Comerica_Park

Richard Estapa Burns-Davies English composition 1011 2/11/2011 Comerica Park In April of 2000, the city of Detroit, Michigan welcomed a modern and ground breaking baseball stadium. The stadium was to be the new home to America’s favorite past time and more specifically, the Detroit Tigers. Comerica Park is Detroit’s replacement stadium for its predecessor, Tiger Stadium. The building of the new ballpark was one more step in the revitalization of Detroit’s crumbling downtown urban area. The state- of -the -art athletic field’s purpose was to bring the experience, excitement, and enthusiasm back into Detroit’s baseball games as well as its downtown area as a whole. The outdated Tiger Stadium was not in very good condition. It did not have a very photogenic outer shell. The grey paint was flaking off and now blackened from years of dirt. Signs of life outside the park were almost non-existent other than the occasional street vendor selling peanuts, hot dogs, and beer on the way into the park. In fact, the only real way to tell that there was in fact a ball park there at all were the massive dome lights that towered over the city, and the single Tigers logo over the entrance. Surrounded by empty parking lots over grown by weeds, and abandoned houses, the stadium was not in a very desirable part of town. Parking around the old ball park was also a problem, many times leaving baseball fans fighting over parking spots and walking from as many as fifteen streets away. The builders of Comerica Park had to alleviate all of these problems by choosing the perfect location. Now situated right in the middle of all the action, Comerica Park was precisely built right in the center of Detroit’s future entertainment district. Bordering the streets of Woodward, Brush, Adams, and Witherell roads, the stadium now stands surrounded by many bars, such as Chris Chelios’s Hockey Town Bar and The Dugout, which is located adjacent to the huge parking lot of Comerica Park. The new stadium is also in very close proximity to Joe Louis Arena (home of Detroit’s hockey team), Ford Field (home to Detroit’s football team), three full gaming casino’s, (MGM Grand, Greektown, Motorcity), an opera house, art galleries, and The Fox Theater. To “fit in” to Detroit’s new downtown theme, the ballpark was given an ultramodern look and feel. After parking in the colossal parking lot that has more than ten thousand spaces, I started to make my way up to the entrance. At first glance of Comerica Park, my eyes were automatically drawn to the bright reddish brick and the black iron work that makes up almost all of the outside walls at the park. In front of the entrance stands a twenty foot cement statue of a roaring tiger. The statue was placed there either for photo opportunities or as a reminder to the opposing teams fans whose turf it is. Upon entering through the concourse, I passed by a wall appropriately named Decade’s Wall of Fame. It was saturated bottom to top with old memorabilia from past and present Detroit Tiger players like Ty Cobb and Al Kaline. Old dusty gloves and used splintered bats from Alan Trammell, Norm Cash, and Lou Whitaker hang beside their respected plaques. As I walked yet further up the concourse, it opened up to a breathtaking view of the whole field. Seeing the baseball players warming up on the field, all of the fans with their Tigers jerseys on quickly filling the seats, and hearing the national anthem blaring through my ears reminded me of all the excitement of attending my very first professional baseball game all over again. From my vantage point on the concourse, I could see the bright green field with the tan dirt leading the players from base to base. It has an open air field, meaning it has no rooftop, so it gives a magnificent view of Detroit’s city line with all the different sized and shaped buildings peeking over the center field wall. There was a massive black scoreboard that was surrounded by other black framework and lighting that make up the top of the stadium. Underneath all of that, in dead center field, sits a giant water fountain that shoots water to the music blaring over the loud speakers. Logos of different American auto companies are also littered throughout the stadium. In the northwest corner, the Ferris wheel peaking over the stands was made so that the carts represented baseballs. The smell of hotdogs, peanuts and beer filled the air around my nose. In the middle of the food court sat a beautiful carousel with multi-colored horses that kept spinning round and round at a very slow pace. Just walking around, one could feel the revitalized energy in the new stadium. I returned to my seat and thought to myself, what a wonderful experience. With a smile on my face, I sat back and began to enjoy a new era in the Detroit Tigers’ legacy. Hopefully, people will be able to enjoy baseball games and concerts at Comerica Park for many generations to come. And I hope it also takes them back to when they were a child and seeing a professional ballpark for the first time. With the new stadium and new nightlife that looms in and around Comerica Park, it is now a fact that this glorious stadium accomplished what it set out to do.