[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12063]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             UNVEILING OF TIGER STADIUM COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, it is with great pride that I pay 
tribute to a special place in my hometown of Detroit that for the last 
century has inspired not only our city but our country. This year we 
are commemorating the tricentennial of the founding of a city that to 
Americans has long meant great automobiles. To Detroiters, it also 
means great sports teams and inspiring hero-athletes. Indeed, as 
Detroit enters its fourth century, our pride in our city is equaled by 
our pride in the house these heroes built--our storied Tiger Stadium.
  Today at home plate, the people of Detroit will gather to unveil one 
of eleven new stamps commemorating Baseball's Legendary Playing Fields. 
Of those eleven ballparks, only four still stand, and one is right in 
Detroit, where baseball was the pastime at The Corner of Michigan and 
Trumbull for more than a century.
  The history of this stadium is in so many ways the history of our 
city. The spirit of hard work and determination that has always defined 
Detroit revealed itself early. When the Great Depression hit Detroit 
harder than most American cities, it was the 1935 World Champion 
Tigers--and the renowned ``G-Men'': Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin, 
and Hank Greenberg--who renewed the hopes of an entire city. Detroit 
would forever after be the City of Champions, with four World Series 
titles to prove it.
  When the riots and ruin of 1967 left deep scars of division across 
our city, it was the 1968 World Champion Tigers led by Al Kaline, 
Willie Horton, Bill Freehan, Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich who led one 
of the greatest comebacks in baseball history and who, in their 
unforgettable victory, united us to celebrate as one city.
  It is no exaggeration to state that the heroes of Tiger Stadium also 
pointed us to a better America. By the time the prize fighter Joe Louis 
triumphed over Bob Paster in then-Briggs Stadium in 1939, he was more 
than a hometown hero from the East Side, he was a national hero and a 
symbol to all people of all races. Even today, I almost weep thinking 
of ``Hammerin' Hank'' Greenberg's grand slam in 1945 that put the 
Tigers in the Series and for what that one swing of the bat meant. When 
Nelson Mandela spoke to a massive rally in Tiger Stadium a decade ago, 
his words rung out past the rafters to every American on the endurance 
and inspiring power of the human spirit.
  In this City of Champions, the names and feats of champions echo 
still. Here is where the three time NFL champion Detroit Lions played 
for more than three decades. Here is where the legends of baseball's 
Golden Age took to the field in the unforgettable 1941 All-Star Game--
Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams. Here is where the Tigers 
earned three divisional championships, nine pennants, and those four 
World Series titles. Here is the where the Tiger greats were born, the 
eleven Hall of Famers: Sparky Anderson, Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Sam 
Crawford, Hank Greenberg, Hugh Jennings, Al Kaline, George Kell, Heinie 
Manush, Hal Newhouser, and Charlie Gehringer. And one more Hall of 
Famer, broadcaster Ernie Harwell, made sure that when we couldn't 
physically be at Michigan and Trumbull, the sights and sounds of the 
ballpark were part of our lives.
  This house of heroes may have been built on the shoulders of giants, 
but someone else sustained it, the fans. If ever a community has 
unified around a place, Detroiters came together at The Corner. In this 
city of immigrants, attending a game there became an American rite of 
passage. The language of Tiger Stadium, as the Detroit News once put 
it, was not Polish or Armenian or Ukranian, it was baseball. 
Generations of parents brought their children to those sun-drenched 
bleachers. Years later, those grown children brought their own children 
to Tiger Stadium. I know because like many Detroiters I still call the 
old ballpark the place of my youth, a place where our parents took us 
and where I took my daughters and granddaughter.
  To this day I remember my father leading me through the corridors to 
see Game 1 of the 1945 World Series. Through all my visits back through 
all the years since, I have never forgotten the sights, smells and 
sounds of that day and the unique character of that park. There was the 
sight of heroes--like Hal Newhouser--who I had only imagined while 
listening to the radio and could now virtually reach out and touch. 
That is, when he wasn't obscured by one of the much-beloved posts that 
always caused so many of us to strain our necks. There was the smell of 
the popcorn, the peanuts and the hot dogs. And there were the 
unforgettable sounds the crack of the bat, and the roar of a hometown 
crowd.
  Like many Detroiters, my feelings on this occasion are best captured 
by the words spoken by Al Kaline about his first day at Tiger Stadium. 
He said, ``As I was walking under the corridors trying to find the 
locker room, I took a peek right behind home plate. I walked out, the 
sun was shining beautifully, and I thought, 'Man, I never saw anything 
so pretty in my life.' ''
  While over the years, the name may have changed, the address for 
baseball in Detroit was the same the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull. 
It is still one of oldest ballparks in one of the oldest cities in 
America. In it we feel our hometown pride in a national landmark. Our 
city. Our ballpark. The new commemorative stamp to be unveiled today 
celebrates their common spirit, and it gives me great pride today to 
join the people of Detroit, in praise of both.

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