2007 Baseball Blog: July 21, 2007

July 21, 2007
Game Time Temperature: 71 o
Attendance: 43, 408
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Biggie Bagel
Final Score: Detroit 10 KC 8

I've written about this before but I'll say it again. It's an odd thing, this living right next to Detroit. Growing up I'd heard of Detroit, knew someone who'd visited Detroit, knew vaguely about Motown and wore a Detroit Red Wings t-shirt for a while. But, that's about the extent of my knowledge about Detroit. Even though I've lived here for 7 years, I still find it both strange and exciting to live in Canada yet see the Detroit skyline every day. Even weirder is the tremendous affection I'm developing for Detroit and, of course, their baseball team. We'd purchased additional tickets for last night's game (it wasn't part of our season package) because I'd wanted to go to the Negro Leagues tribute game. Both the Tigers and the Royals wore replica uniforms from their Negro League teams (Detroit Stars and the Kansas City Monarchs) and in the Pre-game, several players from those teams were introduced and they were available for autographs before the game . As the teams took to the field in their uniforms, one could easily imagine being in an entirely different time period. Our seats for this particular game were up in the 325 section where, for the record, I really learned to love the game-- more about that later-- and where one gets a spectacular view of Detroit's skyline. Sitting up there watching baseball makes me think a lot about Detroit and about its history. Tonight, watching my players in historic uniforms and having seen actual Negro Leagues baseball players was a stark reminder of how little I knew about this part of history; not only baseball history but history in general. How is it that I hadn't heard about Satchel Paige or Norman "Turkey" Stearnes until this week? This week is also the 40th anniversary of the Detroit Riots or the Detroit Rebellion depending on who you're talking to. How, I wondered, was it that I never heard about the Detroit Riots/Rebellion until I moved to Windsor? I remember being at a block party in our first weeks here and a neighbour lady, Jenny, told me about how most of Windsor sat on the riverbank and "watched Detroit burn" that week. 40 years later, it doesn't take long to notice the physical, cultural, social, economic and political scars from those events. It's hard not to think about history perched up in section 325 gazing across the field and over the skyline. It's also hard not to think about how little I know about Detroit history and about history in general. I'm going to work on that. I left the park feeling grateful for baseball and all it teaches me and all that it demands I think about. Here are a few links worth looking at.