 70's-era multipurpose AstroTurf bowl type stadiums. Good riddance to those ones!

:ughh

[Doug Miller]

To me it seems a shame to bust out Tiger Stadium because of the age of the park. I like that they're talking about preserving the front as an entrance to condos or whatnot -- cool idea.

I always thought it would be awesome to have a "Throwback Day". Imagine having season tickets to the Tigers knowing that 3 games would be played in Tiger Stadium! I think those 3 games a year would be guaranteed sellouts.

Sure, it looks like a dump now. But for $500,000 or less, they could do a once over to clean it up. Use it for special event days, and make it a big deal.

Doug

[KCGHOST]

I really don't see much point in keeping these old stadiums around unless there is a way to convert it to something that will support itself.

[bulldogbats]

I used to travel from Connecticut to Detroit once a year to see a game - that's how much I liked the stadium.

The sad part is that there was a group that put forth a plan that would have reduced the number of poles in the stadium, and modernized the stadium, at much less cost than it took to build the new stadium. Unfortunately, the powers that be decided they needed a new stadium downtown. Tiger Stadium is just sitting there rotting away.

[deadcenter~440]

From the Detroit Free Press on 10Sep07:

Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell and his attorney, Gary Spicer, have joined the board of directors of the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, a move that signals a compromise in debates over the ballpark’s future.

Harwell and Spicer have been advocating a much more ambitious plan to save much of Tiger Stadium than the conservancy, which has called for saving just a corner and one small section of seats as a community center and memorial.


The melding together of the two efforts should make it easier for the conservancy to raise money and work through details with the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., the quasi-public body that is overseeing plans to demolish most of the stadium.


The city hopes to retain the playing field but redevelop most of the stadium footprint as housing and retail.


Conservancy officials and Harwell and Spicer plan to hold a news conference outside Tiger Stadium at 4 p.m. today.