Category Archives: Fan Experience

Comments on the experience of being a Tigers fan, including views on Comerica Park and fan relations.

What was your best day in baseball?

Last night I finished reading The Soul of Baseball – A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America. My only disappointment is that I didn’t read the book sooner. Joe Posnanski, arguably the best sportswriter in America, spent a year traveling the country with Negro League legend Buck O’Neil. The result is an enriching look at an astounding individual, with some baseball thrown in.

I’m always a sucker for baseball books, and have a number in my queue as we speak. As a baseball book it doesn’t disappoint. Posnanski accomplished his mission of writing a book about the Negro Leagues, as Buck had wished. But what makes the book so wonderful is how Posnanski artfully told Buck’s story through Buck’s stories. By the time I finished I felt inspired and optimistic and a little heart broken. That I “felt” anything at the conclusion of a baseball book even surprised me.

Now this has little to do with the Tigers, but I bring this up for two reasons. First, the paperback verison just recently was released.

Second, I borrowed the title of this post from the book. It was a question that O’Neil asked regularly. I thought it would make for some nice reader participation as countdown the last days towards the start of the season.

My best day? Hard to pinpoint. I of course remember my first game I attended. I remember some special times playing. But I think my best day is relatively recent. It was the night that Magglio Ordonez hit the homer clinching the AL Pennant in 2006. It’s not my best day because the Tigers won, but because I experienced it with my kids.

What was your best day in baseball?

DTW Meet in San Francisco

Unfortunately this isn’t something I’ll be able to participate in, but Craig Colwell is offering to coordinate an outing for our West Coast Tigers fans. Here is what Craig asked me to post:

Tigers vs Giants

June 16,17,18 in San Francisco

If there is enough interest from Tiger fans here on the left coast or from out of towners, wanting to visit one of great ball parks in the country (excluding Comerica), I will buy a block of tickets for one or more of the games.

I am thinking baseball and a few drinks before or after the game or both.

If you haven’t been to ATT Park, it is a great baseball experience.

If interested email Craig at ccolwell [at] sonic dot net

I know that at a Mariners game last year there was a large contingent of Tigers fans and DTW readers, but they were all on their own. Thanks to Craig for offering to unite the group.

Also this seems like a good time to mention that there is a Detroit Tigers Weblog page on Facebook. I’m not really sure how to leverage this, but all the cool kids are doing it. So if you’re a Facebooker, you can become a DTW fan.

Feeding Frenzy: Single game tickets on sale

Today at 10 a.m. single game Detroit Tigers tickets go on sale. We’ll use this post as a place for you to share your experiences. Some details about the sale today:

  • If you’re buying in person at Comerica Park, you’re probably already in line, and if you’re not you probably shouldn’t bother. Wrist bands were distributed last night so find a different avenue for getting tickets.
  • Don’t use ticketmaster! The Tigers dropped ticketmaster last year so don’t go to a TM outlet because you’ll just be disappointed.
  • Meijer: Meijer stores in the greater Detroit area will be selling tickets. That’s probably your best bet for buying from a ticket window. For those in the greater Troy area, Hockeytown Authentics at Big Beaver and John R will also be selling tickets.
  • If you want to buy from the comfort of your own home, the phone (866-66Tigers) and internet (tigers.com) are both valid options.
  • There will be no Opening Day tickets available. Those all went to season ticket holders. Red Sox and Yankees tickets will also be limited because new, partial season ticket holders who couldn’t get Opening Day tickets were given the option to purchase tickets for those games.
  • And if you’re into the goodies, here is the Tigers promotional schedule.

If you don’t get everything you want, there is always the after market for a second chance at those tickets.

Good luck, and let us know how you made out.

Only way to get Opening Day tickets

The Tigers announced that a limited number of full season ticket packages are now on sale. They also announced, and this really isn’t a surprise, that there will be no single Opening Day seats available when single game tickets go on sale on Saturday morning. So if you want Opening Day at face value, you’ll have to go the full season route.

Of course there are always resellers like StubHub. Right now there are 434 listings with the cheapest seat being a single bleacher ticket for $149.99. To get a pair closer to the field than Ford Field it starts at $165. These prices are up considerably since the $130’s where tickets were listed in January.

Other details for the single game ticket sales include:

Individual tickets for all other games on the 2008 schedule will be available on March 1, while supplies last, and individual purchases on Saturday will be limited to 12 tickets per game.

For fans purchasing tickets at the Comerica Park Box Office on Saturday, wristbands will be distributed by ballpark security personnel beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, February 29. Customers with wristbands will be given priority when the lines are formed. Customers will not be allowed to stand in line at the Box Office until 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 1. Free parking will be available in Lot 1 at Comerica Park for people purchasing tickets.

Single game tickets will go on sale on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Comerica Park Box Office, online at www.tigers.com, over the telephone by calling (866) 66-TIGER (84437), at 32 Detroit-area Meijer stores and at Hockeytown Authentics, 1845 E. Big Beaver Road, in Troy.

The Meijer store option is new, and might be a decent bet.

Tigers Announce 2008 Broadcast Schedule

The Tigers announced that 161 games will be broadcast this season, plus 4 spring training games. Detroit has been tabbed for 8 Saturday broadcasts on Fox and already 2 Sunday night games on ESPN (with the possibility of 3 more). The only game to not be telecast will be August 2nd against the Devil Rays.

The schedule is after the jump.

Continue reading Tigers Announce 2008 Broadcast Schedule

Granderson’s Hoops Event

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I attended Curtis Granderson’s charity hoops game last night, and it would have to be considered a success. According to Jon Paul Morosi there were over 1700 fans in attendance at Avondale High School. The game featured the Detroit All Stars coached by Granderson against the Flint All Stars skippered by Nate Robertson.

The Detroit team, featuring Desmond Howard, Braylon Edwards, and Willie Burton ended up on top in a game that was made closer than it should have been by some horrible officiating from guest referee Dontrelle Willis. Edwards, who took home MVP honors actually seemed to be pretty irritated as Dontrelle made up calls to keep the game close down the stretch. Edwards came to play and he actually did play defense and had a few impressive dunks. He also hurdled the ball rack to dunk during half time.

Willis was very entertaining and an absolute clown who seemed to genuinely be having a great time. When questioned about his calls early on he retorted along the lines of “I came up all the way from Florida for this and I’ll throw everyone in this gym out if I have to.” He did throw out both Granderson and Robertson. Robertson offered to let Willis wear his glasses if it would help.

The half time show was a three point shoot out between Granderson and Robertson. Curtis won going away as Robertson couldn’t recover from a tough 1 for 10 in the first round.

Now with a crowd that big there were some frustrations. Doors opened at 5pm and I arrived with my kids at that time and waited for 25 minutes in the will call line while those who hadn’t pre-purchased tickets were able to walk right up and get them. Either mailing out tickets ahead of time, or having multiple lines for will call differentiated by last name would probably help next year.

Also, some were frustrated with the autograph process. Autograph tickets were sold for a signing session after the game. Even though the tickets were capped at 500, that still makes for a long line and a long wait considering it took the players a little while to get showered and start signing. There’s really nothing that can be done on that front. I did hear complaints from people around me who were upset that only Dontrelle and Curtis were signing. Many had brought UM football helmets and footballs hoping for Edwards and Howard (and probably Tyrone Wheatley who was scheduled to appear but didn’t). My take is that the autograph ticket cost $10 and it was being done for charity. I’m not sure what people really expected.

Even with the hiccups it was a great night for a great cause. It’s also great to see a young athlete be able to rally as much support as Granderson was able to attract.

Friday Warm-Up

With the thermometer rocketing all the way up to 7 degrees this morning, and spring training a few weeks away here are some items to try and keep you warm on a Friday. No heavy analysis here, just some diversions.

The Tunes

I was surfing around the WDFN website and came across some great audio. They have a compilation of the Tigers walk-up music. I parsed out a couple of my favorites.

Omar Infante: I know he’s gone now, but I’ll miss his music the most.
[audio:infante.mp3|autostart=no]

Placido Polanco:
[audio:polanco.mp3|autostart=no]

I don’t think I picked those two because of particular fondness for salsa music. It’s just that those two are specific to nights at the ballpark. Comerica Park is the only place I hear those songs and so they help to take me to my happy place.

The Words

I’ve been reading Inside Pitch: Roger Craig’s ’84 Tiger Journal and it’s been great. I was 10 during that season, so while I remember all the winning and the players, I don’t remember the details.

Craig offers a number of insights and anecdotes that add a lot of flavor to the season. I didn’t know that Jack Morris went on a media boycott for a big chunk of the season. I knew Willie Hernandez won the MVP, but didn’t realize just how remarkable his season was (coincidentally Mop Up Duty just wrote an article highlighting that season). And I had no idea that a police officer stopped Craig and Sparky Anderson while they were walking in Baltimore – because they were shirtless.

It’s out of publication, but used copies can be picked up for as little as a penny at Amazon.

The sights

Roger DeWitt (aka Huey Taxi) continues to hang out at Tiger Town in Lakeland and has been snapping photos as the players start to migrate down there. Also, fantasy camps are now running so he has some shots of old time Tigers as well. Catch it on Flickr.

Message to Inge’s BFF

Dave Dombrowski has some advice for Brandon Inge’s best friend:

“If I was Brandon Inge’s best friend,” said Dombrowski, “I’d tell him ‘you should catch.’ I say that, not thinking he can’t play third, but because to me, this guy can be an All-Star catcher.

Pointed words to be sure and you can dispute his All Star candidacy as a catcher, the message is clear. If Brandon Inge wants to play, be it for the Tigers or anyone else, his willingness leverage his athleticism is what will get him that playing time. Dombrowski also reiterated that he felt that they “owed it to him” to try and make a trade, but short of a trade they are a better club with Inge moving around.

As for his absence at Tigerfest, that was the Tigers choice and not Inge’s. They recognized it would be an uncomfortable situation. Inge, who has been keeping quiet will make an appearance at a Grand Rapids Griffins game on January 18th. He’ll sign autographs starting at 6 p.m. and drop the puck. I’d have a hard time imagining he’d be able to duck the media. (As an aside, the Griffins and Whitecaps teamed up to offer a deal where you get 2 Griffins tickets and 2 Whitecaps tickets for $32. To get the deal go to griffinshockey.com/themenights and use username inge and password griffins0708).

Cabrera’s waistline

In other Inge news, Miguel Cabrera looks good and is excited that there were more people at Tigerfest (8500) than a typical Marlins game.

Sheffield’s rehab

I caught part of Dave Dombrowski’s interview from Tigerfest on 97.1 today and he said that Sheffield’s rehab was progressing nicely and that he should be able to swing a bat.

The Tigerfest Experience

If you were one of the 8,500 who went, I’d love to hear what you thought. The weather was certainly more favorable this year, but I was wondering if it seemed less crowded or better organized.

Tough Ticket

As someone who went through his formative season ticket buying years (defined as: the time period shortly after college when I had an income and little responsibility) in the late 90’s and early 00’s, getting Tigers season tickets was a breeze. Where do you want to sit? No problem. What package do you want? No problem. The programs were great with liberal ticket exchange policies and other bonuses. Entering into the 2008 season things have certainly changed.

Here we are on the day of Tigerfest, and today is the first day that the Tigers have promoted 27 game packages. The team had to wait on the mini-packages because ever since the Willis-Cabrera trade there has been so much demand for full season packages. The official word from the Tigers is that as of Wednesday they had sold 3,300 new full season equivalent (FSE) season ticket plans. And with the team just recently starting to sell the smaller packages, the bulk are probably actual full season packages.

When I called the week of that trade to put down a deposit on a 27 game package, I encountered hold times of 10-15 minutes because of increased demand. I did manage to secure a pair of seats for the 2008 season, but the package doesn’t include a seat for Opening Day. With the additional full season purchases, combined with a high renewal rate of the 19,500 FSE from last year, there just aren’t the physical seats available to offer to those buying season tickets for the first time. The team is offering up a Yankees or Red Sox game as an alternate, which is really about the best they can do. Still, I’ve been to every Opening Day for a decade and it was a prime reason for the decision to go for a plan so I can’t help but be disappointed.

The Tigers are encountering all kinds of challenges, but these are the kinds of problems you want. Much like Jim Leyland trying to figure out the best way to get 3 or 4 number 3 hitters fit into a lineup, the Tigers are challenged with cramming as many people into a park that now seems a little too small. Which is unfathomable for anyone who spent a September night with their own section back in 2003. The Tigers are at a point now where they have to:

  • Balance the desire to sell more full season ticket packages while offering the customer friendly small packages
  • Figure out how to allocate premium tickets like Opening Day and post-season to the tens of thousands of fans who have made a significant financial commitment to the team
  • Continue to reward those loyal fans with smaller, less expensive packages, but that have had them for many years.
  • Consider cutting off season ticket sales to allow for individual and group ticket sales

Again, all good problems to have but challenges nonetheless.

So if you’re on the fence about getting a package, you might not want to wait to long. Already, some packages are sold out for some areas and that was prior to the team even promoting them on the website.

As for my Opening Day dilemma. I decided not to wait around and went the StubHub route. I got a pair in the right field grand stand for $130 a piece. Clearly more than I wanted to spend, but that’s the going rate right now and I don’t see it getting any cheaper. But with over 300 listings at least there is a decent selection.

Tigers announce Tigerfest 2008 lineup

There will be 23 Tigers players on hand at Saturday’s Tigerfest. They are: Jeremy Bonderman, Tim Byrdak, Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, Jacque Jones, Todd Jones, Macay McBride, Zach Miner, Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco, Rick Porcello, Ryan Raburn, Clay Rapada, Edgar Renteria, Nate Robertson, Ivan Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, Bobby Seay, Jordan Tata, Marcus Thames, Justin Verlander, Dontrelle Willis and Vance Wilson.

Tigers President, CEO and General Manager David Dombrowski and Vice President, Assistant General Manager, Al Avila, will participate in activities around the park along with manager Jim Leyland and his entire coaching staff. Former Tigers expected to be on hand include Gates Brown, Barbaro Garbey, John Hiller, Mickey Lolich, Dan Petry, Dave Rozema, Jon Warden and Milt Wilcox. Tigers broadcasters Rod Allen, Dan Dickerson and Jim Price will also be on hand.

A quick check of the list reveals four prominent players who won’t be attendance. By my count Carlos Guillen, Joel Zumaya, Fernando Rodney, and Brandon Inge will not be there. I’m not going to read too much in to any of those that won’t be there, just pointing it out for those who are going. The event is a sellout, but there are tickets available on StubHub!

Lunch with Tigers, support a cause

I received an email from Ashley Diersch who is with the Special Olympics. The Tigers North caravan bus will make two stops at luncheons that will benefit the Special Olympics. The details are below:

Lunch # 1
Sunday January 13, 2008
The Atrium Restaurant
Bay City, MI
Doors Open at 11:15 am
Program Begins at 11:45am
Tickets are $100/each


Lunch # 2

Monday January 14, 2008
Mountain Town Station
Mt. Pleasant, MI
Doors Open at 11:00 am
Program Begins at 11:30am
Tickets are $100/each

Limited Seating- First Come First Serve!

The ticket includes private lunch with the Detroit Tigers Personnel, pictures with the 2006 Championship Trophy and exclusive Tigers Souvenirs.

Portions of the ticket price are tax deductible.

Here are the caveats. First, the listing of players/coaches hasn’t been announced yet. Second, the caravan is a strict no autograph time, so those in attendance can not ask for autographs. The Tigers players are not working, and will not be ready to answer questions as if in an interview, it is designed more to be an opportunity to converse rather than question. My experience with these types of things is that these aren’t rules that the players are imposing so don’t be upset with the Tigers players about the lack of autographs. Typically it’s not because the organizers, or the team want to be jerks. It is usually a matter of logistics and crowd control. And really, a conversation would probably care more meaning than a hastily scribbled signature anyways. As for the lack of interview type questions, I’m not entirely sure what that means but I’m confident that the players would be receptive to typical fan-type questions.

But if you want to meet some Tigers, support Special Olympics of Michigan, get a meal, and a tax deduction this sounds pretty good. If you’re interested, here are the order forms for the Mt Pleasant Tickets and the Bay City tickets.

How bout that Chad Durbin

I didn’t really expect to be writing another post about Chad Durbin. Sure, I was going to include a link at some point that he had signed with the Phillies, but that was just going to be a bullet point. But while reading Bless You Boys this morning, it was brought to my attention that Durbin took time to swing by Roar of the Tigers and leave a comment.

You see, Samara took a liking to Durbin following his spectacular effort against the White Sox earlier in the year. Samara thought the effort and Durbin were “pimp” and as Samara does she created an image to that effect. It came became a running thing. With Durbin leaving, Samra did one last pimp for Chad Durbin. Chad left the following comment on the post:

Samara,

Thanks so much for the attention and virtual pimp status! My family informed me last year of the blog and it was certainly the focus of some fun-poking on my account. I understand baseball’s dynamics and realize that it is hard to find reasons to cheer for some of the obscure, forgettable players. There are more “forgettable players” out there than the stars…we all understand that much. I don’t have to defend the amount of tremendous success a baseball player must have to reach even the obscure status, either…because this was all in fun. Thanks for finding reasons to make us/me unique. The beauty of free media, right??

I’ll have to check in to see who the next pimptim is…best of luck! Oh yeah, to ease your mind on having to cheer against me…I’ll most likely be in the NL. Pittsburgh, Philly, NYMets…somewhere like that.

Chad Durbin

Very cool on Chad’s part and very cool for Samara as well. And while I posted the comment here, the real incentive for you to click through to Roar of the Tigers is the imagery itself.