She will live forever in my memory as that first moment I glimpse her fabled field. A moment frozen in time. Such a lush carpet of green dotted by men in snow white uniforms bearing an old English "D"... Everything had a slightly surreal feel to it that day. I couldn't believe I was there. I was at "The Corner", Tiger Stadium.
For 100 years they played there. The greats of the game and the not so greats. Spectacular plays and not so spectacular ones. Championships and celler-dwellers. The Corner saw them all: Ty Cobb. Charlie Gehringer. Hank Greenberg. Al Kaline. Alan Trammel. Lou Whittaker. Kirk Gibson.
The Corner was the place where, on May 2, 1939, Lou Gehrig took himself out of the New York line up, ending his Iron Horse streak of 2,130 consecutive games. It was a streak that would last until Cal Ripken broke it 56 years later. The Tigers faithful gave Lou a standing ovation that day.
It was the place my mother and I traveled to at least once a summer, two Tigers fans drawn to it like moths to a flame. It was the place where hot dogs tasted better and a summer's night was never as grand as at The Corner.
It was the place of dreams and it was the place where those dreams sometimes died, unfulfilled. It was the place that helped draw a fractured city back together and heal wounds. It was a place where, for me, history became a palpable thing, living in every corner of the grand old place. It was everything I had hoped it would be back on that first day I saw it.
It was my 'Field of Dreams' and I will miss it.
The Corner will never be the same.
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