Day 7: Comerica Park

All photos of Comerica Park available for viewing on Flickr.

We wrapped up Week 1 of the 10+ week trip in Detroit, Michigan to watch the Tigers battle the Twins. This game was of particular interest for a few reasons: (1) It was the first new major league stadium I had seen on the trip; (2) Erik lives in Minnesota and works for the Twins; and (3) it was the FOX Saturday Baseball game of the week. Comerica Park is in an "up and coming" area of Detroit known as "Fox Town." Ford Field is nearby and a few great streets of bars, but as Erik and I found out on the way back to the freeway, if you make a wrong turn, you soon hit the heart of the ghetto. Anyways, the park was my favorite aesthetically thus far. The best feature by far are all the fiercely-realistic tiger statues perched all over the park in "attack mode," as well as the tiger heads clasping onto baseballs mounted all around the exterior like gargoyle heads. Another job well done by HOK Sport. The ballpark design achieves a very intimate feel, which reminded me a lot of Camden Yards - it feels very "closed in," and although Erik and I sat in the back row of the bleachers, we felt very close to the action. The team shop was riduculously large, and the statues dedicated to retired Tiger players' numbers were pretty cool as well.

We only raised about $20 and the Tigers lost...not much else to say. There were five homeruns however, which has to be close to a record in what is typically known as a pitcher's park. Erik was happy the Twins won and it was a very action-packed game, despite the outcome for the home team. Kicking back watching ball on a gorgoeous Saturday afternoon in a capacity crowd taking back giant Labatt's cans - it really doesn't get much better than that. Rookie Kevin Slowey got the win for the Twinkies, and Jason Bartlett had 4 hits in the game.

After the game, Erik and I drove about a half hour north to Macomb to stay with my aunt and uncle. They have an awesome house in which we each got our own room...no offense Erik, but thank God! We had very gracious hosts who provided an awesome meal and hours of good conversation with my cousins and their spouses. A special thanks to Mike and Carol for their hospitality! I already can't wait to wake up to the smell of pancakes tomorrow before we make the 3-hr drive to Cleveland.

park stats and rankings:
aesthetics - 10 (Tiger statues are awesome)
views from park - 5 (decent views from behind home plate of downtown)
view to field - 8 (very intimate feel; felt close even from last row of bleachers)
surrounding area - 6 (relatively close to downtown; block around park is nice)
food variety - 3
nachos - 10
beer - 8 (giant cans of Labatts for $8)
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 4 ($15 for standing room)
atmosphere - 8 (game was on FOX saturday baseball, good crowd)
walk to park - 3
parking price/proximity - 5 (very close but expensive)
concourses - 8 (very close to field)
team shop - 10 (outstanding, very large, multiple spots in park)

best food - nachos
most unique stadium feature - tiger statues
best jumbotron feature - we were sitting underneath it...
best between-inning feature - Dunkin' Donuts race

field dimensions - 335/420/330
starters - Kevin Slowey (MIN) v. Andrew Miller (DET)
opponent - Minnesota Twins
time of game - 3:03
attendance - 41500
score - 8-5 L
Brewers score that day - 13-4 W