A large square with rounded corners, Tiger Stadium is one of baseball's two second-oldest stadiums, having opened April 20, 1912, the same day as Boston's Fenway Park. Built on the same site as Bennett Park by Tiger president Frank Navin, the park was called Navin Field until 1938 and Briggs Stadium (for new owner Walter Briggs) until 1961 before receiving its present name. It was originally a single-decked grandstand, and the second deck was added in the infield for the 1924 season and today extends all the way around the park, giving Tiger Stadium the only double-decked bleachers in the ML. In addition, the right field roof hangs approximately 10' over the warning track, catching home runs that might have been outs, and necessitating a small string of floodlights to light the otherwise dark warning track at night. Tiger Stadium was the last AL park to install lights, in 1948.

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RELATED LINKS » 1927: Johnny Neun's unassisted triple play » 1941: Williams’s Homer Decides the All-Star Game » 1986: McGwire Hits His First Home Run Photos » Photo: Briggs Stadium from Black Baseball in Detroit » Photo: 1935 World Series, Game One » Photo: Roger Maris' 58th home run (1961) » Photo: Gehrig ends his streak (1939) from Yankees Baseball: The Golden Age Book Excerpts » How To Snag A Major League Baseball » "[Sparky] Anderson also played on an American Legion team that won the national championship in 1951 at Detroit's Briggs Stadium": Leonard Koppett Submissions » Remembering Harvey Riebe: Pursuing the Baseball Dream During World War II and the Forties by Jim Sargent » Tiger Stadium by John Anderson Ask The Experts » What was the Opening Day lineup for the 1984 Tigers? Around the Web » TIGERS CORNER: Transformer HR tops with Tram from freep.com Jump directly to Library content from any website!

In the outfield, Tiger Stadium has unusual field-level seats, behind the screens that serve as the outfield fences. These fences do not curve at all, but extend in straight lines from the corners to near centerfield, where they cut directly across. Center is 440' from home plate, the deepest in any ML park today, but the power alleys are relatively close (365' in left, 375' in right, but closer because of the overhang), making Tiger stadium a favorable home run ballpark. On October 9, 1934 it was the scene of one of baseball's uglier incidents when, in the sixth inning of Game Seven of the WS, with the Tigers trailing St. Louis 9-0, Tiger fans pelted the Cardinals' Joe Medwick with so much garbage and debris he was forced to leave the field for his own safety. And on July 13, 1971 Reggie Jackson hit the stadium's most famous home run, a mammoth shot off a light tower atop the right-field roof during the All-Star Game. (SCL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » January 9, 1908: Frank Navin is named president of the Detroit club. Bennett Field will be renamed Navin Field. » April 20, 1912: Detroit opens remodeled Navin Park and beats Cleveland 6–5 in 11 innings before 24,384. George Mullin wins his own game with a RBI single. Detroit opens with two double steals in the 1st inning, including Ty Cobb's swipe of home when Sam Crawford takes 2B. Cobb has two singles and two steals today. » June 9, 1916: In Detroit, consecutive doubles by Bobby Veach and George Burns stop Ruth's scoreless innings at 25. Ruth evens the score with a longest drive ever seen at Navin Field, into the RF bleachers. When Ruth tires in the 9th, Carl Mays relieves and loses, 6–5. Ruth is 3-for-3 at bat. » May 11, 1927: In Detroit, it is Ty Cobb Day and more than 30,000 pay to see the former Tiger manager in his first appearance at Navin Field in an A's uniform. With Eddie Collins on base in the first inning, Cobb drives a double into the overflow crowd to start the A's to a 6–3 win. Lefty Grove is the victor. » July 13, 1934: Babe Ruth hits his 700th HR to win the game at Detroit's Navin Field and put the Yankees back in first place. Lou Gehrig has a lumbago seizure and is helped off the field. » May 4, 1939: In Detroit, Ted Williams belts two homers for the first time in his career to lead the Red Sox to a 7–6 win over the Tigers. Off Bob Harris, Williams thumps one homer over the right-field roof, the first ever hit out over the double deck at Briggs Stadium. » October 4, 1940: Detroit bombs nine hits for 19 bases in the 7th and 8th innings off Jim Turner and successors to win 7–4 in the first game at Briggs Stadium. Tommy Bridges gives up 10 hits but goes the distance. » July 8, 1941: At the All-Star Game at Briggs Stadium, Ted Williams, hitting .405 at the break, homers off Chicago Cubs P Claude Passeau with two out and two on in the ninth inning to give the AL a dramatic 7-5 victory. Williams's 4 RBI are matched by NL SS Arky Vaughan, who hits HRs in the seventh and eighth. » July 1, 1945: The first of the superstars returns from the war. Hank Greenberg, gone for four years, homers in his first game following his release from the army. Charlie Gassaway of the Athletics gives up the blow before 47,700 in a Sunday game at Briggs Stadium. The Tigers lead the Yankees by 3 1/2 games with Chicago and Boston following. » August 12, 1945: In the lid lifter at Briggs Stadium, pitcher Jim Tobin, acquired on waivers, pitches three scoreless innings against New York and clubs a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 11th to win, 9–6. Another former Brave, Jim Turner, serves up the homer. The Tigers win the nitecap, 8–2, behind Hal Newhouser's 18th win. » June 15, 1948: The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics 4-1 before a crowd of 54,480 in the first night game at Briggs Stadium. The Tigers are the last AL team to install lights. » June 30, 1948: In his first full season as a pitcher, Bob Lemon of the Cleveland Indians pitches a no-hitter, beating the Detroit Tigers 2-0 in front of 49,628 at Briggs Stadium. Lemon has only two scares: Dale Mitchell makes a miraculous catch of a George Kell drive in the fourth and Ken Keltner makes a great stop behind 3B in the fifth. » July 10, 1951: Exploding for a record four HRs, the NL trounces the AL 8–3 at the annual All-Star Game, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Pittsburgh slugger Ralph Kiner hits a HR for the third year in a row. » May 15, 1952: After pitching four no-hitters in the minors, 33-year-old Virgil "Fire" Trucks of Detroit pitches his first in the ML, a 1–0 blanking of the Senators. Vic Wertz's dramatic two-out home run in the 9th off Bob Porterfield wins the game at Briggs Stadium. » June 20, 1956: At Detroit's Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle poles two Billy Hoeft pitches into the right CF bleachers, something no other player had done since the bleachers were built in the late 1930s. New York wins 4-1. » July 16, 1956: A group headed by Fred Knorr and John Fetzer buys the Detroit Tigers and Briggs Stadium for a record $5.5 million. » June 17, 1958: In his Briggs Stadium debut, Tigers 3B Ozzie Virgil goes 5-for-5 against Washington as Detroit wins 9–2. Frank Bolling adds four hits to back Billy Hoeft. » September 17, 1958: Despite a wind blowing in at Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle poles a Jim Bunning pitch down the right field line over the roof onto Trumbull Avenue, some 500 feet away. The 2-run homer is all the Bunning allows as the Tigers win 5–2. » April 22, 1960: A record opening day crowd of 53,563 at Briggs Stadium sees the Tigers chalk up their 3rd straight win, 6–5, over the White Sox. Recently acquired Rocky Colavito blasts a home run in his first at bat in Detroit, and Eddie Yost adds a home run in the 5th. » July 15, 1960: At Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle cracks a three-run homer of Don Mossi, but Detroit rallies to win 8–4. » January 1, 1961: Briggs Stadium is renamed Tiger Stadium. » April 26, 1961: Roger Maris hits his first home run of 1961 off Paul Foytack of Detroit, and Mickey Mantle adds home runs from both sides of the plate (for the 8th time), as New York wins 13–10 at Tiger Stadium. Mantle's 2nd homer, a 2-run shot off Hank Aguirre, snaps a 10–10 tie in the 10th. » September 17, 1961: In Detroit, Roger Maris triples off Terry Fox in the 7th to put the Yanks ahead, Detroit ties it and, then in the 12th, Maris faces Fox again with Tony Kubek on 2B. Maris steps out of the box to watch a long skein of Canadian geese fly over Tiger Stadium, then steps in a belts the first pitch for his 58th homer of the year. » May 20, 1967: At Tiger Stadium, Denny McLain beat the Yankees, 3–1. New York's only score is a tremendous homer by Mickey Mantle into the deep seats in right center. » October 2, 1972: The Red Sox fall a half game behind Detroit, losing 4–1 to Mickey Lolich before 51,518 at Tiger Stadium. Trailing 1–0 in the 3rd, Carl Yastrzemski hits a triple with two on, but Luis Aparicio stumbles twice and scrambles back to 3B, where Yaz is tagged out. » April 27, 1973: In 50-degree Detroit weather, Royals rookie Steve Busby no-hits the Tigers 3–0. It is the first Royals no-hitter, and the first in Tiger Stadium since Virgil Trucks's in 1952. Busby is the first no-hit game pitcher not to bat. » August 12, 1980: Tiger Stadium is packed with 48,361 fans to see Mark Fidrych's return to the big leagues, a 5–4 loss to the Red Sox. The 1976 American League Rookie of the Year will go 2-3 with a 5.73 ERA in what will be his final attempt to come back from injury, and his last ML season. » September 1, 1980: Tigers OF Al Cowens and White Sox reliever Ed Farmer publicly end their long-running feud by shaking hands at home plate prior to Chicago's 11–3 win at Tiger Stadium. The feud began in 1979 when Farmer broke Cowens' jaw with a pitch, and flared again this June 20th when Cowens hit a ground ball off Farmer and attacked the pitcher instead of running to 1B. Cowens was suspended for seven games and a warrant was issued for his arrest in Illinois, forcing him to skip last week's Tigers-White Sox series in Chicago. Farmer agreed to drop the charges in exchange for a handshake, and the two players brought out the lineup cards before today's game. » June 4, 1984: The Tigers break a 3–3 tie in the 10th when Dave Bergman golfs a three-run homer into the upper deck at Tiger Stadium. Bergman had fouled seven pitches off Roy Lee Howell before connecting. Howard Johnson had a three run homer in the 7th to account for the other half of Detroit's scoring. » October 14, 1984: Series MVP Kirk Gibson blasts two upper-deck home runs at Tiger Stadium in game 5, including a 3-run shot off Rich Gossage in the 8th inning, to lead Detroit to an 8–4 win and its first World Championship since 1968. » April 7, 1986: On Opening Day at Tiger Stadium, Boston's Dwight Evans achieves a ML first by hitting a home run off Jack Morris on the first pitch of the entire season. But Detroit's Kirk Gibson later hits two homers of his own, adds two singles and drives in five runs to lead the Tigers to a 6–5 victory. » July 21, 1986: Jose Canseco cranks a Walt Terrell pitch into the upper deck of the CF bleachers at Tiger Stadium. The A's slugger has now hit a home run in every American League Park. » August 25, 1986: A's 3B Mark McGwire hits his first ML home run -- a 450-foot blast to center field off Walt Terrell -- as Oakland beats Detroit 8–4 at Tiger Stadium. » April 3, 1987: At Tiger Stadium, Jack Morris makes his 8th straight start for Detroit and is booed by the 51,315 for his attempts to leave the Tigers over the winter. The Yankees and Tigers each score one run in nine innings before New York scores in the 10th to beat Morris, 2–1. Dave Righetti, in relief of Dennis Rasmussen, is the winner. » October 4, 1987: On the last day of the regular season, Detroit beats 2nd-place Toronto 1–0 at Tiger Stadium to win the American League East title. The Tigers were one game behind the Blue Jays entering their 3-game season-ending showdown, and won each game by a single run (4–3, 3–2, and 1–0). Frank Tanana outduels Jimmy Key in the finale, and Larry Herndon's 2nd-inning home run provides the game's only run. » June 22, 1991: Mickey Tettleton of the Tigers becomes the 17th player to ever hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium in Detroit as the Tigers drop a 10-3 decision to the Angels. » June 26, 1991: Mickey Tettleton repeats his feat of four days ago by again hitting a home run out of Tiger Stadium, in an 8-7 win over the Brewers. The Tigers break a 7–7 tie with two outs in the 9th. » June 18, 1993: The Tigers defeat the Blue Jays on "Singles Night" at Tiger Stadium. Detroit gets 15 hits in the game—all singles. » July 3, 1993: Detroit's Cecil Fielder becomes the 3rd player in history to homer onto the left field roof at Tiger Stadium, doing so in the Tigers' 11-5 loss to the Rangers. Harmon Killebrew and Frank Howard are the only other players to accomplish the feat. » July 22, 1993: Kansas City's Greg Gagne hits a home run off Detroit's Mark Leiter in the Royals' 12-6 victory. The home run is the 10,000th hit in the long history of Tiger Stadium, making it the 1st ballpark to reach that figure. During the game, Detroit 3B Travis Fryman draws a walk off KC P Enrique Burgos, then proceeds to circle the bases on three wild pitches by Burgos. » April 28, 1996: On the 100th anniversary of the opening of Bennett Field at Michigan and Trumbull Avenues, the Tigers lose to the A's, 6–3. Scott Brosius rings up his 3rd two-homer game of the season, and Mark McGwire adds a homer, estimated at 462 feet, that almost clears the RF roof at Tiger Stadium, to lead the A's. Oakland collects four homers off Greg Gohr, and adds another, while Detroit bangs two, including Cecil Fielder's 10th of the year. » June 17, 1997: At Detroit, Bobby Bonilla's leadoff home run in the 9th inning clears the right field roof and gives the Marlins a 3–2 win over the Tigers. Bonilla's homer is just the 33rd to clear the roof at Tiger Stadium and the 3rd this season. » August 29, 1999: Albert Belle clubs four doubles, tying a ML and club record, to lead the Orioles to an 11–4 win at Detroit. It's the Birds last game at Tiger Stadium. » September 27, 1999: With each of the Tigers wearing the uniform numbers of all-time Detroit players at their position (OF Gabe Kapler, standing in for Ty Cobb, wears no number) the Tigers defeat the Royals, 8-2, in the last game ever played at Tiger Stadium. Rob Fick's grand slam in the 8th brings the capacity crowd of 43,356 to its feet. Luis Polonia and Karim Garcia also homer as Brian Moehler beats Jeff Suppan.