Remembering Memorial Stadium...

I still have a couple of pieces of brick from Memorial
Stadium that I salvaged when taking a last tour of the
park in August, 2000, shortly before it met the
wrecking ball. It was sad to see portable seats,
probably for football, lined up in the parking lot
(where it was't overrun by weeds). I was the only guy
there that morning, as I had flown all night from San
Diego, and was heading up to the Vet to watch a
weekday afternoon game, just before the Republican
Convention that summer. But I had to go see Memorial
before they tore it down, and I made a beeline from
BWI, even before stopping at a Shoney's (yes, I
somewhat enjoy the Shoney experience, rubbing elbows
with the brothers) for breakfast.

The stadium still looked like it had several good
years of use left in it, as the structure still seemed
pretty solid. What a waste to tear down such a piece
of local history. At least they haven't yet done the
same at Tiger Stadium, which still sits there at
Michigan & Trumbull in Corktown, like a big ship
moored with nowhere to go. Better than tearing it
down completely, even if they haven't yet figured out
what to do with it.

My pieces of brick were the lucky ones from Memorial
Stadium, as most of their brother bricks now sit
pulverized in an oyster bed out somewhere in
Chesapeake Bay...