Opening Day!

[Tom Horn]

The Boys of Summer return to Comerica Park Thursday afternoon in Detroit....BEISBOL IS BACK! After a long cruel winter seeing my Lions and Wolverines miss the playoffs again, my Phoenix Suns suffering through a seemingly perpetual and disturbing "rebuild", and my Red Wings missing the post season for the 2nd straight season after making it for 25 seasons in a row...FINALLY the Tigers are back. But wait, they're also in a rebuild after almost ten winning seasons, 4 straight central division winners, and two World Series (they almost got swept in both). So they might really suck but then again, they might not...which is why they play the games and I watch them.... streamed on MLB.com at the staggering cost of 55 cents a game. Their 7 pm starts during the season are 4 pm my time in Phoenix so it's a nice transition from the work day into the evening. It's the Tigers vs. the Pirates in an inter-league battle....rain is expected but the stadium will be full anyway....it's a cultural event in the Motor City.

 

[my2¢]

Ah, the memories of Ernie Harwell, Gates Brown, Al Kaline, Norm Cash and the irresistible urge to mutter: "Now batting, Aurelio Rodriquez". Being from Cleveland area often enjoyed tuning into the Tigers game and listening to Harwell whenever the Tribe didn't have a game in progress. Only been to Tiger Stadium once, back at BGSU a bunch of us from the dorm chartered a campus bus and made the hour or so trip up I-75 for a Sunday game to see Cleveland take on the Tigers. All the way up we had one guy who just couldn't get over going to "Mecca", a reference he gave Detroit simply due to his fondness of Stroh's Beer.

Been in the Valley here for 36 years now, it's nice to root for the D-Backs and then also have my old American League team.

 

[Tom Horn]

Ah, the memories of Ernie Harwell, Gates Brown, Al Kaline, Norm Cash and the irresistible urge to mutter: "Now batting, Aurelio Rodriquez". Being from Cleveland area often enjoyed tuning into the Tigers game and listening to Harwell whenever the Tribe didn't have a game in progress. Only been to Tiger Stadium once, back at BGSU a bunch of us from the dorm chartered a campus bus and made the hour or so trip up I-75 for a Sunday game to see Cleveland take on the Tigers. All the way up we had one guy who just couldn't get over going to "Mecca", a reference he gave Detroit simply due to his fondness of Stroh's Beer.

Been in the Valley here for 36 years now, it's nice to root for the D-Backs and then also have my old American League team.

I knew you were good people from the first time I saw your posts...and you're here in Arizona! My first game at The Corner was in 1959...the Indians...Tito Francona hit two out. I was terrified during BP...left field seats just foul of the pole...they were sending shots into those wood seats like missiles and I didn't have my glove....I figured maybe I could catch one in my cap instead of hiding under a seat but I was relieved when BP was over with. There's a poster here called "shoot speeders" whose avatar is Don Mossi. We still got '68.....I was just home from overseas, and Gibby, Lance, Tram, and Jack in '84. May be a long wait but even with Mr.I gone, his kid seems to want a winner....we'll know what's in store at the trade deadline in July.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Baseball is a great sport... Not that this has anything to do with you gentlemen's conversation, but when I see the title "Opening Day" I immediately flashed on Jim "Catfish" Hunter... Why I have no clue. To my recollection I never seen him play and he was never on any of "my" teams... Cardinals and Reds...

 

[Tom Horn]

Well DANG IT.....they called the game for inclement weather so they start tomorrow instead. I looked at the WXYZ radar weather map and it looks like the heavy rain will stay south of the city. My bet is they don't want to sit down the starting pitchers after a couple innings for some rain and then bring them back out a half hour later...hard to stay warm in 40 degree weather and Tigers starter Zimmerman has had back and neck issues for the last two years....no point in taking a chance with him yanking a muscle I suppose.... pussies.

 

[Tom Horn]

Baseball is a great sport... Not that this has anything to do with you gentlemen's conversation, but when I see the title "Opening Day" I immediately flashed on Jim "Catfish" Hunter... Why I have no clue. To my recollection I never seen him play and he was never on any of "my" teams... Cardinals and Reds...

I remember Catfish....big strong fella pitched for the Oakland A's. They had another pitcher named "Blue Moon" Odom. No nicknames in baseball like there used to be. I remember names like Jim "Mudcat" Grant and Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, Ol Paw Paw Charlie Maxwell, Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Mario "Sandman" Rivera, Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni and on and on...

 

[Mr Natural]

A bit early this year, no?

 

[mdk]

Opening Day is usually the same day the Pirates become mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

The Reigning Champs take on the Rangers at one o'clock today!!!
Cant wait!!!

Go Stros!!!!

 

[DrLove]

 

[Tom Horn]

A bit early this year, no?

Yep....they usually start the 2nd or 3rd of April. They expect SNOW on Saturday which always delights the Latins who've never seen snow. As long as the grass is green and the sun is out they could start in February far as I'm concerned.

 

[martybegan]

Opening Day is usually the same day the Pirates become mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

I'm a Mets fan and this is my favorite:

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

The Reigning Champs take on the Rangers at one o'clock today!!!
Cant wait!!!

Go Stros!!!!
View attachment 185312

Whoops...actually 2:30.
Thats what I get for listening to the Wife.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

The Boys of Summer return to Comerica Park Thursday afternoon in Detroit....BEISBOL IS BACK! After a long cruel winter seeing my Lions and Wolverines miss the playoffs again, my Phoenix Suns suffering through a seemingly perpetual and disturbing "rebuild", and my Red Wings missing the post season for the 2nd straight season after making it for 25 seasons in a row...FINALLY the Tigers are back. But wait, they're also in a rebuild after almost ten winning seasons, 4 straight central division winners, and two World Series (they almost got swept in both). So they might really suck but then again, they might not...which is why they play the games and I watch them.... streamed on MLB.com at the staggering cost of 55 cents a game. Their 7 pm starts during the season are 4 pm my time in Phoenix so it's a nice transition from the work day into the evening. It's the Tigers vs. the Pirates in an inter-league battle....rain is expected but the stadium will be full anyway....it's a cultural event in the Motor City.

what a shitty ugly dump,tiger stadium was 10 times nicer.
whats REALLY funny though is a new stadium has not helped them jack shit in winning another world series like they always used to at old tiger stadium.

Give me the classic old ballparks that have NICE stadiums wrigley field and fenway park any day of the year.

here is the coolest baseball park in the world bar none.a stadium EVERY baseball fan should attend some day if you want to post pics of NICE ballparks.LOL.

only the giants stadium comes as close to them as the coolest stadium in the country.

as i said,the coolest baseball stadium in the world.

the nice cool scoreboard itself ALONE is breathtaking but when you have the fountains lit up at night.? its game over for any other baseball stadium,the colorado rockies TRIED to copy them with the fountains but they are a poor imitation.LOL they cant touched these fountains below.LOL



a pretty and beautiful sight you just cant beat.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Well DANG IT.....they called the game for inclement weather so they start tomorrow instead. I looked at the WXYZ radar weather map and it looks like the heavy rain will stay south of the city. My bet is they don't want to sit down the starting pitchers after a couple innings for some rain and then bring them back out a half hour later...hard to stay warm in 40 degree weather and Tigers starter Zimmerman has had back and neck issues for the last two years....no point in taking a chance with him yanking a muscle I suppose.... pussies.

As much as I like open air sports I think every pro team be it baseball or football should have a roofed stadium.
It doesnt necessarily have to have walls if the fans like the cold but I hate the injuries that come with a muddy field and the rain delays or flat out cancellation of games.

 

[Tom Horn]

Tiger Stadium was a dump when I was a kid...it smelled like piss and ceegar smoke down in the tunnels in the 60's yet lasted another 40 years. But it was a classic alright and everybody from The Babe and Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to Teddy Ballgame (Ted Willams) to Mick and Al Kaline, and later Reggie and Harmon Killebrew sunk cleates into that dirt. They tried everything to save it but the foundation was crumbling after a hundred years and the support posts were beyond repair...Overhead pieces would fall off over the winter but still the diehards fought for it and were crushed when it was finally bulldozed. The field, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull was just rescued and opened for local teams. The stadium itself is gone but they have the original flagpole which was in fair territory in deep center field. The Tigers won four championships there....nowhere near the Yankees gloried past but not bad for a blue-collar city with true-blue fans real close to the field. When we got on an enemy player he could expect to hear things about his mother, if he had skinny legs or a unibrow, or what kind of slump he was in, and if he was an outfielder could expect to have hot coins winged at him....I remember Roger Maris picking up a quarter once that had been made almost red hot with pliers and a cigarette lighter....he dropped it like a....uh, hot coin and was shaking his hand and swearing about his burnt fingers....of course we roared laughter and never let him forget it in later visits. It was said if a player got V.D. from a chippy, Tigers fans would hear about it and hound the guy mercilessly. What a place.

 

[OldLady]

Take me out to the ballgame,
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

Tiger Stadium was a dump when I was a kid...it smelled like piss and ceegar smoke down in the tunnels in the 60's yet lasted another 40 years. But it was a classic alright and everybody from The Babe and Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to Teddy Ballgame (Ted Willams) to Mick and Al Kaline, and later Reggie and Harmon Killebrew sunk cleates into that dirt. They tried everything to save it but the foundation was crumbling after a hundred years and the support posts were beyond repair...Overhead pieces would fall off over the winter but still the diehards fought for it and were crushed when it was finally bulldozed. The field, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull was just rescued and opened for local teams. The stadium itself is gone but they have the original flagpole which was in fair territory in deep center field. The Tigers won four championships there....nowhere near the Yankees gloried past but not bad for a blue-collar city with true-blue fans real close to the field. When we got on an enemy player he could expect to hear things about his mother, if he had skinny legs or a unibrow, or what kind of slump he was in, and if he was an outfielder could expect to have hot coins winged at him....I remember Roger Maris picking up a quarter once that had been made almost red hot with pliers and a cigarette lighter....he dropped it like a....uh, hot coin and was shaking his hand and swearing about his burnt fingers....of course we roared laughter and never let him forget it in later visits. It was said if a player got V.D. from a chippy, Tigers fans would hear about it and hound the guy mercilessly. What a place.

I'll take that cigar smoke and piss ANY DAY of the year over that piece of shit comerica park. Those pics there of old classic TIGER STADIUM just prove in spades how that place was 10 times nicer than that shithole they play in now.

Magnum had good taste in cheering on the CLASSIC Detriot Tigers who played in Tiger stadium.

the owners really ruined the game,first with free agency making it so now so that every year on opening day you dont recognize half the players anymore and then if that wasnt enough for them either,they then started tearing down classic ballparks.

it used to be every fall classic during the playoffs and world series i always watched them,did not care who was in it.Now unless it is the royals or cubs or dodgers now also.i wont watch baseball playoffs or world series anymore.

It used to be every team had just as much a good shot as the other one of making it to the world series but those good old days of players playing their entire career with ONE TEAM are over with now. The good old days of george brett and frank white playing with one team the royals are over with or alan trammel and lou whitiker with the tigers,you will never find that happen again in this fucked up world.

the owners and players have ruined the game. I always looked forward to those days of seeing Brett and White playing against trammel and whitiker,you ALWAYS knew the players from BOTH teams every year so you got excited about the upcoming season and going out to the ballpark and seeing them play a certain team because of that.

Back when i was little,it was UNHEARD OF for Johhny cuoto after just 4 years with the reds,jump so quickly to another team like that,that was just crazy thinking back then for a player to not want to finish how whole career with one team,two teams at the MOST.

teams that dont have the cash to keep their players like the reds,padres,A's,twins,pirates,they dont have a prayer of ever making it to the world series now.

MLB baseball is as fucked as the NFL sadly.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

Tiger Stadium was a dump when I was a kid...it smelled like piss and ceegar smoke down in the tunnels in the 60's yet lasted another 40 years. But it was a classic alright and everybody from The Babe and Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to Teddy Ballgame (Ted Willams) to Mick and Al Kaline, and later Reggie and Harmon Killebrew sunk cleates into that dirt. They tried everything to save it but the foundation was crumbling after a hundred years and the support posts were beyond repair...Overhead pieces would fall off over the winter but still the diehards fought for it and were crushed when it was finally bulldozed. The field, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull was just rescued and opened for local teams. The stadium itself is gone but they have the original flagpole which was in fair territory in deep center field. The Tigers won four championships there....nowhere near the Yankees gloried past but not bad for a blue-collar city with true-blue fans real close to the field. When we got on an enemy player he could expect to hear things about his mother, if he had skinny legs or a unibrow, or what kind of slump he was in, and if he was an outfielder could expect to have hot coins winged at him....I remember Roger Maris picking up a quarter once that had been made almost red hot with pliers and a cigarette lighter....he dropped it like a....uh, hot coin and was shaking his hand and swearing about his burnt fingers....of course we roared laughter and never let him forget it in later visits. It was said if a player got V.D. from a chippy, Tigers fans would hear about it and hound the guy mercilessly. What a place.

I'll take that cigar smoke and piss ANY DAY of the year over that piece of shit comerica park. Those pics there of old classic TIGER STADIUM just prove in spades how that place was 10 times nicer than that shithole they play in now.

Magnum had good taste in cheering on the CLASSIC Detriot Tigers who played in Tiger stadium.

the owners really ruined the game,first with free agency making it so now so that every year on opening day you dont recognize half the players anymore and then if that wasnt enough for them either,they then started tearing down classic ballparks.

it used to be every fall classic during the playoffs and world series i always watched them,did not care who was in it.Now unless it is the royals or cubs or dodgers now also.i wont watch baseball playoffs or world series anymore.

It used to be every team had just as much a good shot as the other one of making it to the world series but those good old days of players playing their entire career with ONE TEAM are over with now. The good old days of george brett and frank white playing with one team the royals are over with or alan trammel and lou whitiker with the tigers,you will never find that happen again in this fucked up world.

the owners and players have ruined the game. I always looked forward to those days of seeing Brett and White playing against trammel and whitiker,you ALWAYS knew the players from BOTH teams every year so you got excited about the upcoming season and going out to the ballpark and seeing them play a certain team because of that.

Back when i was little,it was UNHEARD OF for Johhny cuoto after just 4 years with the reds,jump so quickly to another team like that,that was just crazy thinking back then for a player to not want to finish how whole career with one team,two teams at the MOST.

teams that dont have the cash to keep their players like the reds,padres,A's,twins,pirates,they dont have a prayer of ever making it to the world series now.

MLB baseball is as fucked as the NFL sadly.

i fail to see how you find those sad but true facts funny?

 

[Mr Natural]

Let's go Yanks!