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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

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Daniel Mears/The Detroit News

Tiger Stadium

Lynn Henning: The Buzz

Documentary makes case for saving Tiger Stadium

Advertisement

John T. Greilick/The Detroit News

"Stranded at the Corner" claims that the Ilitch family and the city have more incentive to let Tiger Stadium rot than to renovate it. See full image

Top NBA sellers
The NBA released its list of the top-selling team merchandise and player jerseys during this season. The Pistons are the seventh-most popular team, and the Lakers the most popular. Dwyane Wade's jersey is the top seller, and Ben Wallace is the only Piston in the top 25.

Top 10 teams | Top 25 players
1. Los Angeles Lakers | 1. Dwyane Wade
2. New York Knicks | 2. LeBron James
3. Miami Heat | 3. Allen Iverson
4. Philadelphia 76ers | 4. Kobe Bryant
5. Chicago Bulls | 5. Stephon Marbury
6. Boston Celtics | 6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Detroit Pistons | 7. Tracy McGrady
8. Cleveland Cavaliers | 8. Carmelo Anthony
9. San Antonio Spurs | 9. Vince Carter
10. New Jersey Nets | 10. Ben Wallace
| 11. Tim Duncan
| 12. Dirk Nowitzki
| 13. Paul Pierce
| 14. Steve Nash
| 15. Amaré Stoudemire
| 16. Kevin Garnett
| 17. Jermaine O'Neal
| 18. Ray Allen
| 19. Jason Kidd
| 20. Gilbert Arenas
| 21. Steve Francis
| 22. Chris Paul
| 23. Pau Gasol
| 24. Yao Ming
| 25. Mike Bibby

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T iger Stadium has not separated itself, physically, much less spiritually, from Detroit's baseball experience.

The idea that Detroit has every reason -- every responsibility, in fact -- to keep a hallowed ballpark alive, even if political voices are bent on its doom, is the theme behind a documentary set for its world premiere at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Gem Theatre in downtown Detroit.

The documentary is titled "Stranded At The Corner." It represents 14 months of sweat and blood expended by director Gary Glaser and writer Richard Bak, whom producer Peter Comstock Riley, president of Michigan and Trumbull LLC, assigned to do the hands-on work. Riley's organization has been pushing to turn Tiger Stadium into a viable site true to its baseball roots.

I have yet to see the film, but hiring Glaser and Bak was likely Comstock Riley's shrewdest move. Each is a native Detroiter, each has splendid creative talents and each man has a soulful relationship with Detroit baseball.

So, yeah, I'll be forking over six bucks (advance price; tickets are $8.50 at the door) for Monday night's premiere.

'Demolition by neglect'

Mike Ilitch likely will not be there. The Tigers owner will take a fact-based pounding, from all indications. Ilitch will be shown to have pulled in handsome compensation (as much as $400,000 per year) from the city of Detroit to perform basic negligence in maintaining Tiger Stadium.

Ilitch's motive for "demolition by neglect," as Glaser and Bak refer to it, is clear to the documentarians: He wants to place Tiger Stadium at a distance, if not at a landfill, safe from interference with events and commerce associated with the Tigers and their new home at Comerica Park.

That disposition, the documentary will say, has been tacitly accepted by the city and its desire to appease a downtown investor on the scale of Ilitch.

Glaser and Bak insist "Stranded" is no 90-minute exercise in Ilitch-bashing. Rather, they say, it is primarily a nostalgic look at a place that defined baseball's inherent goodness and importance in Detroit for the nearly 100 years it was home to the Tigers.

They focus on Ilitch's opposition to bringing minor league baseball to Tiger Stadium, which in their estimation is an opportunity wasted to cross-market the Tigers and a side-by-side minor league club.

They indict the so-called "maintenance" program that, on too many days, seemed to consist of security guards keeping people out of the facility. They will show there was scant attention paid to maintaining the field itself. They will mock the Tigers and the city for prohibiting any kind of All-Star Game activities -- even on the smallest of scales -- but then allowing Snoop Dogg to preside over a Bud Bowl event during the Super Bowl.

They will detail the frustrations that developers (the latest being mortgage mogul Harry Glanz) have encountered with their ongoing plans to preserve as a baseball facility, or develop in myriad ways, a stadium that need not be sentenced to death by wrecking ball.

Fair and balanced

The documentary, they say, is not a caustic Michael Moore-style indictment. There will be humor (former Detroit comedian Thom Sharp appears frequently), entertainment, and, they assure, plenty of vintage color film from Tiger Stadium reproduced in HD digital video.

Bak says the documentary is an expression of caution as much as an advocate for sensible attitudes toward a Detroit landmark and treasure.

"Let's not make the mistake of knocking it down prematurely," said Bak, 52, who lives in Dearborn. "The stadium is only six years from turning 100 years old. The Tigers have been around since 1894, they played baseball at the corner (Michigan and Trumbull) for 104 years.

"I've just never understood why the city and Ilitch never took advantage of the fact baseball nostalgia is a bigger-selling item than anything in sports."

Glaser is an independent film-maker and three-time Emmy winner who was on hand when shooting began for "Stranded" on St. Patrick's Day of 2005, during the annual parade down Michigan Avenue.

He says, without acrimony, that Ilitch and the city have a common mission in wanting Tiger Stadium hauled away.

"It's like the car culture in Detroit -- newer is better," Glaser says. "Everyone wants bright, shiny chrome. But to be very frank about this, we realize no major league ballpark that has been replaced has ever been renovated. We understand that, as well, just as we understand it presents an opportunity for Detroit to be in the forefront -- to do something constructive instead of having another rotten building in Detroit.

"You sit there, in that ballpark even today, take a deep breath and logically conclude they are wasting, kicking away a wonderful opportunity to use that ballpark. Not too many ballparks on this earth are preparing to celebrate their 100th birthday."

That 100th anniversary is April 28th, four days after "Stranded" premieres at the Gem. Monday's premiere will likely put folks in the mood to celebrate -- or cry.

The Buzz For further ticket information, contact strandedatthecorner.com. You can contact Lynn Henning at 313-222-2472 or [email-masked]

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