July 15, 2008

Demolition brings demise of Detroit’s Tiger Stadium

DETROIT

Demolition crews smashed the historic walls of Tiger Stadium July 10, punching through to the interior of the ballpark that stood for decades.

Outfield walls cleared by baseball legend Mickey Mantle as well as Detroit Tiger sluggers Norm Cash and Cecil Fielder began to come down as contractors intensified their efforts to bring down the venerable park.

Backhoes and excavators, sometimes hard to see through dust and spraying water, whizzed around the site, picking up debris and dumping it in oversized bins. During one flurry Wednesday morning, an excavator smashed through the exterior wall beyond left field, throwing support girders to the side.

The scene was tough to take for longtime Tigers fan Chas Matreal and his 23-year-old son, Ryan.

“All beautiful memories,” Chas Matreal said. “It is something beautiful that we’re destroying, and it’s history.”

The 49-year-old bricklayer from Milford said he attended 400 to 500 games at Tiger Stadium, many with his own father, starting in 1966.

“Demolition means progress,” declared signs on a construction vehicle at the site. But Matreal disagreed, saying priceless memories are being lost.

“It’s a natural museum of a hundred years that they’re destroying,” he said.

Associated Press

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