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"Tiger Killer" Raul Ibanez Remembers Tiger Stadium

By: Jeff Riger
@riger1984

If you have been a baseball fan for any amount of time then you're no stranger to Raul Ibanez. Ibanez is 41 years old and is in no danger of slowing down anytime soon.

Currently Ibanez doesn't have all that much to play for, considering how bad the Mariners are this season however he does have his sites on one of the more bizarre records that anybody can set; most homers by a player over 41 years old. Ted Williams hit 29 when he was 41, while Barry Bonds hit 28 when he was 42. Ibanez, coming into play on Tuesday had 27 long balls with about a half of month of baseball to go.

However it's not some random record that I wanted to talk to Ibanez about, instead I wanted a couple of minutes of his time because he has always killed the Tigers and I figured he had some cool memories of Tiger Stadium.

Ibanez is one of 8 active players to have hit a homer in both Tiger Stadium and Comerica Park and was very detailed when asked to reminisce about about "The Corner."

"I remember (Ken) Griffey (Jr) making the best play that I've ever seen and I was on the field for it" Ibanez said.

I remember that play too, I was sitting in the centerfield bleachers at the time and I thought the exact same thing-best play ever!

Ibanez actually seemed rather happy to be talking about Tiger Stadium and it must have been because he knew he could make all the reporters in attendance break out into laughter.

"When you're walking down the tunnel, there was a urinal in the tunnel and I remember thinking to myself-Babe Ruth must have used that urinal."

As for Ibanez's being a Tiger Killer, he disagreed!

"I don't think I'm anything like that at all, I think that they have put together some great pitching teams and they have some of the best starting pitching on the planet so I don't feel that way at all!"

I tend disagree as Ibanez has hit .292 with 122 hits in 122 games. He has 74 RBI and 17 homers as well.

Check out the entire audio interview below and listen for how long it took Ibanez to compose himself after talking about Babe Ruth using the Tiger Stadium urinal.

Raul Ibanez

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