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10 | OCTOBER 24 • 2019 

based organizations to help 
secure their facilities well 
into the future. These funds 
can be used for developing 
emergency response plans, 
target-hardening activities, or 
training for personnel to help 
safeguard these institutions 
and the people they serve 
from violent attacks. In both 
2018 and 2019, Michigan 
institutions received more 
than $1 million in grants, 
including numerous Jewish 
institutions across the state. 
While these funds will not 
stamp out the hatred and 
intolerance that fuels these 
terrorist attacks, they are a 
vital step toward ensuring 
that our places of worship can 
remain a safe haven for all 
who enter. It is not enough to 
protect our places of worship 
and community centers; 
we need to confront white 
supremacy and anti-Semitism 
at its root. Earlier this year, I 
worked with Chairman Ron 
Johnson, R-Wis., to hold 
our committee’
s first hearing 
focused on white supremacist 
violence and was proud to 
invite the Anti-Defamation 
League to testify. 
There is no place for 
hatred and bigotry toward 
our fellow Americans in our 
society, and I am proud to 
stand united with our state’
s 
diverse communities in the 
face of this unfathomable evil. 
With the help of programs 
like this and an unwavering 
commitment to fight this 
insidious violence, we can 
fulfill our nation’
s promise and 
ensure that all Michiganders 
feels safe where they live, 
work and pray. May this work 
show that those who were lost 
are never forgotten, and may 
their memories forever be a 
blessing. 

Gary Peters is a U.S. senator from 
Michigan.

Peters from page 8
essay
The Old Tiger Stadium

A look back as the World Series draws near.
T

ime flies.
The baseball season 
flew by, and we’
re now 
following the postseason 
playoffs to see who will face 
off in the World Series.
But in the 
television of 
my mind, the 
channels seem 
to focus most 
often on 20 
years ago, on 
the last game of 
the 1999 season 
in Detroit. It was the last 
game ever at Tiger Stadium.
I’
ve thought of Tiger 
Stadium often in the last 20 
years. It was my fun place 
and it became my workplace. 
I saw my first game there in 
1950, as a youngster with the 
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah Day 
Camp. It was called Briggs 
Stadium then, after the fami-
ly that owned the Tigers, and 
was renamed Tiger Stadium 
in 1961 when a new owner 
took charge.
Growing up in the fab-
ulous ’
50s in Detroit, with 
a yeshivah day school and 
a nice-sized Orthodox 
community, was great. At 
one time, five Young Israel 
branches were in the city. 
And that had a large impact 
on our family. My parents 
came from big families; they 
and their siblings all stayed 
Orthodox, and their children 
followed in their footsteps. 
Young Israel deserves much 
credit for keeping youth in 
the fold across America in 
the good old days.
I spent many days at the 
double-decked ballpark with 
the old green wooden seats. 
I saw Joe DiMaggio in 1951 
(his last year as a player), 

and a young rookie that year 
named Mickey Mantle. I saw 
the legendary Satchell Paige 
baffle the Tigers with a weird 
assortment of windups and 
pitches. I watched in awe as 
Ted Williams had seven hits 
in a double-header, includ-
ing four home runs.
I silently rooted for 
20-year-old Al Kaline in 
1955, as he hit two home 
runs in one inning and the 
Tigers blew away Kansas 
City 16-0. Kaline would go 
on to lead the American 
League in batting, becoming 
the youngest player ever to 
lead the league.
Fast forward to Kaline’
s 
last year as a player, in 1974. 
It was my first year as a 
baseball writer and photog-
rapher working for a baseball 
monthly and Kaline was the 
first player I interviewed.
Besides getting to know 
the ballplayers, I got to 
know the old ballpark bet-
ter as I was granted field, 
clubhouse, dugout and 

press box privileges. I got to 
know the people working 
behind the scenes and in 
the front office, helping to 
pave the way for me to join 
the front office and work 
for the Tigers after the 1983 
season. They knew I was an 
Orthodox Jew and agreed 
that I would not work on 
Saturdays or Jewish holidays.
1984 was the stadium’
s best 
year attendance-wise, and 
my first full season culmi-
nated with a World Series 
ring with my name engraved 
on it. In 1985, I became the 
answer to a trivia question: 
Who counted each and every 
seat in Tiger Stadium?
After the season, during 
our slowest time, I was 
asked to confirm every seat 
and bleacher space in the 
storied stadium. The Tigers 
were being computerized, 
and the ticket department 
needed to verify each section 
of stadium seating against 
an existing schematic. With 
clipboard in hand, I viewed 
the field from every row in 
the upper and lower decks. I 
discovered a box seat in the 
lower deck and six reserved 
seats in the upper deck that 
the schematics didn’
t list and 
that had therefore never, ever 
been sold in all the years 
since the old green seats 
were replaced by blue and 
orange plastic seats.
Fast forward to the sta-
dium’
s final game, on Sept. 
27, 1999. It was as good as it 
gets, with all seats sold well 
in advance and the Tigers 
winning on a grand-slam 
home run. Warm weath-
er and blue skies hovered 
around the city, and gates 
opened several hours before 

IRWIN COHEN

Irwin Cohen took this photo of Hank 
Greenberg in June 1983 on the retire-
ment of his uniform number. 

continued on page 12

Irwin Cohen 

