Joker Marchant Stadium

Detroit Tigers, Spring Training
Lakeland Flying Tigers, Florida State League

8/10

The slightly late, such as myself, file in.

The recently renovated stadium had a decent crowd that day.

A somewhat overcast day, but still a good day for baseball.

I started my 2018 trip here. It was a mixture of the very end of spring training, combined with some NHL venues, and getting the new Atlanta park, as well as Baltimore and Cincinnati off my list. On this particular day, I started in southern Georgia, drove here, then drove into Tampa for a Lightning game after. I ended up getting held up on the way down, so showed up in the 2nd inning or so.

This place opened in 1966 and has undergone two complete renovations, with the last one being done for spring training 2017. It hosts the Tigers Grapefruit League games and Flying Tigers high A the remainder of the year. On the whole, I found it to be a pretty decent home for the Tigers spring training, probably above average, but not much else It's tough to comment on the renovations without seeing the before product myself, so I went and found some at Ballpark Reviews here. An entire office building has been added in right field, plus a new scoreboard that's to MLB standards. Another addition was the restless fan's favourite, the wrap-around concourse. I'd hazard a guess that the player's amenities are much improved as well. The atmosphere was nothing remarkable either way, the game was a low-scoring affair with Tampa Bay that ended in a 2-2 tie.

I would definitely come back for another game here, but not before getting the last few I haven't seen in first. I'd give it an 8, without remembering a whole ton about it, because that's what it presents as. I don't think the Lakeland minor league club is in danger of being pulled, but we'll see what happens on that. Not a scientific process here sometimes....

Linescore
2018-03-26
                      123    456  789  RHE
Tampa Bay      200   000   000  250
Detroit             001   001   000  281
Temp: 82F  Time: 2:30   Att: 6,662

Comerica Park

Detroit Tigers, American League

8/10

The outdoor facade is the usual redbrick, but it does have these unique stone tiger statues all around the ballpark.

The park showcases the Detroit skyline, making a somewhat gritty city look cosmopolitan

Neighbouring Ford Field is literally right across the street. The Red Wings play nearby as well, now in a new arena they share with the Pistons.

We stopped in Detroit for a September Sunday-nighter featuring a Tiger team that would win the division and the San Francisco Giants, who would go on to take the World Series later that fall. It was originally scheduled to be an afternoon game, but was chosen for the Sunday night feature about a week before. We had an lazy drive in from suburban Cleveland after going to the game there the night before.

The park is in the middle of downtown Detroit, which to say the least, is bare of much else. There are a lot of renovations/construction going on. It is a bit of a rough area, illustrated by the fact that the NHL teams are now explicitly forbidden from walking from their hotel to the Joe Louis Arena, nearby. There's not much to do in the area before the game, besides a nearby casino, there is a large store selling Detroit team merch, and "Cheli's Chili" a pub specializing in chili owned by former Red Wings defenceman Chris Chelios(try the Mozza Sticks!).

Comerica is a stereotypical retro-modern park with not too much to distinguish it from others. The notable traits are the gap in the upper deck on the first base side, statues of Tiger legends in center field and the "Tiger Den" seating at the back of the lower level, which features small tables next to the seats. We headed up to the top deck, which has an amazing view of downtown Detroit, which one would be forgiven thinking isn't a real thing.

Concessions are relatively straightforward, being owned by the same family that owns the Red Wings and Little Caesar's Pizza, it wasn't too surprising to see that particular brand of pizza featured.

The atmosphere was not all that bad as well, there was a lot of alcohol consumed by others and a good discussion with our neighbours regarding the tendency for drunks to bump into the railing, spilling a few drops on their way back up. A young couple sitting a few rows in front took no less than 20 selfies and after showing after the game had been going for awhile, left after less than 4 innings. Still, most people were very into the game, which saw amongst other things, a homerun by Miguel Cabrera.

Overall, while I never saw a game at Tiger Stadium, this is a pretty serviceable ballpark, which has a few quirks of it's own. I wouldn't be against going back, but wouldn't go out of my way either.

Update 2017: Not much has changed here to my knowledge. The Red Wings open a new arena this year, with the Pistons moving downtown as well, which may be a bit more of a shot in the arm for the city, particularly downtown. I bumped the rating down to an 8, giving half points for Facility, Atmosphere and Food. It's a nice place to take in a game, I'd put it somewhere in the middle third of MLB.

Linescore
2014-09-07
                           123   456   789  RHE
San Francisco      000    010   000  1 6 0
Detroit                 003   000   30x  6 12 0
Time:  3:43  Temp: 73F   Att: 27,523