Tiger Stadium

Strange statistic: In its 87 years of existence, exactly 11, 111 home runs were hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

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I have great respect for the old ballparks, largely. Fenway was great, and Wrigley was downright incredible. That's the best baseball experience I've had, period.

Yankee Stadium... you know, it's a dump, it really is. It's a trainwreck, an eyesore, a festering wound. And it's perfect for the Yankees, aka Satan's team.

But Tiger Stadium always cheesed me off with its exaggerated angles in the outfield. I forget the exact dimensions, but centerfield was WAY too deep, and left and right field were WAY too shallow. How many right fielders parked beneath a routine fly ball only to watch it catch the porch overhang and become a homer? And heck with the walls were so close that plenty of line drives that should have been doubles at best became homers too.

And give one a decent ride to center and it likely wasn't enough. That's not to say that just any centerfielder could cover that much ground, but shoot, how would you like to hit one 430 feet and have it stay in the park? I could be screwing up the dimensions, okay, but really, a hell of a blast to center stayed in the park, and cheap shots to left and especially right went out way too easily. That's no way to play a major league game. It's not a cute idiosyncrasy; it's bullshit. I don't miss that place.

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It's late and I've run out of steam. Ya'll have a good weekend.