Marquette, MI – (Great Lakes Radio) – A couple of days ago on the SUNNY Morning Show with Walt & Mike we talked about the site known in the baseball world as “The Corner”, which refers to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull in the City of Detroit, the location of the former Tiger Stadium.
The stadium was demolished several years ago and the field had fallen into a sorry state of disrepair with any restoration efforts or attempts to build a commemorative historical site failing due to lack of interest or financial support.
For Detroit Tiger fans like us, it was a sad situation that this one vibrant part of the Motor City was fading away with apathy.
But now, things have changed.
The recent resurgence of Detroit has resulted in the Detroit Police Athletic League breaking ground this week on the site for a $20-million youth sports facility featuring a 2,500-seat stadium, accompanying banquet center and office space for the organization’s new headquarters.
It’s being called “The Willie Horton Field of Dreams” in honor of Tiger great Willie Horton, and it will be done in a year.
Fantastic, right?
Not for everyone.
People are complaining that the field will be astroturf and not natural grass, while others say the facility should not be built and the land should go to high-dollar business development.
Really? I mean, REALLY??
People will find any reason to complain.
This project is just what is needed for the kids in the area to get a chance to play baseball at this historic site and have the chance to learn about who played there before them.
Instead of a dirty, rundown field in the middle of the city, this project will serve the community and will also give fans of the game something more to visit than a lonely old flag pole in the former outfield.
We talked about this some more today, and I shared the words of freelance Detroit sports writer (and my nephew) Dave Hogg’s thoughts about this project.
