From: hayosh@mot.com (Tom Hayosh)
Subject: What is DOG ROW? (Long - Detroit visit report)
Organization: Motorola, CCR&D, Schaumburg, IL
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 14:41:35 GMT

I made it back to Detroit this past weekend for the Royals
series.  A friend (KC fan) and I planned this back in March,
and it just happened to wind up being the first homestand
under new owner Mike Ilitch.  We didn't go to Friday's game,
but I understand they had a number of giveaways to celebrate
the new ownership.  Several new regular promotions were also
introduced: Dog Row, Peanut Gallery, and Celebrity Sing-
Along.

"What in the world is DOG ROW?" boom the speakers twice per
game.  A section, row, and seat number is then announced.
The person in that seat, the 10 to his left and the 10 to
his right are in DOG ROW, and each wins a free hot dog.  They
release ~30 blue, orange, and white balloons from the section
with dog row.

The Peanut Gallery is no surprise.  Four sections are shown
on the scoreboard - possibly including the upper or lower
bleachers.  One by one the sections are removed until only
the winning section, the Peanut Gallery, remains.  Everyone
in the peanut gallery wins a small pack of peanuts.  In Sunday's
game, the winning section was reserved seats, but I
could not see how they distributed the peanuts.  In the
Saturday game, however, the winning section was the upper
bleachers.  Peanuts were distributed by throwing them to the crowd.

Celebrity Sing-Along has a Detroit celebrity standing on the
Tigers dugout during the 7th inning stretch leading "Take Me
Out to the Ballgame."  Saturday was horrible newscaster Bill
Bonds and Sunday was a radio personality I didn't know.  Both
made Harry Caray sound like an opera star.  Friday, for the first
sing-along, was DJ and Pistons' announcer Ken Calvert.

The whole purpose of all this, of course, is to bring fans
back to Tiger Stadium after the sharply declining attendance
figures under Tom Monaghan.  Saturday had the 3rd largest
crowd of the season with 41,605, although it was a bargain
day in which some reserved seats are reduced to $5.  (This
promotion is not new.)  Sunday, however, only had 24,667 in
attendance.  The late 3:05 start might have kept some people
away.  (The game started at 3:05 to accomodate an Upper Deck
Heroes of Baseball game.  Players from the '72 A's and Tigers
played against the '72 Reds and Pirates.  The only exception
was 1B for the A's/Tigers - #14 Tom Selleck, who played very
well.)

The Tigers crushed the Royals on Saturday 12-1 and hit a kind
of cycle in so doing.  Gary Pettis (!?!) hit a solo home run,
Cecil Fielder hit a 2-run shot, Rob Deer had a 3-run blast,
and Sweet Lou Whitaker hit a grand slam.  The Royals won on
Sunday, although Lou and Mickey Tettleton each hit solo
homers.  George Brett went 0-4 both games.  The closest he
came to getting a hit was on a smash between 1st and 2nd. Big
Cecil dove and made a spectacular grab.  He tossed to Bill
Gullickson who outraced Brett to the bag by about 1/4 of a
step.  Mr. Brett did not like the call.  In addition to that
fine play, Cecil was magnificent at the plate.  He was 2-2
with 2 walks and a homer in Saturday's game and 1-3 with a
strikeout and a safe on E5 caused by how hard he hit the
ball.  The fans at Tiger Stadium love Cecil.  The cheers
they give him are much louder than those for anyone else on
the team.  I don't think this is deserved in general, but
on this weekend, it was.

Finally, the negatives of the weekend.  On Saturday, we sat
the right field side behind the bullpens.  In the top of the
9th, Gregg Jefferies hit a line drive into the next section
over from us.  The ball hit a ~75 year old woman HARD on the
left side of her skull.  Off her head, the ball hit the underside
of the upper deck.  On Sunday, we sat in the 5th
row upstairs behind the 3rd base line.  Brian McRae hit a
pop up in our general direction that barely cleared the front
fence of the upper deck and hit a ~11 year old boy in the
face near his right eye.  He looked terrified when they
carried him away, and the whole upper right side of his face was
turning red.  I've never seen anything like this, and to
see it two days in a row was horrifying.  Does anyone know if
Tiger Stadium is a more dangerous park to see a game than
others?

I think I need to lighten this up a bit before I close.
There is a rail and a walkway in front of the upper deck 5th
row where we sat on Sunday.  George Brett hit a pop up VERY
close to us.  My friend, who LOVES George Brett, reached out
over the rail for the ball ... it went off his fingertips.
"It was off of George Brett's bat!  I could have died and
gone to heaven if I caught that ball!"  But at least he has
touched a ball off his hero's bat.

Tom Hayosh         hayosh@mot.com
Go Tigers!         hayosh-t@gamma.corp.mot.com

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