Tracing the history of Detroit Tigers ballparks
· Yahoo Sports
Take a stroll down the base path of the Detroit Tigers' history as the team is poised to play at a renamed ballpark. Here's a look back at past ballparks in Detroit.
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League Park (1895): The Tigers played their first season in 1895 at League Park on East Lafayette Street, north of the Belle Isle Bridge, before moving the following year to the location that would become synonymous with Detroit baseball: Michigan and Trumbull in Corktown. The Tigers then played in the Western League, which became the American League in 1901.
Bennett Park (1896-1911): The Tigers' first ballpark at Michigan and Trumbull was Bennett Park, a wooden stadium built by owner George Vanderbeck and named for Charlie Bennett, the popular catcher who had starred for the Detroit Wolverines in the 1880s. The Tigers opened the park in 1896 while still a minor-league club and remained there when the American League declared itself a major league in 1901. Bennett Park hosted three World Series during the Tigers' run of American League pennants from 1907-09, but by 1911, the aging wooden park had become obsolete as baseball moved toward larger steel-and-concrete stadiums.
Navin Field (1912-1935): Tigers owner Frank Navin demolished Bennett Park after the 1911 season and replaced it on the same site with a $300,000 steel-and-concrete stadium bearing his name. Navin Field opened in April 1912 — the same week as Boston's Fenway Park — with seating for about 23,000. Navin, who had risen from the team's bookkeeper to become its principal owner and one of the American League's most influential executives, remained in control of the Tigers until his death in 1935.
Briggs Stadium (1936-1960): After Navin's death, Walter O. Briggs Sr. took control of the Tigers, and the ballpark became known as Briggs Stadium. Briggs financed major expansions that transformed the stadium, eventually enclosing the playing field with a double-decked grandstand and increasing capacity to more than 50,000. The Briggs era included some of the franchise's greatest moments, including the Tigers' 1945 World Series championship.
Tiger Stadium (1961-1999): John Fetzer, who became the Tigers' sole owner in 1961, gave the ballpark the name it became most famous for: Tiger Stadium. The stadium at "The Corner" hosted the 1968 and 1984 World Series championship teams and generations of Detroit baseball stars before the Tigers left the aging park for a new downtown stadium. The final Tigers game there was played Sept. 27, 1999, when Detroit defeated the Kansas City Royals, 8-2, before 43,356 fans. The building was eventually demolished in 2008-09, although the historic playing field at Michigan and Trumbull was preserved.
Comerica Park (2000-present): The Tigers left Michigan and Trumbull after the 1999 season and opened Comerica Park on the northern edge of downtown Detroit on April 11, 2000, defeating the Seattle Mariners, 5-2. Unlike the names attached to the team's previous stadium, Comerica Park's name was purchased: Detroit-based Comerica Bank agreed in 1998 to pay $66 million over 30 years for naming rights to the new ballpark. Comerica later exercised an option extending the agreement through 2034. The $300 million stadium represented a dramatic break from the enclosed confines of Tiger Stadium, with an open outfield offering views of downtown Detroit and attractions, including fountains, a Ferris wheel and a carousel.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tracing the history of Detroit Tigers ballparks