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2006 Road Trip – Day # 8 (Game # 7)

Back to another early morning and out the door and on the road by 5:30am.  I needed to get out of the main part of Chicago as early as I could and by the time I did, I was suprised at how easy it was to get out.  I did reralize that my mapping software did not take me through teh bulk of Chicago and over the Skyway, so that was a good thing.

The drive to Detroit was uneventful, which is good, and I got into town earlier than I had planned on.  My first stop was at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, otherwise known as Tiger Stadium.  This classic park I have only once before seen from a distance, so today I wanted to get a closer look cause there have been some great games played here, including some World Series games.  I have heard that they are considering knocking it down, what a shame that would be, but you can tell they have neglected it to the point that its a crime to see it in the shape that it is.

I couldn’t remember if I had told Lisa that I would be in at noon or 2pm, but it was just before noon and I was on my way to her house.  I got there, we hung out for a while talking and then we piled into her van to go meet up with her husband, Bill, and go to the Henry Ford Museum to view the “Baseball As America” display.  It was AWESOME!  It had several artifacts from the Baseball Hall Of Fame that were so great to see.  I had things like the bats used by Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa when they broke the HR records.  There were other things like aball used by Roger Clemens in the game where he struck out 20 Seattle Mariners, the bat used by George Brett in his famous “Pine tar incident” game, the actual contract that was signed that sent Base Ruth to the Yankees from the Red Sox that started “The Curse Of The Bambino”, several different jerseys worn by the greats like Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson.  They even had a pair of Harry Carrys glasses!  I could have spent hours in there, it was so incredible, but we had to go and see a few other things at the museum as well, like the car that JFK was riding in when he was shot and the car that Regan was getting into when he was shot.  They have the bus that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on and the chair that President Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot at Fords Theater!  This place is full of history and we only saw such a small portion of it!

We left the musem and headed to dinner at the Mongolian BBQ.  Thats a cool place, cause you get to pick and choose what you want to eat, put it in a bowl and let the cooks cook it up for you.  Bottom line is that if your meal sucks, its your own fault for not chosing the right ingredients!

After dinner it was onto Comerica Park.  Having been there before I knew how great this park is.  If it wasnt for Citizens Bank Park in Philly, it would still be my 2nd favorite of the new parks, behind Safeco of course.   The game was a dandy.  We saw Kenny Rogers, the Gambler, combined with 1 other Tiger pitcher shut out the Chicago White Sox, 4-0, and only give up 5 hits total!  Considering the rivalry between these 2 teams, it was a higly exciting game from the start and you could tell the players were ready for it as well.  Maggs had several great catches in right while Carlos Guillen flashed the leather at short!  The White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, was ejected in the 2nd inning for arguing balls and strikes… SEE YA!  There was 39,361 people in attendance and the majority went home happy tonight.

When the game was over we headed back to Lisa’s, talked for a while and went to bed.  Her and Bill have to be up in the moring early and so do I cause I am driving to Toronto in the morning…

Miles Today: 332
Total Miles: 2715
New States Today: 2
Total States: 9
License Plate Game: Canadian – Saskatewan and New Brunswick
Total Plates: 35
Games: 1 (Tigers Won 4-0)
Total Games: 7
Beers: 2
Total Beers: 20
Hot Dogs: 0
Total Hot Dogs: 6