In Detroit 442 / Maybe, Baby, I Could Ride With You

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What's up, Leatherheads? No time for an update this morning, as we were on road early in the a.m. to get to Cincinnati in time for today's 1:15 start. More on Cincinnati a little later, as this review is for Comerica Park in Detroit.

By the way, as a quick aside, I'd just like to update it that we attended Cleveland's Feast of the Assumption, which was a good time. Much lower key than New York's San Gennaro Festival, if any of you have been there. Additionally, Cleveland's West Side Market was a pretty fun place, kind of similar to Pike Place in Seattle, but different in many ways as well. Maybe Ichiro should check it out the next time he's in town.

So Comerica Park is another new stadium in the Jacobs Field mold. Like PNC Park and "The Jake," it was not designed to give a feel for the old-time ballparks, but instead to give a more modern sense. Another similarity to Jacobs Field is its openness and view of the city nearby, as well as the entrance being in the outfield.

Speaking of the city nearby, we arrived in Detroit with just enough time to take a little walk around and see some of the city. There was a park just a few blocks away (Mauritius Something or other Park) that wasn't too bad, but seemed kind of small. Additionally, a five- or ten-minute walk can take you to "GreekTown," which is a little neighborhood with a bunch of Greek restaurants where you can grab a gyro before the game (although we did not). GreekTown is pretty small, but if you have the time, it's kind of cool to see how close it is to the stadium. I feel like areas like that really suffer when parks come in and the corporate world takes over, but I guess that's not necessarily true (Little Italy and Camden Yards in Baltimore, for example).

Comerica is also another park where you can walk around the whole stadium to get different vantage points, which -- as I pointed out before -- is a really nice feature. We had standing room only tickets for the outfield balcony (a great view), which placed us in the vicinity of statues of past Tigers greats (and there have been a bunch). The only time we were asked to move on was when we accidentally stumbled into what I guess was a private event. The usher was less than polite, but then again, we were in Detroit.

Another great feature of Comerica was that they played pretty good music throughout. Even Curtis Granderson bats to Bell Biv Devoe. Oh yeah, and it was pretty cool to see the American League's Speed King, Justin Verlander.

Comerica Grades:

Biggest Advantages: Tigers statues, Great views of the game from almost every section, GreekTown
Biggest Drawbacks: No one sells $5 hats outside the stadium
Overall Grade: B+

Up Next: Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio

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