The Final Season by Tom Stanton

Author:Tom Stanton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-fiction
ISBN: 9781429981118
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2001-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Game 39: Saturday, June 19 The pilgrimages have begun already. With the home season almost half over, faraway fans have been coming to bid farewell to Tiger Stadium. A busload with Jay Buckley Tours rolled into Detroit this morning. On board was Jim Sandoval, an Alabama history teacher who has visited twenty-eight ballparks in five years.

“I had to come back to say good-bye to this shrine,” he says. “There have been so many great players here. I can picture an outfield of Kaline, Cobb, and Crawford. I feel like I’m about to see the ghost of Cobb walking across the field. Here and Fenway—both give you that feeling.”

Sandoval takes his baseball history more seriously than most. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, he is documenting the 1919 Cincinnati Reds season play by play, convinced that the team would have won that year’s World Series even if the Black Sox hadn’t taken bribes to throw it.

Sandoval appreciates that the Sox of 1919 played on this field.

“What makes the old parks distinct are their features,” he says. “I like the parks where at a glance you know where it is. If you fall asleep watching a TV game from Cincinnati and you wake up in the Pittsburgh or Philadelphia park, you wouldn’t know. They are ashtray stadiums. Here it’s like a living history museum. It’ll still be the Tigers franchise at the new park but it won’t be the same.”

In the seats above Sandoval, Doug Brown Jr., eleven, holds a sign that reads, The grass will always be greener at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. He came from London, Ontario.

“I think it’s time for a change, like in Cleveland,” he says. “But Tiger Stadium will never die. In the back of every Tiger fan’s mind, they’ll always have the memories.”

— Oakland 13 Detroit 1 —

Oakland hammers five Detroit pitchers. Luis Polonia extends his hitting streak to fourteen games with four hits, raising his average to .443.

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