Detroit — My father took me to see my first baseball game in 1973 when I was 8 years old. Nolan Ryan pitched a no-hitter, and two memories stand out. The first is everyone in the stands laughing when Tiger Norm Cash came up to the plate in the ninth inning carrying a piano leg instead of a bat.
The other was the sounds of the game. My father always took me two hours before game time, and you could hear the sound of the crack of the bat during batting practice and the pop of the catcher’s mitt when the pitcher was warming up—the sounds of baseball, the sounds of summer.
Today, the sounds of baseball are songs like “Still D.R.E.” by Dr. Dre, featuring Snoop Dogg—or any of the hundreds of snippets of pop, rock, country, and rap songs played constantly at Comerica Park at decibels that make fans have to strain to hear someone two seats away.
Few bring their gloves to the park anymore. More appropriate is the Shazam app to let you know what song is blasting over the speaker system.
The relaxed, pastoral charm of baseball is now something the Tigers are trying to cover up like a receding hairline. The team is catering to customers there to take selfies, dance in their seats after three beers, and scream and holler in hopes of getting a moment on the giant left-field video board.
The game, to these customers, is a distraction.
When I sat in Comerica Park within arm’s reach of the left-field foul-ball pole last year, I couldn’t hear the announcer introducing Negro League legends on the field during a ceremony, because the music was still on during the introductions.
Really? Park employees didn’t even turn the music off while introducing players the team meant to honor? Why is Major League Baseball turning its game into a rave?
If you approach Comerica Park during a night game, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking there is a rock concert going on. The loud music starts hours before the game and never stops.
There is a song blaring for every occasion. Take the second inning of the May 24 game vs. the Cleveland Guardians:
- Kerry Carpenter catches a fly ball in right: Cue “Get It Get It” by Girls Talk.
- Gleyber Torres throws out a runner at first base: Cue “I Luv It” by Camila Cabello.
- Casey Mize strikes out a batter: Cue “Everybody Wants To Party” by Dubdogz, JØRD.
How worried is baseball that their short-attention span customers could lose interest? They now pipe in music for the first 3-5 seconds of the 20-second pitch clock before the pitcher throws the ball. Dead time appears to be feared far more than any opposing player.
What is lost with baseball’s ever-constant soundtrack is the authentic moments of fan interaction, such as when fans all broke in a chant of “Lou-u-u-u-u-u-u-u” when Tiger Lou Whitaker came up to the plate for three decades.
There were moments of authentic fan interaction on May 24.
When Tiger Spencer Torkelson came to bat, one section of the crowd started a “Tork! Tork! Tork!” chant, but were eventually drowned out by the PA’s electronic drum snare and the roar of a Tiger.
Tigers fans did, however, sing-a-along with “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch and again for Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” during the iconic lyric, “born and raised in South Detroit.”
Leading the distraction from the game is the giant videoboard in left field.
Its job is not to inform fans about the gameplay. There were three close plays at the May 24 game, only one under official review was reviewed by the giant scoreboard. Fans hundreds of feet away were left in the dark on the other close plays.
Instead, the left-field videoboard is used to fill the dead time between innings. The game is then turned into a Roman circus with what I call “stupid fan tricks.” After every third out, fans are bombarded with a Tiger staffer shouting to fans as she leads promotional gimmicks with fans.
God forbid you have to watch the Detroit Tigers toss the ball around the infield while the pitcher warms up when you can instead watch Shane from Royal Oak play cornhole to win a prize moments before the fourth inning starts.
There is no place in today’s game for Herbie Redmond anymore. Redmond became a star attraction in the 1970s and 1980s at Tigers games as a groundskeeper who would dance and tip his cap while raking the infield.
Redmond’s improvised jig was a simple, welcomed entertaining moment to the game. Back in those days, fans entertained themselves, whether it was battering a beach ball around or starting the wave.
Redmond’s iconic dances would be lost today in the overwhelming mid-inning promotions: the Meijer Match Game, Dance Cam, Michigan Lottery Giveaway, Little Caesars Backyard Challenge, and the Paws Filter.
Today, the wave died after just two rounds as it could not compete with the Dance Cam and the accompanying remix of Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan.
Despite the leisurely pace, baseball’s exciting moments rival any sport. I was there in 1976 when 55,000 fans stood and wouldn’t leave the stadium, chanting, “We want the Bird! We want the Bird!” after a victory by Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. Everyone stamped their feet, making the stands tremble.
It is one of my favorite memories of any sporting event I ever attended.
And today it would have been ruined by the PA blaring “I can make your hands clap” from a song by Fitz and the Tantrums.
Tom Gantert is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
