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The 1987 collapse against the Tiggers of Detroit has never left me. Baseball fans of my gen in this country have all been impacted similarly. We remember the Larry Herndon homer scraping the leftfield fence. We remember Manny Lee's stranded lead-off triple. We remember, and old Tiger Stadium is the backdrop to that trauma. Typically, I cheer against the old English D as a result of that heartbreak, but one thing that is impossible to cheer against or hold a grudge toward is that now disappeared theatre where it all went down. Nostalgia saves our vindictive soul from a spiteful damnation when images of the now bygone home of the Tigers catches the eye.

This beautiful opening to the final game of the 1984 World Series demands an altruistic appreciation for the history of the game, even if Jays fans will never be over '87.

NBC was the best. Don't get me wrong, a young Al Michaels, Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, Keith Jackson, and Howard Cosell were excellent in the ABC booth too. But NBC was NBC. They were the voice and pictures that struck the perfect cord in Game of the Week and playoff features. I suppose my appetite for national games will never be the same due to the availability of this age, but it was those NBC signature tones that advertised the adventure and colour of baseball beyond my childhood rooting interests. The slow roll of perspectives of Tiger Stadium in this intro is a treat.

Today's broadcasts do panoramas of the stadia they broadcast from as well. I'm not saying there is any less artistic creativity in the modern coverage of the game. And the technology of 4K and 8K pictures certainly provides for an even better view into the in-person experience than what was captured by NBC's cameras on that October afternoon. But there's a patience in that intro, no? With only 80s quality graphics mildly impacting the scenes of the decks and columns, the views down the lines and of the park's quirks provide that timeless quality that today's over-the-top commentary too often fails to allow for.

Maybe today's retro parks can't give us what Tiger Stadium did in these shots. You know what nostalgia is when you see it. You know the feeling it draws out of you. I'm typically hesitant to say that one generation's emotive connection to a place, time, or era of ball is more or less than another's. The feels are either there or they aren't, and that sentiment is driven by when your heart was most vulnerable to the passions of sport that can inflame. Speaking for a generation that knew Tiger Stadium didn't get the love it deserved in comparison to the other parks of yesteryear, this relic is missed. I'd argue that Tigers Baseball has never quite felt the same since it came down.

Of course, that opinion is brandished by someone not of the community and fan interest. Maybe Tigers fans are fully invested in Comerica Park, it has been twenty-plus years since the move after all. But nothing about the television images of Comerica speaks to the history of baseball as does, as did, Tiger Stadium.

The over-hanging upper deck in right. Those curious chain-link extensions to the outfield fences. Those dark and deep pillbox-like dugouts, where shadows obscured on even the brightest of days. I'm sure a Tiger fan of the era could go on and on about the home that I have only ever considered as visiting territory. I, however, was totally lost in what-used-to-be when settling in to watch 1984's final game.

I'm surely biased. Yet I cannot help but believe that reverence for the past is better curated by the game of glove, bat, and ball. That's why we get so excited about the numbers that have become synonymous with record seasons and careers. That's why changes to uniform combos and anything marketing gimmicky feels like an affront to the core attributes that attracted and infatuated us in our youths. In exactly the same strain of sentimentality, the parks we attended or watched from afar hold a place reserved for them and them alone.

All buildings fall.

Such is life.

It seems we gravitate towards the mindset that emphasizes, 'the grainer the better,' in terms of images that set us on the journey of remembrance. Even though I do not recall ever being in Detroit's corner when they sought pennants and post-season glory, that NBC intro with Tiger Stadium as backdrop was as pretty a picture as if seen this offseason.

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