6/17/25 6:40PM Pirates @ Tigers

[Sports_Freak]

17 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

well that's a good question, I can't date when the CF wall was put in. I know it was after Kaline started playing because I've heard him say the flagpole was still in play when he started playing and I even remember seeing games before it was there. Demeter played in Detroit 64-66. If you still  saw the flagpole on the field, it was still 440.

the only clue I found that may date the fence is the Detroit Historical story about the ball park says they put a score board in CF in 1961 but moved it to LF when hitters complained. If they had originally put the same aux scoreboard in CF that we used to see in LF, it's logical they would have had to have put a straight wall behind it - so 1961 is one possible dating. 

There was a huge scoreboard at the top of the CF bleachers in 1984.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

Will the wind be blowing in or out?  

Weather channel says South. 😆

[Sports_Freak]

8 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

There was a huge scoreboard at the top of the CF bleachers in 1984.

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

There was a huge scoreboard at the top of the CF bleachers in 1984.

I think the historical society story had to be talking about a ground level scoreboard if it was moved because hitters complained. The scoreboard that was above the bleachers was modified/expanded a bunch of times over the years but was above of the batter's eye and was never reported as an issue for hitters. Tiger Stadium was always considered to have a good hitting backgound. As I recall the center of the lower deck CF bleachers were often left empty for that reason in later years - and probably also because they were terrible seats!

Edited Wednesday at 09:50 PM by gehringer_2

[casimir]

6 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

The internet is telling me that the walls at Tiger Stadium were moved back in 1955, taking out the flagpole and the hill. If I remember correctly when they built the current park in Houston there was a hill in centerfield (not sure about the flagpole)

Comerica had the flagpole in play when it was first constructed. I think it was during the 2001 season I saw Sammy Sosa hit a bomb in that direction, he did the patented home run hop then watch the ball fall harmlessly into the CF's glove ( I can't remember who)

One of my favorite early Comerica moments

I was a fan of the Houston CF hill.  The flagpole was indeed in play at the time, too. And the Crawford boxes.  It seemed like they tried too much, went with too many idiosyncrasies.  The hill was unique to Houston in terms or present day ball yards.

[chasfh]

15 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I think the historical society story had to be talking about a ground level scoreboard if it was moved because hitters complained. The scoreboard that was above the bleachers was modified/expanded a bunch of times over the years but was above of the batter's eye and was never reported as an issue for hitters. Tiger Stadium was always considered to have a good hitting backgound. As I recall the center of the lower deck CF bleachers were often left empty for that reason in later years - and probably also because they were terrible seats!

Also they were completely covered by the overhang of the bleachers above them and facing south, so the sun shining into them was not much of a factor.