Bo Schembechler

By Charles Sercombe – September 18, 2008


Stopping by old Tiger Stadium on Wednesday and seeing the green grass now exposed by the demolition reminded me of my first time I got to go out onto that field.

Let me tell you, that was an incredible moment.

But first, some background. Back in the 1980s when I first started here at The Citizen, I received the lucky assignment to cover Polish-American Night at Tiger Stadium. The club would periodically allow groups to hold festivities on the field before the game would begin.

For Polish-American Night, young girls and boys would dress up in Polish folk outfits and dance and twirl around on the outfield. Then, some men would gather on Pitcher’s mound and make an announcement or two and someone would then receive a plaque or an award.

That’s the best I can remember how the evening went. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of other details and if my tone sounds a little flip, I mean no disparagement.

I’m probably forgetful and unaware of what was all happening on that night because of two things: I had to run around and shoot as many photos I could in the short amount of time the festivities were allowed to run, which was about 10-15 minutes tops. That didn’t leave me much time to soak it all in. Shoot and run.

But the major reason it seems like a blur is that I couldn’t believe a mere mortal like me was allowed to step foot on the field – a place so chockfull of history and where baseball legends once stood … well, it was enough to make my hair stand on end.

I remember that first step onto the infield. The grass, I swear, had a bounce to it. I could hardly concentrate I was so overcome with emotion. I didn’t really think that was going to happen to me, because by then I had learned long ago to keep emotions in check when covering stories.

But old Tiger Stadium was a magical place for me, but I won’t wax on here with corny sentiment.

As if being allowed to walk around the field wasn’t overwhelming the next thing I knew, I was on Pitcher’s mound, actual Pitcher’s mound, taking photos.

Un-be-lieve-a-ble.

I got to return a few more years after that until the powers that be canceled Polish-American Night and all sorts of other special events.

But every time I returned, the same thing happened. Am I one lucky guy or what?

There’s a follow-up. One year a public relations company sent a packet of actual dirt from the Tigers’ Pitcher’s mound to various media outlets for some special event. This isn’t just any old dirt. It’s that red Georgia mud that sports teams famously collect each year to build up their Pitcher’s mound.

I can’t remember what the event was for, but I do remember being invited, along with other newspapers, to take photos of Bo Schembechler winding up on Pitcher’s mound for the start of the Tigers season.

It was actually supposed to be opening day but it was snowing and the season was held up a few days.

That little plastic packet of Tiger dirt is my absolute favorite “freebie” I’ve received over the years and I still have it and cherish it to this day.

I’m also reminded of a great Hamtramck connection to Tiger Stadium.

It’s a tale that grew into mythic proportions.

Fr. Thaddeus “Ted” Blaszczyk.

You old-timers already know where I’m going with this but it deserves to be passed along to younger generations.

Fr. Ted, bless his heart, died last February at the age of 80. He was the pastor of Our Lady Queen of Apostles for many years before going into semi-retirement in a suburban Parish.

One of the first legends I heard about when coming here was about the time Fr. Ted was in high school and got to play a tournament at Tiger Stadium. There’s not much to this tale, but here it is: Fr. Ted hit a homerun in Tiger Stadium, and some said he could have gone on to a professional baseball career.

When Fr. Ted was about to leave Q of A, I interviewed him and talk eventually got around to that famous moment. For years I never bothered asking him about that time because I figured he probably had been pestered about it long enough.

He was very modest about it, but confirmed, yes he did hit a homer and it was indeed a thrill. I could tell he didn’t want to go into much detail and the conversation took another turn.

Can you imagine that, though, being a high school baseball player and not only getting to play in Tiger Stadium, but also hit a homer and round those bases?

Incredible.

I guess this brings me to one last thought. There is a group of folks, including the legendary voice of the Tigers, Ernie Harwell, who want to preserve part of the stadium, from about dugout to dugout.

It looks like they’ve reached that point in the demolition. But the group has to find a way to come up with a few million dollars to turn it into a park and museum. The former Kwame Kilpatrick administration gave the group a deadline to come up with all the money by October. Can you imagine that, the Kilpatrick administration giving anyone an ultimatum?

Anyway, it’s unknown if the interim administration will enforce that deadline. If you’d like to find out more about the effort to preserve part of the stadium, go to: http://www.savetigerstadium.org/.