First Detroit Tiger Baseball Game

[9606 Prest]

Do you remember attending your first Detroit Tiger game as a kid at Tiger Stadium or Comerica Park? What year was it and what do you remember about the game?

[jackie5275]

My family & I were on vacation in June, 1976. We had gone to Wash DC and stopped in Gettysburg on the way back. I was 10 yrs old with 2 younger brothers that had begun playing little league earlier that spring. We all were instant Tiger fans. Mark Fidrych's popularity was starting to get to a fever pitch. We listened to the games at night on the radio during our vacation picking up that "Great Voice of the Great Lakes" the "50K watt" WJR. We heard Sunday that Mark Fidrych was going to pitch the next night against the Yankees on Monday Night Baseball. We were still in our hotel room in Gettysburg, but begged our dad to take us home to go to that ballgame. He relucatantly agreed. I think we left Gettysburg at 5 or 6 am to drive back to our house in Pontiac. We got home around 1 pm. My dad kind of dropped us off and headed back downtown to buy the tickets for the game. We were all so excited to see The Bird on Monday Night Baseball. It was the biggest event in our lives. We had seats in the right field grandstand in the lower deck of Tiger Stadium. The place was packed. It was a frenzy, a fever pitch during this game. There were so many people. My parents made us all hold hands, so none of us would get separated when we were leaving. It was so great to see The Bird pitch and win against the Yankees. It was just awesome, one of those moments in time where you were lucky to be at and will remember it all your life. It was the first of probably about 600 games I would attend at Tiger Stadium.

[eastland]

It wasn't my first, but the first I remember. My dad knew an usher who got me an autographed ball in 1967; Jim Northrup [[my favorite) was supposed to give me the ball, but I got Ray Oyler instead.

[daddeeo]

I was also at the 1976 Tiger game that the Bird pitched. I remember Bob Ueker coming out to interview him on the field after the game.
My first Tiger game was at Briggs Stadium in 1960 against the Chicago White Sox who had won the American League pennant the year before. My dad had seats from his work by the Sox dugout.
Louis Aparicio their short stop was my favorite player.
I also saw a night game against the Yankees that year. They had fireworks after the game. Yogi Berra actually stole a base that night. I remember how old Casey Stengel looked. Mantle didn't play and I was disappointed.

[jiminnm]

This was it. I wish I could remember more, but it was the start of a beautiful relationship.


Attachment 8582

[eno]

I'm not sure of the year but I think it was 1959. It was a night game against the White Sox. Luis Aparicio was their most famous player and ours was Harvey Kuehn. It was a low scoring game the Tigers lost 2-1 or something like that. Altho it was a night game I was struck at how green and perfectly landscaped the playing field was. There were a couple of guys who sat behind us who bet on the scoring each inning. One of the guys shared his winnings with me, 75 cents. Ice cream sandwiches cost 11 cents, movies 25 cents, and baseball cards a nickel or a dime a pack so that puts the 75 cents into it's proper perspective.

[jerrytimes]

It was a Blue Jays game in '84. I was 4.

[mikefmich]

My dad was a baseball guy....period. Nothing else existed much in sports for him.

Not sure which year.....maybe 1955. I paid little attention to the game, goofed for the two older kids in back of me, dad was not happy, and I don't have the foggiest notion of who they played or the game outcome.
Probably was sitting in Gehringer's field box.

Pops gave up taking me for a couple years. lol

[rjk]

I have a picture from my first game, but I was 4 or 5 so I can't remember it.

A few years later I do recall my father chewing out a ticket agent for giving us seats that were directly behind a pole with the stadium being half empty. At that same game I remeber my dad asking the kid in front of us if he wanted to use our binoculars. When he gave them back to my father they were covered in mustard. I'll never forget the look on my fathers face. My fathers line was I wonder if he got any mustard on his hot dog. To this day every time a see some binoculars I image them in a state of being mustard dipped.

At another game one of the best hecklers I've ever seen was absolutely ripping Steve Kemp. I know Kemp had two errors and I believe it might have even been two errors in one inning. This guy in the stands was on him to a point that you couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for SK. You felt sorry for him but you couldn't stop laughing. This heckler was hilarious.

We always went on bat day. I'll never forget the loud sound of all those bats pounding against the concrete. I still have a Dick McAuliffe bat. Do the Tigers ever have bat day anymore?

[1953]

My first game was sometime around 1990 at Tiger Stadium. It was supposed to be earlier than that, but I got sick the previous season and had to stay home with my mom [[got a cool bat souvenir from my dad, though).

The most memorable thing about the game was walking out of those dark tunnels, pulling back the dividers, and peering out onto that lush green field. I'll always remember that.

1953

[Hermod]

It was in the spring of 1950. The Tigers always saw to it that school safety patrol boys got to see a game every year. When it was the turn of the Wayne elementary boys, we turned our belts over to our substitutes and rode a chartered DSR bus down to Briggs Stadium. It was a weekday game and the Tigers were playing the Philadelphia Athletics. The Tigers were great that year, almost beating out the Yankees for the pennant.

We sat in the left field bleachers and couldn't see the big scoreboard. There was an abbreviated scoreboard over on the home plate side of the field which essentially gave a number for the inning, number of outs, score, and the number [[not name) of the current batter.

For some reason [[Cadaco-Ellis All-Star Baseball Game, I think), Detroit catcher Aaron Robinson was one of my favorites. I was irritated that he sat that game out and Bob Swift did the catching. That is all I remember about the game. I forget who ptiched for the Tigers that game [[Hutchinson, Trout, Houtteman, Gray, Newhauser???????). The Tigers won [[Philadelphia finished dead last that year). I could see old Connie Mack over in the A's dugout. I think he was the last guy to manage wearing a suit instead of a uniform. 1950 was his last year managing the A's.

[Ray1936]

My first MLB game was at old Comiskey Park in Chicago, 1948. The White Sox played a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Athletics. Connie Mack was the manager. He was about a hundred and fifty then. Later that summer, I took in my first game at Briggs Stadium, but I don't remember much about it. Near the end of the season, I took in another ball game at Briggs Stadium and stumbled upon Harry Heilmann, the Tiger's radio announcer, and got him to sign my scorecard. Sigh, it's been long misplaced. Like in lost.

Anyway, 1948 hooked me on baseball. It was a very good year..........

[leland_palmer]

July 3, 1976 Mark Fidrych pitching against the Baltimore Orioles.

[jackie5275]

We always went on bat day. I'll never forget the loud sound of all those bats pounding against the concrete. I still have a Dick McAuliffe bat. Do the Tigers ever have bat day anymore?

They stopped it at Tiger Stadium in the mid 70s because of all that pounding damaging the seats & aisles. They've reinstated it at Comerica Park, but it's those little souvenior bats.

[drjeff]

My first game was also the Yankees series in July of 1976 but it was the Saturday game. My most vivid memories are how shockingly green the field was when I first saw it walking out into the upper deck seating area and how damn good the ball park franks were. Back then they didn't offer ketchup at all- mustard only. I had 3 hot dogs with mustard- pretty good for a 7 year old! There was something about the dirty water dogs that made them better.

[Hermod]

I took in another ball game at Briggs Stadium and stumbled upon Harry Heilmann, the Tiger's radio announcer, and got him to sign my scorecard

When the Tigers games first went on local TV, Harry Heilman was the TV announcer.
after he died, I think Ty Tyson took over.

[Ltdave]

It was in the spring of 1950. The Tigers always saw to it that school safety patrol boys got to see a game every year. When it was the turn of the Wayne elementary boys, we turned our belts over to our substitutes and rode a chartered DSR bus down to Briggs Stadium. It was a weekday game and the Tigers were playing the Philadelphia Athletics.

It was in the spring of 1975. The Tigers always saw to it that school safety patrol boys got to see a game every year. When it was the turn of the Roosevelt [[Port Huron) elementary boys, we turned our belts over to our substitutes and rode in chaperone's cars down to Tiger Stadium. It was a weekday game and the Tigers were playing the Oakland Athletics.

there, fixed it for ya!

i remember it raining like it hadnt rained in years. it was so dark out they turned the field lights on as well as those under the overhangs. i think it ended being rained out. rode down in my neighbor's [[buddys grandpa's) 1968 Dodge Coronet 440. chestnut brown with a black vinyl roof and interior...

i was in 4th grade.

[EastsideAl]

Mine was in 1967, a Sunday afternoon game against, I believe, the California Angels. I went with my dad and the Tigers won. We sat in the upper deck grandstand in right field.

It wasn't the first time I had been in Tiger Stadium though. My parents were big Lions fans, so I had been to a couple of Lions games there already.

But I remember thinking how much better the place looked in summer, laid out for its real purpose, baseball. I really found it thrilling to look down so closely right at the back of my favorite player, Al Kaline. And even more thrilling a few innings later when he lofted a home run into the right field stands. It hit an empty seat about two rows in front of us and bounced directly over my head into the hands of a man a couple of rows behind us. Even after attending hundreds of major league ballgames, that's still the closest I've ever come to getting a ball.

[Kathleen]

1969....Detroit was playing the Yankees. We had upper deck seats above first base. The only thing I remember about the game was being there with my dad and a couple siblings, looking down to first base to see Joe Pepitone with his long black curly hair flowing from under his baseball cap!!

[MrNittany]

1982 .... Saturday afternoon against the Twins, Tigers won in 10 on a walk-off Lance Parrish HR.

If anyone's interested, you can find the box-scores for all games at this site.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1...150DET1982.htm

[Maof]

April 16, 1971 against Boston. My cousin was a teacher with DPS and I think this was a field trip with his class. I mightI still have the ticket stub somewhere too. You should see some of the advertisments. A Ford Pinto priced at $1,616.00, Chevy Vega was 1971 car of the year [[my first used car), Mr. Belevdere, Federal's advertising a "chromacolor" tv for $449.00, and the Rumpus Lounge "See Action..Detroit's only All Topless Show",

[dtowncitylover]

At Tiger Stadium sometime in the 90s. I can't remember who we played or if we won, but it was with my city's sandlot league baseball team. I remember eating like 10 ice cream cookie sandwiches that day.

[OldRedBarn]

August of '68, I was five years old. My Dad took my older brother and me to watch the Tigers play Baltimore on a Saturday, the middle of a crucial series. I think the Tigers took two out of three that weekend, but I saw the loss. My Dad grabbed a foul ball during batting practice hit by Willie Horton. I couldn't comprehend how grass could be so green in the middle of all that concrete.

Eight years later, I went with my Mom and Dad to watch Fidrych, also on a Saturday. The Bird didn't lose often that summer, but Minnesota lit him up pretty good that afternoon. The Twins' Larry Hisle banged a ball off the left-field foul pole at upper-deck level.

I saw at least one game there every year from '72-'85 [[traveling from up here in Saginaw County), then the visits became a bit more sporadic as life kind of got in the way.

[cman710]

This was it. I wish I could remember more, but it was the start of a beautiful relationship.


Attachment 8582

On July 5, 1959, the Tigers lost a tough one in 10 innings, 5-4. For the complete box score and play-by-play, see this page: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1...050DET1959.htm

[reddog289]

I belive it should have Fathers Day 1979 , But it was a rain out, As far as I can tell it was July 22 1979. Chicago White Sox. Later on Aug 5th I got to go on the field with my Mel Ott team.