I used to be a hardcore Tigers' fan. I immersed myself in baseball's history, marveled at the legends and the lore. Like any devout follower, I took my pilgrimage: to Cooperstown in 1991. Talk about a religious experience! Then the Powers that Be decided to use my tax dollars to raze Tiger Stadium and raise a monstrosity in its place,

We had our Field of Dreams, and the fascio-socialists took it away from us. Michigan's so rich it can pony up a $189 million subsidy to the richest man in the state?! I'll be sure let unemployed autoworkers and struggling waitresses know their tax dollars have been put to such good use. A pox on former Governor John Engler, the Michigan State legislature and welfare queen Mike Ilitch for making this happen! A pox on them, and on their house, and on their house's house! They already have their reward! Go, Cubs!

Wow, now that's bitterness.

Nostalgia is the second most powerful force in marketing (after sex). The marketing industry and it's analysis of human behavior has discovered that we'll part with our money for things we've gotten emotionally attached to faster than we will for things that are high quality or a good value.

This overly-strong reaction to the replacement of Tiger Stadium is a function of that emotion. It was an old building, with all the problems of old buildings. On top of that it was an old stadium, without any of the improvements that have made new stadiums so much better. Was parking in the front yard of an abandoned house part of the greatness of Tiger Stadium? Of the narrow, dark hallways? Or the bathrooms that were too few, too small and a little dungeon like?

Sometimes old is just old.

Just passing along a link I found cool — former Tigers reliever C.J. Nitkowski recently posted a bunch of pictures he took in 1999 on his personal website: http://www.cjbaseball.com/old-tiger-stadium-pics.htm

I am very sad that tiger stadium doesn't get the recognition that Wrigley or Fenway gets. For me there is nothing like Tiger stadium. I grew up in Toledo Ohio about 50 miles south of Detroit, and Tiger stadium played a huge part in my childhood. One day after school my dad told us he had business to do in Detroit and asked my brother and I to come along. But we really were going to the game, I don't remember who they played or anything else about the night except the stadium. I went there many more times throughout my life and have very fond memories of it. I really wish they would do something to memorialize the area at least

I was in the old ball park for Al Kaline Day, the 1968 World Series, the 1971 All-Star Game, the Nolan Ryan no-hitter, and the last game played there. When I was a kid, bleacher seats were $0.60. What memories!

Comerica Park is lame, it's an amusement park catering to the pathetic millennials/gen xers who are products of television and the internet and consumers of all things superficial.

@Christopher,
It's not bitterness, it's called reality. Using public money for stadiums is wrong.

@ Ferndale,
Actually, even though Tony included some additional and potentially valid arguments, his state was clearly dripping with bitternes.

I don't disagree that studies have shown that public investment in pro sports stadiums does not result in the return on investment that many think it does, but that doesn't change the fact that Tiger Stadium needed to be replaced.