Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. -Greg, age 8
There's a beautiful baseball field in Detroit.
One surrounded by ruins.
Old Tiger Stadium is being torn down. And justifiably so, it's an absolute wreck of a place.
But the field at the center of it is still a great field for playing ball.
Instead of turning into another run down parking lot or an abandoned patch of dirt and grass, a group in Detroit is working to help it remain a great baseball field for many years to come.
The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy wants to make it possible for youths from all over Michigan to play on the same grounds where Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, and Hank Greenberg once played.
Where Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run.
Where he hit his longest home run (it sailed over the stands and landed across the street.)
Where Lou Gehrig played his final game.
Where Dwight Evans hit a home run on the first pitch of the first inning of Opening Day -- the earliest home run ever hit in a Major League season.
This is a place where baseball should always be played.
The Conservancy has just launched its website, nothing fancy, but it does a good job of describing what they're up to:
And, yes, you may see some news in the media about the stadium being demolished. This is true. They're taking down the parts of the stadium and scrapping the steel.
But they are not demolishing the sacred "Corner," where baseball has been played and watched since 1895, the Corner of Michigan and Cochrane. And if the Conservancy raises 365k in the next month, they will go a long way to saving the field and a few thousand seats there in perpetuity.
Feel free to visit the site and look at the plan. There's a paypal feature there for people who want to contribute. Feel free to pass the site on to friends and family and baseball fanatics. If you have any friends in the local or national media, let them know about this. And if you know any Detroit business leaders or entrepreneurs, please let them know too.
In short, spread the word if you can. Because together, we can save one of America's true treasures, a field where kids can hit, slide, bunt, steal, catch, toss, run, and most importantly, dream.
"I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile." -Tom Clark