Join former Detroit Tiger and Hamtramck native Ike Blessitt, along with 1984 World Series champs Juan Berenguer and Barbaro Garbey, for a game of baseball between Fantasy Campers and members of the Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew, including writer Dave Mesrey, on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 1 p.m. at historic Hamtramck Stadium!
Please remember that our historic 1930 grandstand is still under renovation, so bring a chair, bring a friend, and bring your memories of 1984!
Light snacks and refreshments will be available. Think hot dogs and Cracker Jack!
Donations are appreciated, but not required. Admission is free!
A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew.
May 1975: Hank Aaron takes infield practice with the Milwaukee Brewers at Detroit's Tiger Stadium. (Photo by Tom Hagerty)
By Dave Mesrey
Baseball’s longtime home run king Hank Aaron died last month at the age of 86.
Former Detroit Tiger Tony Clark, today the executive director of the MLB players association, called it “a profoundly sad day for baseball.”
Aaron, who started his big-league career in the Negro Leagues with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1952, never spent much time in Detroit. Long before interleague play was adopted in 1997, Aaron played 21 seasons (1954-74) with the National League’s Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, appearing only once at Tiger Stadium, in the 1971 All-Star Game.
Aaron's idol Jackie Robinson appeared only once at Tiger Stadium (then known as Briggs Stadium), when he helped lead the National League to victory over George Kell and the American League in the 1951 All-Star Game.
Twenty years later, in his only appearance as a National Leaguer in Detroit, in the 1971 midsummer classic at Tiger Stadium, Aaron famously hit a home run off of AL starter Vida Blue:
Moments later, Aaron was standing in right field when Oakland A’s slugger Reggie Jackson hit an epic blast off Dock Ellis that hit the light tower.
Aaron never even flinched.
Retired Negro Leaguer and future Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes was a regular at Tiger Stadium in those days, where he often watched games from his perch in the centerfield bleachers. His daughter Joyce Stearnes Thompson fondly recalls her father's perspective on Aaron.
"Dad said he knew Hank was going to break Babe Ruth's record and that he was going to break even more records," she says.
Two years later, in 1973, as Aaron was closing in on Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell even wrote a song about Aaron, recorded by Tigers pitcher Bill Slayback and later by singer Richard "Popcorn" Wylie.
Hank Aaron hits historic home run number 715 off L.A. Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, April 8, 1974, at Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium.
After breaking Ruth's home run record in Atlanta in 1974, Aaron returned to Wisconsin to close out his major-league career, playing his final two seasons for the American League’s Milwaukee Brewers from 1975-76. With the AL's new designated hitter rule in effect, Aaron visited Detroit as the Brewers' DH a few times a year to take on the division rival Tigers in a battle of AL East cellar dwellers.
“He was the greatest home run hitter ever,” says former Tigers slugger Ron LeFlore, who played against Aaron in his final two seasons. “Barry Bonds passed him, but Hank was the best. He played in the deadball era of the ’50s and ’60s. After that, they started tightening up the seams, and the ball started going further."
Aaron'sfinal career at-bat came against the Tigers on Oct. 3, 1976, before a crowd of 6,858 at Milwaukee County Stadium. In the bottom of the sixth of a 5-2 Tigers victory, Aaron smacked an RBI infield single off Tigers starter Dave Roberts and then Brewers manager Alex Grammas lifted him for a pinch-runner.
“To a generation of us former kids," Stanton says, "Hank Aaron represented not just the sport we loved but decency, fairness and a changing world. He was the central heroic figure in a mid-1970s morality play staged before our young eyes: good vs. evil. Competing for a team in a state that still had a segregationist for lieutenant governor, Aaron battled racism and hatred and endured daily death threats as he pursued sports’ most famous record, held by its most mythologized white legend, Babe Ruth.
"A surprisingly large number of people simply didn’t want a black man to topple Ruth. For a child of that time, it was a glorious achievement to witness and be part of it. It should have been a celebration for him, too. But he was forced to battle bigotry. In the end, he won — not just the record but our young hearts.”
Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium co-founder Gary Gillette (left) and retired auto designer Vince Geraci present the family of Baseball Hall of Famer Norman "Turkey" Stearnes (daughters Rosilyn and Joyce and granddaughter Vanessa) with custom commemorative baseball jerseys Sept. 29 at Hamtramck Stadium.
Story and photos by Dave Mesrey
HAMTRAMCK, MICH. — Last month, the City of Hamtramck and the Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium teamed up to give the newly renovated baseball diamond at the former home of the Negro League Detroit Stars a new name: Norman "Turkey" Stearnes Field.
Stearnes, the Hall of Fame outfielder who starred for the Stars in the 1930s at the old ballpark on Dan Street, helped pave the way for Jackie Robinson to break the Major League Baseball color line in 1947.
Born in 1901 in Nashville, Tennessee, Stearnes remained in Detroit after his baseball career and worked for Ford Motor Company for27 years at the Rouge plant in Dearborn. He died in 1979 and was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
The city and the Friends honored the Stearnes family in a moving dedication ceremonylast Tuesday in front of the ballpark's dilapidated 1930 grandstand. Now with its brand-new grass infield and its gorgeously restored basepaths, Hamtramck Stadium is one step closer to a rebirth.
"A generation of Negro League players — Turkey Stearnes and all his teammates — played here and made an impact here and leave their spirits here," said Hamtramck mayor Karen Majewski.
Hamtramck mayor Karen Majewski.
"We see the vision and how many people and how many organizations have been inspired by that," she added. "I hope to see you all here in the spring when the sports clinics start. ... The field is absolutely beautiful, and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing that you're all here."
"The past is what brought us here, and the past is what makes this special," he said, "but what's gonna make this place come alive are the youth of today. We're doing this for the children of Hamtramck today and tomorrow and next year and the following year."
Detroit Warriors first baseman Kole Waterman helps break in the new infield at Hamtramck Stadium.
Turkey Stearnes' family, represented by his daughters, Joyce Stearnes Thompson and Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown, and his granddaughter Vanessa Ivy Rose, was presented with custom commemorative jerseys designed by retired automotive designer Vince Geraci.
Geraci's unique design combines the Old English D of the Tigers' home jerseys with elements of the classic Detroit Stars jersey.
"For the first time in history," Geraci said, "the wide blue band and the Old English D are together as teammates."
Geraci said he hopes his design can someday serve as an alternate away jersey for the Tigers to honor the Detroit Stars and Turkey Stearnes — "a wonderful person, and we honor him today."
Longtime baseball coach Mike Wilson, president of the Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium, was thrilled to be back in the city of his youth. "I’ve come full circle from my roots in Hamtramck," he said, "and I feel fortunate to be a part of this valuable project."
Wilson's background at Detroit's Woodbridge Baseball Academy gave him valuable insights into the process of constructing a professional baseball diamond, and the results on Turkey Stearnes Field speak for themselves.
"It's great to be back here today to honor the history of this site, and I look forward to all the great things to come," Wilson said. "I'd like to thank my colleagues on the board of the Friends and with the City of Hamtramck, as well as the Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew for their dedication. And a special thanks to Mike Thompson and Nick Burgess for their generous donation of topsoil and sod."
FHHS president Mike Wilson.
Hamtramck Public Schools superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed, a longtime educator and student of history, saidthat Hamtramck Stadium serves as a symbol of resilience, sportsmanship, and unity centered on the love of baseball.
HPS superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed.
"Through the work of collective efforts, the restoration process has brought back life to this historic site," she said. "All involved in preserving and protecting this site have given more opportunities for talent to grow, for families to create memories, and for our city to thrive.
"Old places indeed have souls," she said. "Let's continue to preserve the past for the future."
The event was a transformative one for Rose, who called it “anti-racism work in action.”
“The naming of the field symbolizes people from different backgrounds coming together to uphold unity, love, justice and truth,” she said. “In Africa, naming is a form of honoring and empowerment. The field being named after Grandpa Turkey truly is justice for all the Negro Leaguers who were worthy of being seen, valued, and recognized as contributors to America’s favorite pastime.
"Being so quiet and reserved," Rose added, "Grandpa Turkey always let his bat do the talking when he played, and even though I never had the chance to see him play, I can still hear him loud and clear."
Rose's mother, Joyce, said that while this year should've seen a bigger celebration of the Negro Leagues' centennial anniversary, 2020 instead hasbeen filled with hatred, tragedy, and racism.
"But today," she said, "we can erase that from our minds and fill our hearts with love and joy."
Joyce Stearnes Thompson.
Stearnes' daughter Rosilyn said she's thrilled to see the legacy of the Negro Leaguers continue at Hamtramck Stadium.
"I just want to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the things everybody has done in honor of my dad," she said, choking back tears. "Please encourage your kids to get active in baseball. ... Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown.
Tom Derry, founder of the volunteer Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew (formerly the Navin Field Grounds Crew), has long been a fan of the Detroit Stars and even sported a classic Stars jersey on his wedding day at the old Tiger Stadium site in 2014.
Tom and Sarah Derry on their wedding day in 2014.
"I want to say what a thrill it is to be standing right here on this spot, where 90 years ago Josh Gibson played catcher for the Homestead Grays," Derry said. "The history here at Hamtramck Stadium just amazes me every time I come out here.
Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew founder Tom Derry.
"This field means a lot to us," Derry said. "We're honored to be working with the City and with the Friends, and we're excited not only to preserve baseball history, but also to help the community — because this isn't just a baseball field, but a field for everybody to enjoy. We're excited to be here, and we hope to maintain this field for a long time to come."
Renovation of the historic grandstand is expected to begin in 2021.
The land where turkeys roam
Remembering Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes on his 120th birthday.
By Tom Derry | Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew The great Negro League ballplayer Norman “Turkey” Stearnes was born on this date in 1901 in Nashville, Tennessee. Stearnes claimed he got his nickname because of the potbelly he had as a child. Others have said he got it because of the way he flapped his arms when he ran the bases.
Young Turkey Stearnes started out as a pitcher for Pearl High School in Nashville. When he wasn’t in school or practicing ball, Stearnes would work any job he could find. He delivered groceries, drove wagons, and even slopped pigs.
It was during this time that his father died.
Stearnes wasn’t the only Hall of Famer to play for the Detroit Stars, but he was the greatest player the team ever had — and one of the finest players in the history of baseball. After more than 20 incredible seasons in the Negro Leagues, the fleet-footed center fielder retired in 1942 with a hefty lifetime batting average of .344.
Most people assume that Josh Gibson hit more home runs than anyone else in Negro League history.
But research has shown that the official all-time leader is Turkey Stearnes, with 176 four-base clouts.
“I never counted my home runs,” Stearnes once said. “If they didn’t win a ballgame, they didn’t amount to anything. That’s what I wanted — to win the game.”
Stearnes started his Negro League baseball career with the Nashville Giants in 1920. After one season with the Montgomery Grey Sox, Stearnes joined the Detroit Stars in 1923. Stearnes led the Negro National League in home runs that year, and would lead the league five more times throughouthis illustrious career.
In the 1920s, the Detroit Stars played their home games at Mack Park, at Mack and Fairview on the city's east side. After a terrible fire there in 1929, Detroit Stars owner John Roesink built the team a new stadium in Hamtramck, and Stearnes and his teammates had a new home for the 1930 season.
That year, Stearnes batted .353 for the Stars, leading the team to a postseason matchup against the St. Louis Stars. Stearnes put on an incredible hitting show, batting .481, clubbing three homers, and knocking in 11 runs.
One of his blasts was reported to have traveled over 500 feet.
But in the end, St. Louis won the best-of-seven series, four games to three.
“He hit the ball nine miles,” said former Negro Leaguer Jim Canada. “He was a show. People would go to see him play.”
In the midst of the Great Depression, the Detroit Stars soon faced financial difficulties, and Stearnes wound up playing for several other Negro League teams in New York, Kansas City, Chicago, and Philadelphia during his career.
Pitching legend Satchel Paige once said that Stearnes was “one of the greatest hitters we ever had. He was as good as Josh [Gibson]. He was as good as anybody who ever played ball.”
The best player I ever saw play for the Detroit Tigers was Al Kaline. He was a complete player.
Baseball historian Bill James ranked Kaline as the 90th greatest baseball player ever.
James ranked Stearnes as the 25th best.
Detroit baseball fans from the 1970s remember how Mark Fidrych talked to the baseball. Turkey Stearnes talked to his bats. He carried his favorite bats around with him in a violin case and believed they were living things, extensions of his own arms.
After games, teammates would hear him thank his bat when it delivered a big hit. Sometimes he would scold them after hitting a weak pop fly.
One teammate recalled that Stearnes once told a bat, “If I had used you, I would’ve hit a home run.”
“Stearnes was very particular about his bat,” said Hall of Famer Judy Johnson. “If he made an out, he’d sit there holding it and talking. ‘I hit that good,’ he’d say. I believe sometimes he carried that bat to bed with him.”
Stearnes was also an outstanding outfielder.
“Everyone knows Cool Papa Bell was the fastest man,” said Negro Leaguer Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe. “But Cool Papa Bell couldn’t field with Turkey Stearnes. He was faster, but Turkey Stearnes was one of the best fly-ball men.”
“If they don’t put him in the Hall of Fame,” said Bell, “they probably shouldn’t put anyone in.”
In his prime, Stearnes was denied the chance to play in the white "major leagues" because of the color of his skin.
“They had to deal with discrimination and all of the crap that goes along with that," says Stearnes's daughter Rosilyn Brown. But "they weren’t bitter at all about not making it to the ‘majors.’ They did it for the love of the game.”
Throughout his Negro Leagues career, Stearnes spent his offseasons toiling in a local factory, which was owned by none other than Detroit Tigers owner Walter Briggs. Even after Jackie Robinson broke the major-league color barrier in 1947, Briggs refused to sign a player of color to the Tigers.
After his playing career, Stearnes worked at Ford Motor Company’s Rouge complex for more than 20 years, briefly working in the same place and the same time as a young Berry Gordy Jr.
In his retirement, Stearnes would often attend Detroit Tigers games at Tiger Stadium, preferring to sit with friends in the lower-deck bleachers. And starting in 1974, Stearnes would often find himself sitting in the stands right behind the Tigers' new centerfielder, a Black man from the east side of Detroit who, just like Stearnes, wore the Number 8.
“I know a lot of boys, and I have fun out there with them," Stearnes once told The New York Times. "We talk. We discuss things without fighting. It’s a good game. It’s the best game known. You go to see it, you’ll like it.”
Nettie Mae, who played a key role in getting her husband inducted, passed away in 2014.
Both of Stearnes’s daughters live in the Detroit area and are excited about the plans to renovate historic Hamtramck Stadium, one of the five major Negro League stadiums left in the country.
"This was a special place for him and the Negro Leaguers," says Stearnes's daughter Joyce Thompson.
"The legacy he left behind is one of peaceful action, hard work, quiet confidence and team unity," says Stearnes's granddaughter Vanessa Ivy Rose. "His birthday is a reminder to continue upon the golden road of greatness he and Grandma Nettie paved for all of us to follow."
The Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew is thrilled to help restore the ball field that was once home to Norman “Turkey” Stearnes and the Detroit Stars. When I’m cutting the grass at Hamtramck Stadium, I often think about Turkey Stearnes and his teammates and the 16 other Hall of Famers who once played on this field.
One day last year, I was riding my mower in centerfield and I wondered what Turkey Stearnes would think about our efforts to preserve his old home.
A few seconds later, I saw a large bird walking around near first base.
I rode my mower toward first base, to get a better look.
Sure enough, it was a turkey.
I think he approves.
We’ll take good care of your field, Turkey.
Tom Derry is the founder and head groundskeeper of the Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew.
Steve Gromek (left) and Larry Doby celebrate Cleveland's crucial victory in Game 4 of the 1948 World Series. (Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)
By Tom Derry Today marks 100 years since the birth of Steve Gromek in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Gromek, a graduate of St. Ladislaus High School, was one of the greatest players to ever come out of Hamtramck. He even played a role in the integration of Major League Baseball.
Gromek, who started out as an infielder in the Cleveland Indians organization, eventually became a pitcher in 1941. The dependable right-hander pitched in the majors for 17 years, winning 123 games, tossing 17 shutouts, and completing 92 games.
In 1945, Gromek won 19 games for Clevelanddespite missing two weeks after injuring his knee while scoring the winning run in a game against Detroit. Gromek was named to the American League All-Star team that year, but the game was canceled due to travel restrictions during World War II.
Gromek would later be traded to his hometown Detroit Tigers, where he would win 18 games in 1954. But Gromek’s shining moment would come during the 1948 World Series. Player-manager Lou Boudreau made a surprising decision to start Gromek in Game 4 of the fall classic against the Boston Braves at Cleveland Stadium. The Hamtramck native would not disappoint the Indians' skipper.
The other hero of the game was Larry Doby, whose third-inning homer would prove to be the game-winning run.
Doby’s blast was the first home run hit by a black player in World Series history. The Plain Dealer, the major newspaper in Cleveland, snapped a photo of Gromek and Doby celebrating in the locker room after the game. The photo of them hugging each other became a signature moment in the integration of baseball. It was only a year earlier that Doby had become the first black player in the American League, just three months after Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier with the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers.
When Doby first joined the Indians, four of his teammates refused to shake his hand, and two turned their backs to him.
But the embrace Doby received from Hamtramck’s own Steve Gromek was something the left-handed slugger would never forget. In his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in 1998, Doby reflected on the photo with Gromek. “That was a feeling from within, the human side of two people, one black and one white,” Doby said. “That made up for everything I went through. I would always relate back to that whenever I was insulted or rejected from hotels. I’d always think about that picture. It would take away all the negatives.”
The Detroit Historical Society, the Black Historic Sites Committee, and the Hamtramck Stadium Grounds Crew proudly present a 40th-anniversary screening of The Ron LeFlore Story, with special guest former Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore, Sunday August 18 at 2 p.m. at the Detroit Historical Museum.
His story is incredible, improbable ... impossible. And it could only happen in Detroit. In the winter of 1970, 21-year-old Ron LeFlore and two accomplices robbed a bar on the east side of Detroit across from the Chrysler stamping plant. The long arm of the law quickly caught up with them, and LeFlore was sentenced to five to 15 years in Jackson state prison. LeFlore hadn't played any organized baseball growing up, but with little to do behind bars, he soon joined the prison baseball team. His first game was in Jackson, Michigan, on May 18, 1971. Just three years later, he was the starting center fielder for the Detroit Tigers. After two seasons of ups and downs with the Tigers, LeFlore had a breakout year in 1976, starting the season with an incredible 30-game hitting streak and earning himself a starting spot on the American League All-Star roster alongside teammates Rusty Staub and Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. Soon there was a book about LeFlore, followed by a movie starring LeVar Burton. It is the stuff of legend — the legend of Ron LeFlore. Join us Sunday, August 18, at 2 p.m. at the Detroit Historical Museum for a 40th anniversary screening of "One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story," with our very special guest Ron LeFlore. Admission is free. First come, first seated. Afterparty in the museum's Lindell A.C. exhibit. Special thanks to Wes Pikula for making this event possible.
Dave Mesrey gives the keynote address at the Baseball Reliquary's 19th annual Shrine of the Eternals induction ceremony Sunday, July 16, 2017, in Pasadena, California. July 16, 2017 By Dave Mesrey Good afternoon.
It's great to be with you here at the Baseball Reliquary.
It’s a long way from Detroit to Pasadena.
And what a long, strange trip it’s been.
The game of baseball can take you to some of the unlikeliest places with the unlikeliest of people.
I wouldn’t be here today in the hometown of Jackie Robinson if it weren’t for Ernie Harwell, if it weren’t for Willie Horton, and if it weren’t for Tom Derry and the Navin Field Grounds Crew.
And I wouldn’t be here on the birthday of Shoeless Joe Jackson if it wasn’t for the spirit of Tiger Stadium.
It was Shoeless Joe who christened Tiger Stadium over a hundred years ago, back when it was known as Navin Field.
Not to be outdone, in the bottom of the first, the Tigers score their first run when Ty Cobb steals home.
For years, that old ballpark at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull was a mecca for many of us in Detroit. But as Cam Perron knows, it wasn’t always a mecca for African-Americans, who were forced to play in their own leagues simply because of the color of their skin. I grew up on the east side of Detroit.
My father, the son of Syrian immigrants from Damascus, taught me the game of baseball.
He taught me about Earl Wilson and Gates Brown and Willie Horton.
Taught me about Joe Louis and Louis Armstrong. Taught me about America.
We lived in a lower flat on Nottingham Street. On the next street over lived an ex-con who somehow made it out of Jackson State Prison and into the Tigers' starting lineup.
Mickey Lolich once lived in that neighborhood. Just a few blocks over was White Boy Rick.
As one of the few Middle Eastern kids in my neighborhood and in my school, I was subjected to my fair share of ridicule.
Kids would call me Ay-rab, towelhead, camel jockey. You can guess the rest.
As hard as I tried, I never quite fit in.
But I feel like I kind of fit in with you here at the Baseball Reliquary.
Despite our best efforts in Detroit, Tiger Stadium is gone, and it’s never coming back.
But for anybody who ever set foot in the place, its spirit lives on. It was a uniquely American ballpark in a uniquely American town.
The story of Tiger Stadium, in many ways, is the story of Detroit.
It’s the story of America.
It’s where immigrants from all over the world came to learn this quintessentially American game.
It’s where the Jews came to see Hank Greenberg.
Where Italians came to see Rocky Colavito
Where Latinos came to see Ozzie Virgil.
And in the 1960s and ’70s, when the Red Sox were in town, it’s where the Arabs came to see Joe Lahoud.
And after the Tigers sign Jake Wood and Willie Horton and Gates Brown, it’s a place where African-Americans can finally come and see one of their own wearing the Old English D.
One of those fans is a Black autoworker at Ford Motor Company who catches the bus to the ballpark all the time to sit in the bleachers and watch Willie Horton and Gates Brown and Earl Wilson.
This practically anonymous autoworker — he works in the foundry at the Ford Rouge plant.
The same place, at the same time, as a young Berry Gordy.
But he’s not just any autoworker. He’s an old ballplayer who still loves the game.
In fact, in his day, he hit the most home runs in Negro League history.
His name is Turkey Stearnes.
In the 1920s and ’30s, Norman “Turkey” Stearnes played just a few miles away at a place called Hamtramck Stadium. This was the home of the Negro National League Detroit Stars.
There, Stearnes and his teammates played against the likes of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell.
And for the grand opening of Hamtramck Stadium in 1930, they ask this middle-aged white guy from Georgia to catch a train to Detroit so he can be on hand to throw out the first pitch at a Negro League ballpark.
And he does.
And it’s Ty Cobb.
But Hamtramck Stadium wasn’t just a place for the Negro Leagues. After Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in 1947 and the Detroit Stars fold and the Negro Leagues fade into history, Hamtramck Stadium is used for community baseball. High school games, church leagues, American Legion, and Little League.
And it’s there that a big Polish kid by the name of Art “Pinky” Deras leads the 1959 Hamtramck Little League team to the Little League World Series.
Once home to Germans and Poles and African-Americans, Hamtramck continues to evolve. And its changing face is the face of America.
Today there are still Poles and African-Americans in Hamtramck … and hipsters of all ages playing their music and making their art and living their lives.
And now there are immigrants from Yemen and Syria and Bangladesh.
The mayor of Hamtramck today— she’s Polish.
And the majority of the City Council are Muslims.
And right there in the middle of it all is this old Negro League ballpark.
One of just five or six left in America.
And it’s still standing.
The kids in Hamtramck today —
they play a lot of soccer. They play a lot of cricket. And they play a lot of football.
And while baseball might not be America’s pastime anymore, it is still a quintessentially American game.
And so Hamtramck High School still has its own baseball team.
Their Coach, Adam Mused, is Yemeni.
His players are Yemenis, Bangladeshis, Bosnians, and Poles.
One kid is half Mexican, half Arabic. Coach Mused calls ’em “the world team.”
I call ’em America’s Team.
Now until just a few years ago, I didn’t even realize Hamtramck Stadium was still standing.
But it is.
And until just about a year ago. I didn’t even know this place existed.
The Baseball Reliquary — a place for guys like Dock Ellis and Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.
And I’ve started to realize that so many ballplayers who came through Detroit would fit in here.
Guys like Turkey Stearnes and Pinky Deras.
Dave Rozema and Johnny Wockenfuss.
Hank Aguirre and Ron LeFlore.
And while they might never get into Cooperstown, I think maybe there’s even a place here for the longest-serving keystone combination in major-league history, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker.
I learned about so many of these guys from listening to my father and listening to Ernie Harwell on the radio.And I can trace it all back to the night the Tigers won the pennant in 1968.
That night, my parents are sitting in the lower deck of the left-field stands, right behind Willie Horton. And when Don Wert singles in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, the place goes bananas.
Ernie Harwell says “Kaline has scored, the fans are streaming on the field, and the Tigers have won their first pennant since 1945.
My mother was five months’ pregnant with me that day. Guess you could say I had an obstructed-view seat. So I can’t see Don Wert’s single. I can’t see Kaline score, and I can’t see the fans go wild.
So I did what Ernie said.
I listened to the bedlam ... there at Tiger Stadium.
And then for the final game at Tiger Stadium in 1999, just like my parents, I find myself sitting in the lower deck of the left-field stands.
After the game, all the old Tigers come out in uniform.
George Kell and Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker.
Bill Freehan and Ron LeFlore and Cecil Fielder.
And then right in front of me, back in left field in his Tigers uniform for the last time at Tiger Stadium, comes Willie Horton.
And he’s crying.
And Larry Herndon’s crying.
And everybody’s crying. And there's a sign in the upper deck that says, "Today there is crying in baseball."
And that day, everybody at Tiger Stadium broke the cardinal rule.
The first one out of the tunnel that night is Mark “The Bird” Fidrych.
And I watch as he sprints out to the pitcher’s mound and he kneels down and he pulls out a Ziploc bag and scoops up a handful of dirt to take back home with him to Massachusetts.
And then the lights go down and the crowd thins out, and Ernie Harwell says, “Farewell, Tiger Stadium. We will remember.”
There’s a picture of Turkey Stearnes in his final days in 1979 standing at home plate at Tiger Stadium, where he was never allowed to play because of the color of his skin.
Stearnes is just staring out into the outfield, where he sat as a spectator for so many days in the bleachers. And you can see in his eyes the story of the Negro Leagues. It’s the triumph of determination over discrimination, and the triumph of dignity over despair.
I think what it all boils down to is this:
Place matters.
If there’s someplace that matters to you … whether it’s an old library or an old house or an old ballpark … it’s a place worth fighting for.
And like I said, baseball can take you to the unlikeliest of places with the unlikeliest of people. And so in 2009, when Mark “The Bird” Fidrych dies, I realize I must go to Massachusetts.
Forty-five minutes west of Boston, right outside of Worcester, Mass., is a little town I’d always wanted to visit. But I never got around to it until I got the word that the Bird was gone.
So I hop on a plane and I head out east, and I find myself in this tiny little town where Mark “The Bird” Fidrych was born and raised. And I find the church, and it’s jam-packed and there’s a line outside a mile long. But somehow I manage to get inside, and I stand in the back of the church.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
And up there on the altar is a Mark “The Bird” Fidrych jersey, and who should be there to deliver the eulogy — all the way from Detroit — but Willie Horton.
After the funeral, I stumble out into the streets of Northborough, and walk around in awe, and I wander over to Main Street, where I come upon this old abandoned gas station, and I think to myself, “I wonder if this was Pierce’s.”
I remembered that when The Bird signed his first Major League contract, he was a 19-year-old kid pumping gas at a place called Pierce’s. This is 1974. His father comes up there one day and says, “Markie, you don’t have to work here anymore.”
And the Bird says, “What do you mean?”
And his dad says, “You’ve just been drafted by the Detroit Tigers.”
And then I look up and I see this guy walking down Main Street, and he’s in a black suit, and it looks like he’s just left the church. Short guy, looks like Robin Williams, and I say, “Excuse me. Was this Pierce’s gas station?”
Pierce's Oil & Gas, Northborough, Mass.
And he looks at me and says, “Yeah, that was Pierce’s. You not from around here?”
And I say no.
And he sees I’m wearing a sportcoat and he says, “Were you just at the funeral?”
And I said I was.
And then he says, “Are you from Detroit?”
I said I am.
And he says, “My name is Stevie Graham. I known Markie my whole life. We grew up playin’ Little League together. You wanna buy me a coffee?”
So we walk in to the Dunkin’ Donuts and I buy him a coffee and he starts telling me what it’s like to grow up with Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. And what it’s like to see him go from your goofy, lovable neighbor to the major leagues and see him on TV talking to Bob Uecker on Monday Night Baseball.
Stevie Graham, it turns out, is a hell of a poker player. His buddies call him “The Brain.” And The Brain looks at me and says “You got a car?”
And I say yeah.
And he says, “How’d you like a tour of Northborough?”
So we start driving around Northborough, and he shows me this little house and says, “See that place? That’s where Markie grew up.”
And then we drive around a little more and he shows me this farm, and he doesn’t have to say anything because I know whose farm it is. And I can see off in the distance a big red Mack truck, and I know whose truck it is.
And we drive around a little more, and he says, “There’s one more place I gotta show ya.”
So we drive around town, and we end up at a little ballpark called Memorial Field.
Stevie "The Brain" Graham.
There’s a Little League diamond, and there’s a major-league diamond, and The Brain says, “This is where we grew up playin’ ball. This is where Markie and I learned the game.”
And then The Brain goes and finds the groundskeeper and says, “Tommy, I want you to meet somebody. This is Dave. He came all the way from Detroit for Markie’s funeral.”
And then he says to the groundskeeper, “You got a Ziploc baggie?”
And he says, “Yeah.”
And The Brain tells him, “Go get some dirt from the mound.”
And so I watch this groundskeeper walk out to the mound, get down on his hands and knees, and scoop up a handful of dirt.
And he gives me the bag.
Dirt from The Bird's hometown of Northborough, Massachusetts. (Jesse Saucedo)
Then I was like, “Shit, Brain, I’ve got something for you.”
He says, “Whaddaya got?”
I’d brought something with me from Detroit. I didn’t know why I brought it or what I was gonna do with it until that very moment. And so I reach in my pocket, and I pull out another bag of dirt, and I give it to Stevie “The Brain” Graham.
And he looks at me and says, “Is that what I think it is?”
I said, “It is.”
And he says, “Is that from Tiger Stadium?”
I said, “It is.”
And he says, “Is that from the fuckin’ pitcher’s mound?!”
And I said, “Aw, I’m sorry, man. It’s from the left-field line. Best I could do!”
So he takes his bag of dirt, I take my bag of dirt, and we go our separate ways.
Tiger Stadium, Fall 2008
And then when I get back to Detroit, they tear down what’s left of Tiger Stadium. It was supposed to be this great historic reuse of an old major-league ballpark, but it wasn’t meant to be. And so they tear it down. And then Ernie Harwell dies.
And they’ve got him laid out at Comerica Park so people can come and pay their last respects.
But I don’t wanna go there. I wanna go to Tiger Stadium. I wanna go to Navin Field.
But now it’s this 10-acre vacant lot. And it’s riddled with trash and weeds. But there are people there playing catch in the weeds and remembering Ernie Harwell, and remembering the spirit of Tiger Stadium.
And I meet this guy, Tom Derry, and we come back a few days later and we start picking up the trash and cutting the grass. And the cops start harassing us, but we keep coming back. And soon you can make out the base paths again.
And then the people come.
Next thing you know, we’re the Navin Field Grounds Crew and for six years it’s this surreal saga of trying to preserve what’s left of an old major-league ballpark.
But it’s gone now.
We couldn’t save Navin Field, but I like to think we kept its spirit alive.
Matthew Herch
And now there’s another ballpark that needs restoring.
And it’s right there in the middle of Detroit, in this little city called Hamtramck, Michigan.
I’m so pleased to be with you here today in the hometown of Jackie Robinson. It’s been a long, strange trip for a Syrian-American kid from the east side of Detroit.
So that got me thinking … while I’m proud to be here with you at the Baseball Reliquary, I think I’ll be even more proud and more pleased when I look out between the lines of a major-league diamond … and see a Middle Eastern face in baseball again.
There’s a kid out there somewhere, just waiting to be discovered.
Maybe he’s Yemeni like Adam Mused.
Maybe he’s Lebanese like Joe Lahoud.
Maybe he’s even Muslim … like Sammy Khalifa.
And maybe — just maybe — he's from Hamtramck, Michigan. Thank you.
Dave Mesrey is a founding member of the Navin Field Grounds Crew.
