Bill McAllister: Nothing But Green
By: Bill McAllister
Sunday August 2nd, 1970 was a long time ago, so long in fact, I hadn't entered the 2nd grade yet. But, it's a date I will always remember, my very first Tigers game.
And this wasn't just any game, it just so happens that my very first game happened to be on Al Kaline Day. Al had finally gotten his one and only World Series ring two years earlier and after 17 years, the team decided to honor their long time right fielder with his own special day. I remember so much from that day, Mel Torme (old fart singer from the Jurassic Period) singing Thanks For The Memories, Al and his family sitting together at the mound and seeing him wipe away tears because he was clearly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from the crowd, and all of the other local celebs who were on the field for the ceremony including long time TV weatherman Sonny Eliot and "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe. But none of it compared to simply walking into Tiger Stadium for the first time.
I remember the distinct smell of stale beer, hot dog water and "old". Much like when you entered your grandparents home, there were decades of smells and memories that clung to the steel girders and wooden seats. Walking up one ramp and then the next, and even though it was a sunny, cloudless summer day, it was dark in those hallways until all of the sudden, we made a left turn into, what I imagined Heaven looked like. You were bathed in sunlight and you couldn't believe what you were seeing. You are overwhelmed by this emerald vision as the seats are green, the grass is green, so green and so perfect in fact, that you now understood why your dad didn't want you playing 'smear the you-know-what' (we didn't know any better then) on the front lawn. I found myself staring out onto this baseball diamond that is ten times bigger than it looks on TV and I'm surrounded by 40,000 fans, definitely the most people I had ever been around in my lifetime. It was sensory overload and I don't remember a more beautiful day since.
I still have the commemorative button from that game. Al Kaline went 1 for 4 that day and the Tigers lost to the Twins 4-3, but it really didn't matter because I had just experienced one of the single greatest moments of my childhood...do you remember your first time?
