Tiger Stadium Seats

[buildingsofdetroit]

Drove by the old girl this morning. There are workers removing the seats in right field.

And they were STILL removing seats as of 3 p.m. today. I snapped some pictures. Kinda eerie to see people up in the stands again. They looked to be removing them four at a time. I have not heard ANY news in the press about another sale, but they are clearing selling them. I mean, why would they remove them otherwise? They recycled thousands of them just by munching them with the equipment up until this point.

[buildingsofdetroit]

They also were erecting some sort of scaffolding on the corner of Trumbull and the Lodge service drive this afternoon. Might be for the Eminem video shoot. Not sure.

[buildingsofdetroit]

Photos from today of them harvesting seats, four at a time, and bringing them down to the end of the upper deck. No way they'd make such neat little four-packs if they weren't for sale, either to individuals or another ballpark [[the Oakland Co. one?).

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...Picture085.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...Picture091.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...Picture094.jpg

[stinkbug]

Wow, there is a lot of misinformation flying around here.
This is the official line:
I work for the Detroit Historical Society. I will not say in what capacity.
We are receiving the seats.
We are waiting to hear from the powers that be. Just like last time.
We are expecting to have the items next week or the following. We do not know the price or the condition.
We are not taking deposits or reservations.
Call [[313.833.1805 during business hours and you can leave your name and number and your call will be returned in the order in which it was received when we receive the merchandise.
As far as I know, we will be the only purveyor of Tiger Stadium merchandise this time around.
We still have odds and ends[[such as seatbacks) left from last time, but we sold out of full seats a while ago.

[sherryrazor]

Sounds like you should be in love with Comerica park, no obstructed views at all. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to get a Ferris Wheel ride while you're there.

thank you softailrider, I needed that. Big time.

You rock.

xox

[buildingsofdetroit]

The seats are all stacked up on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull next to the ramp that leads to the upper deck along Michigan.

[buckster1986]

Any new word as to whether or not they are going to be selling the seats they harvested out back in March?

[stinkbug]

Any new word as to whether or not they are going to be selling the seats they harvested out back in March?

There will be no more seats on sale. They have all been sold or destroyed.

[BowlDetroit]

Check with the Historical Museum gift shop. They were supposedly getting some..400.00 for a row of 4 blue ones. I was down there on July 18th and that is what the staff told me.

[EastsideAl]

I still have my green wood ones from back when they just threw a bunch of them out on Michigan Ave. for the trashman to pick up.

[jackie5275]

Maybe you should get an outdoor television and place it two blocks away so you can pretend you're watching a game at Comerica Park.

LMAO absolutely

[Bong-Man]

Detroit should take a page from other cities and try to salvage the past,

Could you provide us a list of the stadiums that have been saved across the Country ? Thanks.

[EastsideAl]

Fenway Park and Wrigley Field come directly to mind. The teams that play there are two of the most financially successful clubs as well.

[PQZ]

When the seats went on sale [[and everything else they could get out of the stadium was put on auction) a year and a half ago, the company running the auction made it very clear that no more would be avaliable after the ones they were selling were gone. They had exclusive rights to sell them. Of course there is the secondary market [[i.e. e-bay, local sports stores, etc.). Any left behind [[many of which were broken) would be demolished with the stadium.

They sold off odds and ends, including items that didn't get bid on, after the auction ended. I picked up a seat back and an unused blue brick. The seat backs were $20 and are now $25 from the museum store. These would be from the seats that had to be sacrificed in between pairs that were sold [[so all pairs had arm rests on both ends).

When we were there, the main person from the auction company "let the cat out of the bag" that they were taking a section of seats out to Grand Rapids to be installed in Fifth Third Ballpark. 5/3 is the home of the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Tigers single A minor league team so it sounded reasonable. So far it hasn't happened that I know of so I don't know if he was just blowing smoke. If he wasn't truthful about that, maybe they still have some squirreled away to sell.

As the person who directly contracted and supervised the auction firm let me clear up a couple things.

1. All unsold seats were to be recycled. The contract called for all unsold seats and seat backs to be removed and recycled, thus the "gingerly" removal. The steel frames supporting the seats were to be recycled.

2. There was discussion of the WhiteCaps making a play for some of the bleachers, but any rumor you heard of the seats going to 5/3 was hokum. If they somehow do show up there, there will be lawsuits galore, and not just from the EDC because...

3. The orange seats on the upper deck had been left exposed and uncleaned and were in fragile condition. Too fragile for them to be removed and sold to collectors. Their direct and continuous sun exposure had accelerated their decay. This is why they were unsold.

4. The unsold seat are to be recycled because the sale was a one time only event. Imagin the outrage if the seats [[IF they were sellable, which they are not) were put up for sale again and sold at prices lower than the original sale.

If anyone is selling seatback back or seat pairs, they are doing so illegally and should be reported immediately.

[buildingsofdetroit]

As the person who directly contracted and supervised the auction firm let me clear up a couple things.

1. All unsold seats were to be recycled. The contract called for all unsold seats and seat backs to be removed and recycled, thus the "gingerly" removal. The steel frames supporting the seats were to be recycled.

2. There was discussion of the WhiteCaps making a play for some of the bleachers, but any rumor you heard of the seats going to 5/3 was hokum. If they somehow do show up there, there will be lawsuits galore, and not just from the EDC because...

3. The orange seats on the upper deck had been left exposed and uncleaned and were in fragile condition. Too fragile for them to be removed and sold to collectors. Their direct and continuous sun exposure had accelerated their decay. This is why they were unsold.

4. The unsold seat are to be recycled because the sale was a one time only event. Imagin the outrage if the seats [[IF they were sellable, which they are not) were put up for sale again and sold at prices lower than the original sale.

If anyone is selling seatback back or seat pairs, they are doing so illegally and should be reported immediately.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe PQZ ISN'T a DEGC troll. If they weren't planning on selling more seats, why on earth would they remove AN ENTIRE SECTION of the upper deck seats, carefully cutting them out, putting them into pairings and bringing them down to load on trucks and take away? They just crunched the rest of the seats, so they're obviously selling them. On top of that, one of the FDI guys told me they were packaging up the plaza bricks to sell and to "check the demo company's Web site." Not sure if it was Farrow or MCM, but I haven't seen them yet. Maybe they're waiting till the rest of it is down.

[PQZ]

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe PQZ ISN'T a DEGC troll. If they weren't planning on selling more seats, why on earth would they remove AN ENTIRE SECTION of the upper deck seats, carefully cutting them out, putting them into pairings and bringing them down to load on trucks and take away? They just crunched the rest of the seats, so they're obviously selling them. On top of that, one of the FDI guys told me they were packaging up the plaza bricks to sell and to "check the demo company's Web site." Not sure if it was Farrow or MCM, but I haven't seen them yet. Maybe they're waiting till the rest of it is down.

That should not be the case. The remaining seats should have been recycled. If they aren't, the DEGC / EDC has an actionable claim against the previous contractor.

Any bricks or other scrap sold by the contractor are sold with warranty or authentication by the MLB or the City of Detroit. Caveat Emptor.

I would be surpised if the EDC allowed any memorabilia sales. The contractor may be doing so but it may be violation of their contract.