Memories of a Field of Dreams

Ron Lux’s account of one last game at Tiger Stadium (“Bidding Farewell to a Priceless Diamond,” Oct. 5) took me back to when, as a kid, I’d go there with my dad. (It was Briggs Stadium then.) Hank Greenberg on first, Charlie Gehringer on second, “Schoolboy” Rowe pitching, and Rudy York catching. Whatta team! At home I’d listen to the game broadcast on WWJ. When Ty Tyson would say, “Here comes the pitch . . . slow ball . . . outside,” he made it so visual I’d close my eyes and swear I was right there in the dugout.

Until the ballpark was built in 1894, the site was part of Woodbridge Farm and served as a picnic grove in old Corktown, later a hay market. It started out as Bennett Field, named after player Charlie Bennett, and was later renamed Navin Field for Tiger owner Frank Navin, later Briggs Stadium after his successor, Walter Briggs. Both are credited with making Detroit a bona fide baseball town.

--MARILYN JENSEN

La Habra