Back from Detroit: the Tigers won !

Ty Cobb sliding into third

In the way out of the Motown Museum we were approached by two guys, one with a baseball  bat which he swung in a threatening mood. The other asked me: “Are you from Detroit or tourists”? I said: “Tourist”. And he smiled broadly and said: “Welcome to Detroit, man”.

Thursday at six in the morning, with the crack of dawn we left Detroit. Heading south we got our best look of the city… in the rear mirror. So long Cabrera, he didn’t play anyway. So long Anibal, he pitched very well the night before. So long, Victor, he went 3 for 5 in the game. So long, Avisail (Avisail Garcia, a young Venezuelan player) , they traded you to the White Sox. They made a mistake trading you. You look so much like Cabrera’s younger brother that you truly are the mini-Miggy and have a great future.

Comerica Park is a park with nice and ugly touches. They have two horrible tigers in the front but inside they have a row of excellent sculptures with the likes of Ty Cobb and other Detroit greats. I have no doubt Miguel Cabrera will be there one day. The place was full of small choirs singing and young girls dancing. They had a program going called “Christmas in July”, to collect money for the poor and even had a “Christmas” parade, complete with Santa Claus.   There is  a beautiful carrousel, only with tigers of course. There were plenty of vendors offering beer, hotdogs and the usual baseball fare. We had a wonderful hotdog and a couple of an ice cold beer that tasted heavenly, called Blue Moon, brewed in Colorado, $8 each! The national anthem was beautifully sung by the Salvation Army Quartet.

Our tickets were in Section 212, row 6 seats 9 and 10, about one mile away from home plate, $18 each. I could see tiny figures running around downstairs and knew what teams they belonged to by the color in the uniforms. I relied mostly on my wife and on a neighbor to know what was going on. When I heard the roars of approval I knew the Tigers had done something good. And we won, 11x1, my favorite type of scores because I am adverse to anguish. A 2x1 ball game makes me feel too tense ever since I was a child. In 1941 I listened to the Venezuela vs Cuba final game on the radio and every time the Cubans came to bat I would hide below the bed until my father would say: “They already made the three outs!”.

Although the park of the Washington Nationals is absolutely spectacular I felt Comerica Park in Detroit had more flavor. You could almost feel the presence of past greats like Cobb, Greenberg, Kell, Trucks and Kaline. (I am delirious, of course, since none of these greats played in Comerica, which dates back only to 2000). Comerica is very large, difficult to hit the ball out of the park there. It is being called by critics Comerica National Park. This is one of the problems faced by Cabrera to win the triple crown again this year. In contrast his main rival Davis, from the Orioles plays in a cozy park, made for home-runs.

We enjoyed the game, the stadium, the atmosphere. We are very happy to have been there. Shall we return?  Said the raven; never more. I see the Tigers better on TV.