Comerica Park

Comerica Park, Detroit, MI (visited August 26, 2001) – More often than not these days, new ballparks hit the mark.  That’s often because they are replacing parks with either zero charisma or zero history and few shed a tear.  However, there are also those where the new park just doesn’t do the trick (Comiskey comes to mind) and can be said to have sort of missed the mark.  Then there’s Comerica, which missed the target so badly it failed archery class.  Okay, that’s a little severe. But when you’re replacing a park like Tigers Stadium, it’s a tough act to follow.  And then, when the new park is

detrimental to hitting during an era where hitting is king, you’ve sunk much further and success is almost impossible.Comerica Park’s vast dimensions prompted Bobby Higginson to call it “Comerica National Park,” which just absolutely cracked me up.  However, you can’t blame losing on the ballpark.  Perhaps the Tigers just suck.  The night I was there, the crowd was marginal, barely into it, and watched the White Sox steamroll the Tigers.  However, we did see 4 triples which is something that you’ll probably only see in Comerica these days.  The food was decent, but nothing to write home about, the sightlines were pretty good, and the attempts at style were commendable.  But again, I think they missed the mark somehow.  Around the outfield (beyond the wall, you know, like 600 feet from home plate) there are figures of Tigers greats.  It’s nice, but not very engaging.  And out front there are two large Tiger statues, evidently guarding the entrance.  I’m not sure if the people in Detroit realize it or not, but those Tigers aren’t real.   No need to be afraid.  Come on out and support your team.  In an interesting twist, someone forgot how to use their measuring tools when drawing up the park.  Much like the way the bullpens were mysteriously overlooked in Baltimore, the space for the scoreboard at Comerica was not as large as the scoreboard turned out to be.  Surprise!  So now, the left side of the large electronic scoreboard is partially hidden behind the left field upper deck.  It’s really odd.  We were sitting in the lower level box seats along third base and if you turned to look at the left part of the scoreboard, where the matrix board and player stats are, you were looking to the left of the leftfield foul pole.   I’m not sure how this kind of design flaw happens, but I think that might be a sign to hire a different firm to measure – or at least examine the tape measures being used.  Anyway, beyond rightfield there were some buildings, but most of them were completely dark, almost as though they were abandoned.  As it turns out, they were abandoned.  The park sits in the part of Detroit (or maybe it’s all like this) where rioting occurred long ago and the city’s downtown just needs some life pumped into it.  Comerica, along with HockeyTown across the street, would probably provide some assistance if the Tigers weren’t so horrible.  As a side note, you pass Tigers Stadium on your way to Comerica and you can’t help but wonder how many people wish they were at least still going to a building where there was SOME history of success.                           Go Back to Main Stadium Page                     Go Back Home!