Old Tigers Stadium Turns 100...Without the Tigers

Baseball cannot be talked about, without recognizing the baseball fan. Picture the classic scenario of the little boy who wants to be a profession ball player when he grows up. He stands in the backyard, ball in one hand, bat in the other. He tosses the ball up to himself, grabs the bat with two hands, and swings for the fences. The whole time he is narrating the game to himself until finally, “the crowd goes wild!” as the ball he hits has just sailed over his backyard fence. Al Filreis writes in his chapter “The baseball fan,” “Thus cut form the squad, denied a uniform, he became a fan without illusions, and he now finally required an aesthetic by analogy. Like every baseball fan, he turns away from a literal form of engagement and must learn to care differently.” Those little boys who get to grow up to be professional baseball players are less than one percent.

Most baseball fans don’t grow up to be baseball fans, but instead, have been for most of their lives, which is true for a lot of Tigers fans that remember what it was like watching games in the old Tigers Stadium. Mike Thomas is one of those fans: “This was the ballpark where I've got a lot of memories. I can remember a lot of particular games with family and friends. And now I get to bring my 9-year-old daughter out here.” Thomas gets to bring his daughter to old Tigers Stadium because after the stadium was torn down, the field was left behind, on the same property, the original flagpole standing, as Jim Caple tells us in his article. But as Caple also tells us, it’s not because of the Tigers’ organization that the field remains so well kept, but because of fans. And I agree with Caple when he says it’s a shame that the same fans that volunteer their time to take care of the field are the only ones celebrating, or even recognizing, the 100-year anniversary.

Caple says in his article, “Peter Comstock Riley of the Tiger Stadium Historical Society said the Tigers simply don't care about their old home, or about preserving it.” Sure, maybe the Tigers have more important things to be worrying about than preserving their old stadium, especially when their new stadium pays its respects to the old stadium in a number of ways. But what about the opportunity the Tigers have here to give back ot their fans. Riley says of the unrecognized anniversary, "Even to me, somebody who has been watching this play out for a long time, I can't say I'm the least surprised. It's a shame and hurtful to those who still remain and everyone who remembers what used to be." Riley can’t possibly be the only fan who has countless memories in the old stadium, who would love to celebrate those memories on such a milestone day.

Fred Stein talks about the fan as “the least publicized or recognized figure in baseball” (qtd. by Filreis), and I think this instance points to that. Sure, maybe there isn’t much that the organization can gain from putting money into celebrating this old field, but in a sport where history is so much a part of the game, it’s incredibly surprising and feels so wrong on some level. I’m with Caple and Riley on this one. Take the players back to the field and remind them, “This is where is started.” Help to preserve the history! “Do the right thing, Tigers. Help preserve the memories,” as Caple says. “Send over a groundskeeper or two so the work isn't totally left to volunteers. This field was your home. Help keep it alive so more generations can appreciate it.” If not for your own players, for your organization, then do it for your community, for your fans! Keep the field alive for the little boys in Detroit who want to run around those bases, and dream of growing up to be professional ball players, playing in new Tigers Stadium. 

Uecker to Become a Permanent Part of Miller Park

“Can you do games, can you do play-by-play almost every day through a deep summer and not be located in some version of the past?”

--Underworld by Don DeLillo (15)

Earlier today the Brewers announced that a statue honoring Hall of Fame radio voice Bob Uecker will be placed near Miller Park’s Home Plate Plaza. Uecker will be honored in a ceremony this summer on August 31^st. The Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt, in an article announcing the ceremony and statue, wrote of Uecker, “Uecker’s name is synonymous with summertime in Wisconsin as he has brought Brewers baseball to generations of fans listening to games on the Brewers Radio Network. His irreverent style and knowledge of the game are unrivaled, and Uecker’s talents have been known to audiences worldwide for years through his work on television and film projects.”

Uecker announced his first Major League Baseball game fifty years ago and was a catcher in the league for six years before that, and though his roots will always be in baseball, Uecker has made a career in television, film, and even published a book. Uecker has certainly left his mark.

            The statue to honor Uecker comes as no surprise. As Brewers chairman and principal owner Mark Attanasio puts it, “[Uecker] is an iconic figure for the franchise, and his passion for the Brewers is second-to-none. Bob is a national treasure who calls Wisconsin home.” In other words, Uecker has made his mark in the history of baseball, not only for the Brewers, but for fans everywhere. As DeLillo writes in his book Underworld, “When you see something like that, a thing that becomes a newsreel, you begin to feel you are a carrier of some solemn scrap of history” (16). Uecker is, without a doubt, a part of the history of baseball. His statue at Miller Park will only further solidify the mark he has made. It’s a special thing becoming a part of the history of America’s greatest pastime.

            Underworld, which opens with the legendary baseball games played between the Dodgers and Giants in New York in 1951, is a book centralized around the themes of nostalgia and history, more specifically how history is made.  DeLillo brings up the idea that longing makes history, that longing brings groups of people together. It couldn’t be more true in baseball. Fans long to be a part of the game, feel a part of the action. Perhaps that is why announcers like Uecker become so special to us. Uecker is someone who never failed to leave audiences laughing, who experienced great moments in baseball with thousands of fans over the years. When you experience great moments with someone you feel a connection. Sports are no exception.

As DeLillo says of baseball’s history in Underworld, “That’s the thing about baseball, Cotter. You do what they did before you. That’s the connection you make. There’s a whole long line. A man takes his kid to a game and thirty years later this is what they talk about when the poor old mutt’s wasting away in the hospital” (30-1). Baseball is a sport with a rich history. Part of what makes it so great is the connection fans feel to baseball history. Great radio voices like Uecker who have an extensive knowledge of baseball’s history and can deliver it in their commentary, help fans to feels even more connected to the game. “This is the people’s history and it has flesh and breath that quicken to the force of this old safe game of ours. And fans at the Polo Grounds today will be able to tell their grandchildren--they’ll be the gassy old men leaning into the next century trying to convince anyone willing to listen, pressing in with medicine breath, that they were here when it happened” (60). Baseball’s history is the people’s history. It has its own life, and fans take pride in being able to retell their own versions of the history that they experienced, later in life, the experience that they got to share with their kids, with other fans, with their teams, and for many, with Bob Uecker. 

Miami Taxpayers Receive a Break

In the Cambridge Companion to Baseball is a chapter by David Finoli about the economical impact of baseball teams, and their stadiums, on the cities they are in, are moving to, or have left. In this chapter, “Baseball and the American City,” Finoli talks about the very first team to relocate: the Dodgers. When the Dodgers first moved out of Brooklyn to build their new stadium in Los Angeles, a lot of people were angry, including Los Angeles taxpayers, who filed a lawsuit trying to keep the team from acquiring the land for Dodger Stadium. The Los Angeles taxpayers would eventually lose their battle and end up paying for the stadium, but it did postpone construction for a few years while the case was settled. Finoli writes, “The Dodgers’ Brooklyn-Los Angeles ordeal ushered in an era of endless cases that would pit baseball franchises in search of lucrative stadium deals against the cities competing for them.”  

Fortunately for the Miami Marlins, but more importantly, for Miami taxpayers, one such headache of a case may have been avoided. Patricia Mazzei, of the Miami Herald, writes, “Miami leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief when, less than three hours from the end of the 60-day legislative session, state lawmakers exempted the cash-strapped city from having to pay an annual $1.2 million in property taxes on garages at the new Marlins ballpark.” Sure, much of the $642-million dollar park has been financed by taxpayer money, so a $1.2 million dollar break may not look like much, but for a city that is projected to be $35-million dollars in the hole at the end of this fiscal year, that $1.2 million dollars left Mayor Tomas Regalado sleeping a little easier after the decision was made. It’s not clear whether or not this decision to grant the city a tax break on the parking structures will hold, but at least the structure’s appraiser has come forward and said that he has no plans to challenge the ruling. 

Braun's Dark Cloud Not Going Away Any Time Soon

Last Thursday, baseball arbitrator Shyam Das overturned Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension, which was imposed after synthetic testosterone in a urine sample taken on Oct. 1. While the NL MVP believes that this successful appeal was “the first step in restoring [his] good name and reputation,” it appears as though Braun may still have a long road ahead of him. Fans are wary of the successful appeal because Braun’s innocence wasn’t proven, a loophole was found in the process. To make matters worse, press conferences with Braun in the past five days have only further confused baseball fans as Braun continues to talk about matters that were never discussed in the hearing.

Writers T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada of ESPN.com discuss the lingering uncertainty saying, “The cloud over Ryan Braun’s Acquittal has only gotten thicker as his case has turned into a cold war between Major League Baseball and its reigning National League MVP.” According to Quinn and Fainaru-Wada’s article, Braun has made public statements questioning the integrity of his sample by bringing up such possible accusations as tampering, and MLB isn’t happy with Braun for doing so. It only seems fair that they would feel that way if it is true, as sources say, that Braun never once questioned the samples integrity at his hearing. But then, the MLB isn’t happy with the investigation in general because they believe that protocol was as the collector saw fit, and support the collector’s decision to have sent the specimen on Monday.

But the real skepticism in this situation comes more from what Braun isn’t saying than what he is saying. According to sources, Braun and his defense never once tried to argue against the positive test. Many fans are seeing this as an admission of guilt in the same way that fans immediately concluded Mark McGwire was guilty of using illegal steroids back in 2005 when he said to Congress, “I'm not here to talk about the past," rather than supplying a straight forward answer. In The Cambridge Companion to Baseball there is an essay by Leonard Cassuto and David Grant entitled “Babe Ruth, sabermetrics, and baseball’s politics of greatness.” As the essay’s title suggests, the topic of greatness, who defines greatness, and the problems faced in defining greatness. During this discussion of greatness, the topic of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds’ troubles with getting into the Hall of Fame due to their links to PEDs. These three great ball players and the problems they have faced, make is all the less surprising that Braun has been met with such negativity and skepticism.

It also brings to mind a very real question, is Braun ever really going to be able to recover his “good name and reputation” after this incident, guilty or not? Cassuto and Grant write, “We say that those who are in the Hall must be great and, that if they’re great and not yet in, that they should be, that election will validate their greatness [. . .] But a telling story is the difficulty McGwire is having—and that Sosa and Bonds will soon have—entering the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. Their careers are being measured on a non-statistical, moral yardstick.” It may be too early in Braun’s career to consider his Hall of Fame potential, but Braun’s new reality is that his statistics are going to be seen as illegitimate in the eyes of some fans, writers, and even other players. Even if he never has problems again, at the very least, there will always be some people who are going to continue to question the legitimacy of Braun’s NL MVP award. Whether it’s fair for him to be judged, fair for him to have been let off the hook, or fair for him to get to keep his title is for each individual baseball fan to decide. Sorry Braun, but if Bill James believes it’ll take another thirty or forty years* for McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa to be voted into the Hall of Fame, it’s bound to take much more than a week to clear your name.

(Picture found Here)

*As qtd. in “Babe Ruth, sabermetrics, and baseball’s politics of greatness”

My Baseball Obsession?

Last week, thanks to T.R. Sullivan, baseball fans were given an inside look at what Rangers players and their families were having shipped down to Arizona for training camp, swing set and all. Spring training is now officially in full swing. Fans are itching for another season, and it seems that during spring training more than at any other point in the season, fans are grasping for any piece of information out there. It’s at this time that we get blogs about A-Rod bringing his own cooler of food around with him rather than ordering off the menu, and quotes from batting practice that are a little out of the ordinary. It is in this time, before the season gets under way that we care that Tony LaRussa turned up at the Tigers’ spring training--and need assurance that he’ll make an appearance at the Cardinal’s training camp, too. 


But why do we care? Why should we care? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that fans want to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than itself. Maybe it’s because we like to be reminded that these athletes we hold up on a pedestal are real people, too. Why else would US Weekly’s “Just Like Us” on-going picture slideshow be so popular, as ridiculous as it is to know that they grocery shop too? 
 

How much should we care about our favorite teams and beloved players? It’s a hard question to answer.  Fever Pitch, the 2005 film starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, seems to make it okay to be in your thirties, still have Red Sox sheets on your bed, and be taking time off from work to go act like a college kid on Spring Break at spring training. Of course, Waugh’s life is simply a figment of Coover’s imagination, but seeing that extreme sure can make you wonder, how far does “fan” go before you get to obsession?

In Robert Coover’s book The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., readers shown an extreme example of the obsessed fan when the main character creates his own dice game in which he is essentially playing God with his own league. The players in his league have lives, careers, and memories that all come from Waugh’s mind. Being a fan of MLB just wasn’t enough for Waugh and so the Universal Baseball Associate was born. But when his imaginary player Damon Rutherford “dies,” as a roll of the dice commands, Waugh falls into a depression so real that it affects his job and makes others around him believe that a relative has died, and worry about him. As mentioned, this of course is an extreme case of obsession, but it certainly did spark my curiosity as read through the details of these real players lives. Why do we care so much? Why does it matter that A-Rod is on a high protein diet and skipped on guacamole while he was hanging out poolside? Why do we need to know Cabrera is yelling, “Si, Motherf*****r!” after every hit over the fence? When does it stop being our business and remain purely the business of the person who is living the life we’re reading about---celebrity or not?