Keeping the Dream Alive at Ford Field and Comerica Park

Detroit Has Always Been About the Sports

Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 12:30 PM

Capital One Cafe

Detroit Michigan

I’ve never visited Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions. Today, I have an appointment at Five PM, so I’ve looked up the stadium, learning its history. I call it an appointment, but it’s really much more humble than that word. Ford Field can hold up to eighty-thousand people. All of those ticket holders need to be fed. They want to enjoy a carefree day. I'm applying to clean up after eighty thousand people.

I expect that with the Lions beginning the season strong, plenty of work awaits me at the stadium. I have an October Tenth start date for my more professional job. So in the meantime, why not work in the most exciting place in town on a Sunday? I’m sure I can catch a few glimpses of the action as I lift and toss trash bags.

Opened to the public in August 2002, the stadium can be called a billion dollar destination, a half billion to build and one hundred million to renovate in 2017. Add inflation to round those numbers up to one billion. Paired with Comerica Park, home of the Tigers, next door, the district brings thousands of new visitors downtown to fall in love with the city.

I don’t know why I’ve overlooked Ford Field for twenty years. I went regularly to Comerica Park to watch the Tigers. A friend with season tickets brought me along. I loved how it felt like one big thrill machine. Happily, I see that historic Tiger Stadium exists in essence because the field serves the athletic youth of the city. The Corner Ballpark, at the Corner of Trumbull and Michigan, serves as the home of the Detroit PAL. That's the Police Athletic League. Sorry, it’s Michigan and Trumbull. Michigan comes first. How could I forget how the announcers said it?

The field is named the Willie Horton Field of Dreams. Which is great because I witnessed Willie Horton playing ball on that field. Thank you Meijers for a signature gift to make this field of dreams continue to inspire athletes. Adient ponied up 2.3 million for the naming rights after Meijers. Oh well for the shell of Tiger Stadium. The concrete structure of Tiger Stadium reminded many of a parking garage. Excuse me as I pause to wipe the dampness out of my eyes. The historic field endures.

Once a year, in the early 1970s, our Little League teams from Byron, Michigan made the pilgrimage from our town of five hundred to see a home game at Tiger Stadium. We drove for two hours, not including the time we spent lost. One game, Hank Aaron was still trying to break the record for the most hits, and he added two RBIs. The Tigers always won when we attended. Often, a Tiger batter would knock one into the lumber yard on Trumbull. My parents could barely afford the reduced priced tickets, so I have vivid memories instead of a baseball cap. And that’s precious.

Brook Lumber is the name of the ACE lumberyard on Trumbull. I'm fixing that fact firmly in my mind.

I began my life in Detroit, born in the city in 1963. I really didn’t begin to explore the city as an adult until 1987. A friend from an afternoon shift job and I would head down to the Golden Fleece in Greektown for gyros and saganaki, the flaming cheese. Detroit existed in a film noir darkness in those days. Once one stepped outside of Greektown, one plunged into the Robocop night.

That changed when the Tigers moved to Comerica Park in 2000. The two stadiums to the east of Grand Circus Park pushed back against that darkness. At dusk, Comerica Park and Ford Field turned on all the field lights, and that light carried into the streets and alleys of the surrounding area. It became possible to walk on Woodward Avenue after dark and see where one was going. Restaurants and bars came to life in that light. One could easily navigate to the Theater District. The lights of the Fox Theater and the State Theater took up the job of illumination from there.

I haven’t been on foot around Grand Circus Park in years. Maybe I can stop by Swords into Plowshares Art Gallery before it's time to show up for the interview. The QLine awaits to take me right to Grand Circus Park.