People Tried Saving Tiger Stadium In 1990 By Hugging It
Comerica Park is a staple of Detroit. The Tigers have a storied history of success, they're the oldest American League baseball team to have only one home city and one name in their history. Big acts like Def Leppard, Journey, and Green Day have all played inside the park this year alone.
It's hard to imagine a timeline where Detroit hadn't built and moved into Comerica Park after the previous stadium, known then simply as Tiger Stadium, was decommissioned in 1997. However, while Detroit and the Tigers always planned to build Comerica Park, the community wanted to save the original stadium with an unconventional plan: hug the park.
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The Cochrane Plan
Before the last game was played in 1999, Tiger Stadium was in its 78th year and was beloved by much of the Detroit community and fans alike. When news broke that the Tigers' association and the city of Detroit were planning to build a new stadium (Comerica Park), people had concerns the team would be leaving the city for the suburbs.
The fan's solution? Show how much they love the stadium by coming together to hug the building. On June 10, 1990, fans came together to support the Cochrane Plan, an alternative plan that made changes/improvements to the existing Tiger Stadium rather than building an entirely new stadium. Fans surrounded the stadium at noon to sing "Take Me Out of the Ball Game."
1990 was 9 years before the final game was played, but that shows how long the new stadium was in the works. Did hugging the stadium do anything? No, it did not. Not only did Tiger Stadium get dumped for Comerica Park, but the stadium was demolished in 2008.
However, the Tigers stayed in Detroit and Comerica Park has continued to serve the community well. All's well that ends well.
Tigers Tickets and Schedule from 1967
Gallery Credit: Tommy McNeill
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