Hear me roar about Comerica Park in Detroit

This is, of course, the Ball Caps Blog, so at this point in its resurrected phase I reckon I should post something again about baseball caps.

Herewith is my latest acquisition, a Detroit Tigers cap that I bought last summer during my first visit to Comerica Park.

The photo will go down in my personal history as a rarity, showing me with my short-lived corona virus quarantine mustache, a four-week effort that I liked and my wife did not.

I bought the cap at a fan store about a block from the ballpark, where I killed some time ahead of an afternoon game while waiting for my nephew and his family to arrive. I once had the classic Tigers cap with the white “D” on navy fabric, one I was given by a friend years ago after I lost a friendly bet over Cecil Fielder’s home run production.

I prefer standard-issue team caps, but I’ll occasionally go with a variation. I thought the orange bill made for a nice look. It also paired well with the amber ale(s) I had after the game.

In between shopping and dinner, I had ample time to explore the ballpark and take in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Our seats were along the front row of the upper desk, on the first base line, not far from home plate.

The view was great, looking out into a cluster of Detroit’s many mid-20th century office towers. A lot of construction and retrofitting projects were underway, a sign that the city is on the rebound.

The park has a lot of family-friendly amenities, including a charming tiger merry-go-round that’s the centerpiece of a food court. I’ve grumbled that other parks have too many sideshows for my tastes, but I’m pleased to report that Comerica is focused mainly on baseball and the Tigers.

The park has a nice mix of statues. I posed for a photo with a cartoonish, life-size Miguel Cabrera, and many fans flocked to the enormous tiger statue outside the park. Kids were able to run the bases after the game, and we snaked our way through the concourses to get down to the field, passing the monumental sculptures of Tiger greats in left field. It was a thrill for me to see the statue of Al Kaline, leaping high, arm extended, to catch a fly ball against (in my mind) the right field wall in Tiger Stadium.

My visit to Comerica Park was part of a three-day, three-city, three-game tour, with a prior stop at Progressive Field in Cleveland and and a subsequent one at Rogers Centre in Toronto. I’m hoping to make a similar trip this summer, but it’s not likely given the COVID-19 outbreak. In the meantime, I’ll settle for happy memories of Detroit.