Sat with my dad in the upper deck just past 3b on the LF line. Tigers beat Tommy John and the 1st place White Sox. Dick McAuliffe’s 1st inning triple out near the flagpole remains one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I was 10 and mesmerized by the game. I had watched a ton of games on TV but going to a game hadn’t worked out until then. My dad worked late, but after I had such a blast he started to work it in more. We went to probably 20 games in ’67, and a similar number for the next ten years or so.

http://www.baseball-reference......6300.shtml

The five top games I’ve been to are:

2004 Opening Day
2006 Against the Reds where Granderson hit the HR in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs right to the right of the LF foul pole and we won it in the 10th off of an error – May
2006 Against the Yanks where Guillen got the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th off of Farnsy – June
2006 Against the Indians were Pudge hit a 2 out 2 run HR off of Carmona – August

But the best game was

Mike Maroth 1-hits the Yankees!!!

http://www.baseball-reference......7160.shtml

D@mn you Gary Sheffield

The ones that almost made the cut

Papelbon’s big league debue even though we lost in extras (guess who was the SP for us hard-luck Nate – Rodney blew it)

Roger Clemens return to COPA as a ‘Stro – we won he lost

The middle game against the Cards in ’06 after that we were 50-25 =)

I have other games that I like but since my family has had season tickets since 2005 and bought I think around 10-15 games in 2004 those are most of my Tiger memories.

Probably 2003 and prior I went to 4-5 games a year (about once a month) but watched most with Mario and Rod or Lewin and Gibson

Hopefully for 2008 I can go to some games that will knock some of these down a few notches.

May 6, 1989 v. Oakland.

I was 9 yrs. old. Sat in the lower deck in left, about 4 rows back. McGwire’s homer in the 2nd landed just over my head. I can’t wait until my sons are old enough to go to games

Behind home plate were the seats, about 12 of us as my Grandma’s company took us to the game. Met Mike Illitch before the game when I won a raffle for a large collection of baseball cards before the game..I recall the early gathering being in a rathe rluxurious room..so long ago though I don’t remember where exactly it was.

Gary Pettis hitting his first home run sticks out in my mind the most. Tiger duffle bags were given out to the first (who know how many) fans.

More memorable of my youth, was the first time I kept score during a game live in May of ’82. Larry Herndon homered in his final at bat to beat the Twins http://www.baseball-reference......5160.shtml and then followed it up by homering his first three at bats against the A’s Mike Norris the following day…I can still hear Paul Carey hollaring, “he did it again!” after his fourth straight dinger.

I was only three at the time and don’t remember any of it except our seats were in left field upper deck just to the left of the foul pole. That and I still have a toy Tigers car my dad bought for me. He said when we first sat down to our seats not too long after I asked when we were going home. HA!

I was 15 and won the tickets in a radio quiz show, so my Dad had to take me then. Dick McAuliffe hit 2 homers and Denny McLain got the win. I didn’t remember Norm Cash getting caught twice stealing!

Seems like McAuliffe was the answer to the quiz question too.

We were sitting in the box seats on the 1st base side and were essentially looking straight down the LF line and Rondell hit a liner that was hooking and everyone was seemingly leaning to the right to keep it fair and it was.

This memory was surpassed by everything in 2006 whether I saw it live or not, but still, that’s my first vivid memory of a big event at a Tigers game.

Nice sidenote: The HR came off of Chad Durbin, too. Oh, how it all comes full circle.

The Tigers defensive lineup that day that day:

1B: Carlos Pena
2B: Fernando Vina
3B: Eric Munson
SS: Carlos Guillen
LF: Rondell White
CF: Brandon Inge
RF: Craig Monroe
DH: Bobby Higginson

I’ve lived in the UP all of my life and being 7+ hours from Detroit, I didn’t get down to the area very often. So this year I finally took the initiative and went to a game with some friends from college. It was an absolutely beautiful day down there even though it rained during the afternoon, but it cleared up by game time and stayed in the low 70s until the game finished. Unfortunately they lost, but it was a great time anyway!

Also my first experience with $8.50 beers!