This short porch in right field would over time become one of the signature features of the stadium. Lazy fly balls turned into homers as they benefited from the added 10 feet of the overhang. Since the new distance to right field was now feet, the first row of the overhang was a mere feet from home plate. A new press box was also built on the roof of the second deck.
Navin Field now had an official capacity of 36, Yet another round of expansion took place over the winter of , as the ballpark was fully enclosed and double-decked.
Numerous iron posts supported the second deck, as well as the roof above it the only unroofed section was the center-field bleachers. Three new scoreboards were built. The main one was the jumbo-sized, hand-operated affair looming over the upper-deck bleachers. But there were many sections of the park, mostly those in the outfield lower deck, where spectators could not see this scoreboard. To rectify this problem, two auxiliary scoreboards were hung along the facing of the second deck directly behind first and third base.
The multiple expansions of Navin Field had finally reached an end; there was simply no place left to build. The humble ballpark of had been transformed into a truly grand stadium. Walter Briggs felt it was time for a new name for his baseball cathedral. Navin Field would now be called Briggs Stadium. The team felt it was time to reap the benefits of a larger stadium. On July 3, , it was announced that the Lions would henceforth play their home games at Briggs Stadium.
Average attendance for the year was 30,, the highest coming on November 13, when 45, watched the Green Bay Packers beat the Lions. With the exception of a one-year hiatus in when Briggs temporarily decided he had had enough of the damage to his grass from football cleats , the Lions continued to share the stadium with the Tigers for the next four decades. Briggs had always resisted installing lights in his stadium, claiming that baseball was meant to be played in the sunshine.
He finally had to give in to progress. On June 15, , the Tigers played the first night game at Briggs Stadium , a victory over the Philadelphia Athletics before 54, fans. At last every American League ballpark had lights. The last bastion of daytime-only baseball in the big leagues was now Wrigley Field in Chicago, which did not install lights for another 40 years. Modernity was quickly changing the baseball landscape in Detroit. Not only were night games making it easier for workers to head to the ballpark after their day was done, another technological leap was making inroads into the American pastime.
The post-World War II years were a witness to the budding partnership between baseball and television. On June 3, , the Tigers televised a game from Briggs Stadium for the first time, a Yankees win.
TV was still in its infancy at the time. Hardly any homes in the Detroit area had a set. Most of the TVs were placed inside bars, hotel lobbies, and department-store windows by the manufacturers, as a means of promoting the sale of their product. Walter Briggs died in The team was inherited by his son, Spike, who sold it in to broadcasting executive John Fetzer. In the old hand-operated scoreboard above the bleachers in center field, which had stood since the expansion of , was replaced by an electronic version.
By the late s, rumblings were heard of replacing Tiger Stadium, which was showing its age. The area around the ballpark was becoming increasingly unsafe, especially for night games. It was not the first time the city had floated the idea of a new ballpark. In there had been a proposal for a ,seat stadium for both the Tigers and Lions.
A few years later, a plan to build a stadium at the State Fairgrounds never got any momentum. The Detroit Lions, meanwhile, had decided to abandon Tiger Stadium for greener albeit artificial pastures in the Pontiac Silverdome. The biggest news in recent years had been the death of Lions receiver Chuck Hughes, who suffered a fatal on-the-field heart attack during a game at Tiger Stadium.
Steps were taken to try to brighten up the old ballpark. The old green wooden seats were ripped out, to be replaced by modern plastic seats of orange and blue. With this expansion, Briggs Stadium was now enclosed and had a capacity of 54,, making it one of baseballs largest stadiums. Dimensions were ft. Night baseball came to Briggs Stadium on June 15, During the same year, the press box was extended around the third deck. Tiger fans became outraged in when Fetzer announced that he was going to build a new multipurpose stadium.
At the polls that year, voters rejected bonds to construct a new stadium along the Detroit River. Throughout its history the stadium hosted many other events other than baseball.
Boxing matches, concerts, and many other activities took place at the stadium. Fire broke out at Tiger Stadium in and destroyed the press box.
Detroit Tiger fans continued to enjoy going to baseball games at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull until it closed. Many fans did not mind the columns that may have been in front of their seat or other obstructed views. The overhang in right field provided many homeruns that may not have been homeruns in other ballparks and the flagpole in centerfield could cause problems for outfielders. If a Tiger fan did not sit in the bleachers in the outfield listening to Ernie Harwell on a hand held radio, they did not know what they were missing.
From the green grass to the green seats and eventually the blue and orange seats, Tiger Stadium reminded fans what baseball was like in There were many attempts to save and renovate the ballpark, but owner Mike Ilitch never seriously considered any of them, wanting a new park with nicer facilities and luxury boxes -- which he said was necessary to make the team competitive.
This was despite the fact that equally old ballparks, such as Fenway in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago, continue to draw huge crowds. In , nine years after baseball was last played at Tiger Stadium, the city decided it was time to tear it down. Why then? One reason might have been the deal struck with the demolition company.
Instead of the city having to pay to have the landmark razed, the demolition company did it for the salvage rights to reuse the bricks and melt down and reuse the concrete and steel that once held the ballpark together.
The first major day of demolition was July 9, , as demolition crews tore into the left-center field bleachers. Another effort was launched to save a corner of the ballpark for future generations. The playing field would have been preserved for youth baseball. But despite the group's fund-raising efforts, Detroit's Economic Development Corp.
The commission cited safety and security concerns in its decision, but it also said it wanted to make it more attractive to developers -- even though there is no shortage of vacant land in the city nor is there any interest in building on the site of the ballpark. The DEGC also said the group had not met fund-raising milestones to prove the project was financially viable, something the group chalks up to struggling local and national economies.
Levin's office issued a statement blasting the DEGC's decision: "The laudable efforts of energetic citizens to foster further revitalization in the Corktown neighborhood deserve to be fostered and supported, not squelched. With no other plans in the wings for this unique and historic parcel of land, I can't understand why the Economic Development Corp.
Former State Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman, a Detroit Democrat and conservancy board member, said after the DEGC's announcment that "demolition was valued more highly than the resources we were able to obtain because we were unable to complete our efforts to secure funding.
I don't think disappointment quite captures where I am at. On June 5, , demolition began at the Corner, but preservationists succeeded in getting a temporary restraining order to halt the wreckers.
A preservationist had to break through the fence and run onto the field to stop them. That bought preservationists the weekend, but three days later, on June 8, , a judge dismissed their efforts and ruled demolition could continue.
Demolition crews wasted no time whatsoever, tearing into the upper deck and hitting the famous broadcast booth where Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell called games from for decades. One day later, the entire booth laid in a crumbled pile on the lower grandstand.
Demolition continued from the third base side to home toward first base.
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