29 thoughts on “2011 Game 52: Tigers 6, Twins 5”

1. There seems to be a lot of women in the crowd and due to hairstyles, probably from the 40s or 50s. Is this a Women's Professional League game? Awfully big ballpark however.

   1. Looks like the players are wearing pants, though, so I think that rules out the women's league.

      1. War time perhaps then?

         1. If it helps, that's too early for this iteration of the ballpark.

   2. Also, that looks to be an electronic scoreboard out by third base.

      1. look at that crazy infield alignment. that's one hell of a shift.

         1. It also looks like the batting team put a spy/mole out in right-center.

2. Maybe it's time for a clue? When this stadium opened the distance to both right-center and left-center was actually deeper than the distance to dead center.

   1. That rules out Knute Nelson Field, Alexandria MN, which still has longer distances to LCF and RCF than dead center. Because Lake Winona is there.
      Oh that, and your stadium is way bigger than KNF.

      1. That's a pretty cool setup for a ballpark, no matter the size. And I didn't know there was a Lake Winona in Alexandria!

      2. I like Knute Nelson Memorial Park, it's the one time I got to play under the big "stadium style" lights.

   2. Griffith Stadium?

      1. I might be mistaken, but I think Griffith Stadium had a roof.

3. The high fence looks like Municipal.

   1. In KC, you mean? If so, I think the lights are wrong for KC Municipal

      baby blue uniforms for one team a la the Royals or Twins of yore (road uniforms).

      The exits in the upper deck look like pre-renovation Kauffman, but the lighting is wrong and the upper decks seats should be red, I think.

      1. baby blue uniforms for one team a la the Royals or Twins of yore (road uniforms)

         Or Mariners, or Blue Jays, or Expos, or Cubs, or Brewers, or Bitch Sox, or... 😉

         1. Exhibition Stadium in Toronto?

   2. Er, I meant Memorial. As in Baltimore. Ugh.

      1. Looks like a match to me.

         1. that would be consistent with the white uniforms and the blue seats in the lower level. But the light standard down the 3b line is wrong.

            1. Must have upgraded at some point.

            2. strategery got it.

               Doc, if you check Andrew Clem's page for Memorial Stadium, you'll see the upper deck was extended by approximately 50 feet in 1964. The photo you linked to matches the earlier outfield configuration; in 1958 an inner fence was added, altering the dimensions from 309-446-445-446-309 (LF-LC-CF-RC-RF) to 309-376-405-376-309, which it retrained until the Orioles left after the '91 season. So, it isn't so much that the light standard is wrong, but that you can't see the legs of it anymore because they disappeared behind the extension.

               1. it was the extension by 50 feet that I missed.

4. Time for another clue, I think. One of the all-time great broadcasters called the first game here. He also called the last game here, which was (at that point) also his last game as the radio voice of his ballclub. His team won both games.

   1. so, the clue was Ernie Harwell??

   2. Edit: Doc's right.

      That broadcaster was Ernie Harwell, who was the Orioles' first broadcaster and occupied the booth from 1954-1959. The Orioles won their first game in Baltimore, 3-1 over the White Sox. After his time in Baltimore Harwell moved to Detroit, where he was the Voice of the Tigers until the Tigers and WJR fired him in 1991 because they wanted to take a "new direction." Harwell broadcast his last game on October 6th, 1991, in Baltimore on the last day of the season. It was also the last Orioles game played at Memorial Stadium, as they moved to Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992. Harwell's team again won, as the Tigers defeated the Orioles, 7-1.

      Rick Rizzs replaced Harwell from 1992-1994, but then returned to the Mariners' radio booth, from whence he came. When Tom Monaghan sold the team to Mike Ilitch, Ilitch brought Harwell back to the radio booth for part of the 1993 season. After that he broadcast Tigers games on television until 1999, when he returned to the radio booth for the last time, finally retiring for good in 2002.

      1. That was a nifty clue, but I should point out that every game is the last game *at that point* for an announcer as the radio voice of his ballclub.

5. The final clue was going to be something along the lines of "This ballpark was picked for this Monday's recap for a specific reason." Here it is:

   

   photo by Flickr user ubarchives

   ERECTED BY THE
   CITY OF BALTIMORE
   1954

   DEDICATED BY

   THE MAYOR AND THE CITY COUNCIL
   AND THE PEOPLE OF BALTIMORE CITY
   IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND

   As a Memorial to All
   Who so Valiantly Fought
   and Served in the World
   Wars with Eternal
   Gratitude to Those Who
   Made the Supreme
   Sacrifice to Preserve
   Equality and Freedom
   Throughout the World

   TIME WILL NOT DIM THE GLORY OF THEIR DEEDS

   The last bit is a quote from General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, General of the Armies of the United States. A piece of military trivia: only two people have ever held that rank, Pershing and George Washington, and Washington only posthumously (he was so promoted by President Ford in 1976). Pershing lived until 1948, and though he was retired he technically outranked even the 5-star Generals of the Army (Marshall, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Bradley, and Arnold) during World War II. Ulysses S. Grant held a rank with similar authority during the Civil War, but not this specific rank.

6. One last cool photo of Memorial Stadium, which I couldn't use for obvious reasons:

   

   photo by Flickr user Digital Collections at the University of Maryland

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