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Bye Bye!
Major League Baseball said good-bye
to four long-time stadiums during the '99 season.
Kingdome
 The first to go in '99 was Seattle's Kingdome
(good riddance!), which was replaced by Safeco Field in July of that year (see our special
page on the new park by clicking here).
Prior to the game on Memorial Day '98, the player known simply as "Junior"
was being introduced as the photo to the right was taken.
The official name of this facility when it
opened in 1977 was King County Domed Stadium, but it took on the unflattering
nickname "The Tomb" during the '80s. It received this designation
not because it was always quiet (to the contrary, the roof kept the noise
in) but because of the team's lack of attendance and the dingy, crypt-like
appearance of the stadium itself.
A few games of note happened here, including
some of the loudest play-off games in AL history! A different sound
-- that of ceiling tiles crashing into the seats below -- once postponed the
Orioles and Mariners. Also, the Kingdome hosted the
50th All Star Game in '79 in front of 58,907 fans. Dave Parker was
the MVP as the NL won 7-6.
The Kingdome met its demise by being
"imploded." Before that happened, the stadium was clearly
visible beyond the left-field seats in Safeco Field. Today, the site of a
new stadium for the Seattle Seahawks is occupying the former
"footprint" of the Kingdome.
The Astrodome
 Seattle's Kingdome was baseball's second domed
stadium. The first was Houston's Astrodome, dubbed the Eighth
Wonder Of The World. The "real" name of this architectural wonder
was Harris County Domed Stadium, but the celestial prefix "astro" is what
will forever be linked to this facility. The Houston Colt .45s, a
National League expansion team in '62, changed their team nickname to the
Astros when they moved into this stadium in '65, and the first artificial
turf in the world of sports was introduced here in '66 (you know what this
plastic stuff was called).
The story behind the turf here is interesting.
The dome itself used to be made of clear panes of glass, so the field was
real grass. However, the resulting glare from the glass made seeing
fly balls quite an adventure, so a number of the panes were painted white.
Unfortunately, the grass then died, so Monsanto had to come to the rescue
with AstroTurf-8 -- and the knees and ankles of professional athletes haven't
been the same since.
And the final regular-season game at the Astrodome
on October 3rd, 1999 was especially thrilling, since the home team had
to win the game (which they did) to clinch the NL Central title.
In the 1996 photo shown here, one-time
Astro Nolan Ryan (remember how Houston thought he was washed up, so they
let him go to the Rangers?) is speaking at the ceremony where his uniform
number is being retired at the Astrodome. As a teenager, the native
Texan attended the first game ever played in the 'Dome. By the way,
did you know that Mr. Ryan is the only player to have his number retired
by three different teams?
 
Tiger Stadium
When this park opened in 1912 at the corner
of Michigan and Trumbull, it was known as Navin Field, after Frank Navin,
one of the Tigers' owners. From 1938 through 1960, it was Briggs
Stadium, named after Walter Briggs, team owner. When the stadium
changed its name for good in '61 to Tiger Stadium, one might wonder if
an owner of the franchise was named "Tiger" -- but that wasn't the case.
What history has occurred here! Three
All Star Games. Almost three dozen post-season contests, not to mention
6,873 regular-season games. Ty Cobb's sharpened spikes tore up infielder's
legs here, and Ernie Harwell's voice poured out of transistor radios in
the bleachers.
The most unusual feature of this historic facility
is the upper deck in right field. It over-hangs the lower deck by
a full ten feet, meaning the right-fielder on the warning track could be
camped under a fly ball, only to have it land in the second row of the
upper deck for a home run.
Was Tiger Stadium rusting and in need of replacement?
Maybe, but to a true baseball fan, no new park can ever take its place.
If ever there was a need to refurbish rather than replace, this was it.
Phillip Lowry, in the wonderful 1992 book Green Cathedrals, put
it best: "Not everything in this world needs to be modernized, refurbished,
renovated, updated, and then bulldozed to make way for progress.
The fight to preserve Tiger Stadium is rooted in the demonstrable proof
that when it comes to baseball parks, we used to make them better in the
1910s than we do now."
On September 27, 1999 as the last game was
played there, the fans booed lustily every time the new stadium, Comerica
Park, was mentioned over the PA. I can understand why.
3Com Park
It's a shame to have to refer to this stadium by its corporate-sponsorship
name. For baseball purists, it will always be "The 'Stick."
This stadium, built on park land on Candlestick Point (which juts
out into the Bay about ten miles south of downtown San Francisco), opened
in 1960, the Giants' third year on the West Coast. The next year,
during the All Star Game, pitcher Stu Miller was literally blown off of
the mound by a gust of wind. Yes, it got a little windy there.
And it got a little shaky there right before Game Three of the '89
World Series when an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale jolted
the Bay Area.
In April of 2000, Pacific Bell Park will open. It will also
be right next to the Bay, but near downtown where it won't be so windy.
But I bet the ground there will move a little bit from time to time, though.
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