Comerica Park, set in the heart of downtown Detroit, delivers a well-rounded and surprisingly immersive ballpark experience. While it may not be the flashiest stadium in MLB, it stands out for its deep integration of Tigers history, from the impressive statues and plaques honoring legends to the Walk of Fame and city-inspired design elements woven throughout the concourse. Massive tiger sculptures, a red brick exterior, and creative nods to the Motor City give the park a strong sense of identity. Add in wide concourses, a variety of social terraces, and local flavor concessions like Detroit-style pizza and craft beer, and you’ve got a venue that quietly excels in nearly every category. Comerica surprised us by how much it offered across the board – and ultimately landed higher in our rankings than expected.

Design

The design and depiction of team and city history at Comerica Park was fantastic. A large pouncing tiger statue greets fans outside the main entrance, surrounded by personalized bricks that add a personal touch. Eight other massive tiger statues are placed throughout the park, including two prowling atop the left-field scoreboard. Along the brick walls outside the stadium, tiger heads clutch lighted baseballs in their mouths, creating a striking visual effect. The exterior’s red brick facade not only complements the team’s color scheme but also fits seamlessly with Detroit’s architectural character.

Throughout the main concourse, there’s a “Walk of Fame” featuring eight decade-based display cases and Tigers player banners. These exhibits showcase authentic artifacts, photos, and memorabilia, telling the story of Tigers history in a fun and engaging way. It felt like an interactive museum, cleverly woven into the stadium itself – and the incorporation of wheels in the design was a great nod to Detroit’s Motor City identity.

In the left-center field concourse, you’ll find statues honoring all of the Tigers whose numbers have been retired – Ty Cobb, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Willie Horton, Al Kaline, and Hal Newhouser. Their names, along with those of other Tigers Hall of Fame players and broadcasters, are also displayed on a recognition wall in right-center field.

A statue of Ernie Harwell, the team’s legendary radio announcer, stands along the first base side. Outside the stadium, there are also plaques honoring Ty Cobb and Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, offering fans additional ways to connect with Detroit’s rich baseball history.

The center field flagpole has a long, storied history dating back to Tiger Stadium, and was carefully restored and reinstalled at Comerica Park. At the old stadium, the flagpole famously stood within the field of play; here, it sits just at the edge of the center-field wall. If a ball hits it, the batter is still awarded a home run – a unique nod to tradition.

Comerica Park is the only current MLB stadium to feature a dirt strip (or keyhole) connecting home plate to the pitcher’s mound. Additionally, home plate is surrounded by a large dirt outline in the shape of a plate, giving the field a distinctive look.

The skyline view from the stands is a highlight, with the GM Renaissance Center looming in the background – its upper rings changing colors throughout the night. The tallest tower, when lit blue, looks amusingly like a giant Amazon Echo. Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, is also visible just beyond left field.

A large Chevrolet Fountain sits prominently behind center field, with the batter’s eye greenery just below it. Unfortunately, the greenery had some dead patches, making it less visually appealing.

The LED scoreboard in right-center felt small and unusually low, while the upgraded video display in left field offered much better image quality. However, the lineup font was a bit hard to read, and an excessive amount of space was taken up by border advertisements, which proved distracting. During night games, a strange glare appeared on the screen, further affecting visibility. One fun feature is the “Tigers” text video board, which changes colors and designs throughout the game – the tiger stripes were definitely the most eye-catching.

The functionality, including ease of getting around and accessing the main area, was great. The concourses were very wide, and we were able to easily access the entire main level. The Big Cat Court rotunda ramp was unfortunately closed, which leads to the upper level picnic areas. The upper levels don’t go all the way around due to the gap for the video board and batter’s eye. The bullpen placement was disappointing, as they span the entire left field wall, limiting home run balls to catch during batting practice and the game. Beyond the left field wall is usually the best place to interact with players before the game, but it was difficult with the bullpen buffer. On the flip side, it gave a very close-up view of the players warming up in the bullpen. From a distance, the bullpens were an eyesore with their bright orange Little Caesars branding.

Location

The stadium is located in Downtown Detroit in close proximity to many restaurants and fun venues. The main entrance is right by the Fox Theater and the Little Caesars Headquarters. A very lively Tin Roof is right next to the stadium. It’s a stone’s throw from Ford Field (home of the Lions), which can be seen on the left side. The Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings, is also nearby. There’s also a Buddy’s Pizza, creator of Detroit-style pizza, very close.

The stadium was easy to reach as we were able to walk from our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn). There were several large parking garages, so I expect it wouldn’t be too difficult to drive. There are also many Lime scooters around the area.

The area right around the stadium seemed safe, but we did hear about frequent massive brawls in Greektown right before our trip. Thus, we avoided that area during our trip.

Concessions

The food quality and originality were so-so. There wasn’t anything really unique, and the food was relatively bland. The Little Caesars pepperoni slice was equivalent to two normal deep dish slices and tasted like their normal deep dish (Detroit-style), which was delish. Topping options were limited to pepperoni and cheese, which was disappointing because we had heard that they had a unique hot dog themed pizza at one point with sliced hot dogs and mustard as toppings.

The Big Cat Court is near the main entrance and offers a wide variety of food choices, including fresh-squeezed lemonade, elephant ears, ice cream, French fries, handmade pretzels, deli sandwiches, gyros, frozen daiquiris, street tacos/nachos, and coney/Chicago-style hot dogs. The Street Nachos with Barbacoa, cojita, salsa, sour cream, jalapeños, queso, and optional sriracha were decent, but the chips were really thick and didn’t taste particularly fresh. The meat portions were generous. The Detroit Snap Dog from Detroit Coneys was loaded with grilled onions and mustard. It was really messy, but I enjoyed it! Scott thought the hot dog was kind of skinny, but I prefer mine that way.

The cinnamon sugar elephant ears were only $5.50 and were like a crunchy, flat churro. It was good but no comparison to the churro dog at Chase Field we recently had. The Detroit Grand Slam coffee-flavored waffle cone was okay – the two scoops were puny, but the coffee flavor was yummy. Scott definitely didn’t want to share it!

The Bushfire Grill picnic area includes a ferris wheel, baseball player topiaries, and a fountain with a floating baseball, but unfortunately all were closed.

The beverage quality and variety were decent. There were a good number of beer options and dedicated Daiquiri bars. Scott got the Bell’s Oberon wheat beer, which was good. The Atwater Dirty Blonde Ale was very similar to Blue Moon and had strong orange peel and coriander notes, low IBUs, and was refreshing on a warm day. The frozen Tiger Daiquiri was a really fun orange color but overly sweet and artificial tasting. Bars to get drinks or hang out were plentiful and included the Michigan Craft, Blue Moon Brewhouse, Blue Moon Bistro, Chevy Pavilion, Beer Hall, Coppercraft Distillery Bar, Miller Lite Market, Miller Lite Pitcher’s Bar, and MotorCity Casino Hotel Long Bar. Not all of the bars were open during our visit.

The overall value for the money wasn’t great. The cost for the cheapest nosebleed seats for a day game was $30. Rather than purchase expensive seats, we just moved around throughout the two games we attended, which seemed to be the norm. Plus, there were no happy hour specials for drinks or food.

Amenities

Free special terraces/hangout areas included the Pepsi Porch/Coppercraft Distillery, Kaline’s Corner, Chevrolet Pavilion, Miller Lite Pitcher’s Pub, Corner Tap Room, and Blue Moon Brewhouse. The Pepsi Porch, Kaline’s Corner, and Pitcher’s Pub in right field feature a picnic deck and fire pits on the 100 and 200 levels.

Comerica also features many other premium, ticketed seating areas including the Tiger Club, Tiger Den Lounge, Jim Beam Champions Club, On-Deck Circle seats, Beer Hall, and MotorCity Casino Hotel Tiger Club. You can see most of the entrances from the interior or exterior of the stadium, but special tickets/membership are required.

Family-friendly activities consisted of the Fly Ball Ferris wheel with 12 cars designed like baseballs (behind the stands from the third base line). A carousel, featuring tigers, is located inside the Big Cat Court. Unfortunately, these were closed during our visit due to the pandemic.

Restroom quantity and quality were fairly standard. The paper towel dispenser in the men’s room wasn’t working during our visit. Many of the restrooms were unidirectional, which I actually prefer for traffic flow.

Seating comfort – including legroom and accessibility – was decent. The front rows of the upper deck featured cushioned seats, but surprisingly, the 100 level did not. Every seat had a cup holder, and lower-level seating was nicely angled toward home plate. Notably, there were no bleacher seats in the stadium.

The team store was a solid size, with several smaller shops scattered throughout the concourse. One store included a small authentics section, and there was also an authentics booth available. The Detroit Tigers museum presence was well integrated via the “Walk of Fame” decades displays that wrapped around the main concourse.

Culture

The overall atmosphere was very lively and fan engaging. “Welcome to the D” and “We Heart D” (TWSS) were showcased on the video board, and the Detroit “D” was used in a lot of the advertising. A Chevy truck painted like a tiger shoots t-shirts out of a cannon and blows smoke.

The integration of franchise history in game and design was one of the best we’ve seen. They had the following games on the large video screen during breaks: Detroit player matching game, Ask the Tigers, Cap Shuffle, Who Has More? – featuring questions about Missouri/Cards vs. Michigan/Detroit, Trivia Dog Row, Vote for Sing Along Song, Vote for Favorite Fan Pic, and History Mystery.

Fan enthusiasm was great. There were a good number of fans in the stands for both the night game and the day game. The fans weren’t unfriendly, but didn’t really interact much with the Cards fans. The fans were able to get the wave to go all the way around multiple times, despite the gap in center field.

We ran into Paws, the Tiger mascot, near the Big Cat Court.

The celebration of monumental moments included Liquid Fireworks, with the center-field fountain erupting, the video board flashing, the “Tigers” logo shifting colors, and tiger growls echoing through the stadium. The fireworks were intended to synchronize with music and change colors, but the effect fell a bit flat. The tigers’ eyes above the scoreboard are supposed to light up after a Tigers home run or victory, though we couldn’t see this clearly during either the day or night games. On a more playful note, we loved hearing “Yaba Daba Doo” from The Flintstones whenever Baddoo made a good play. Even better – they played “The Candy Man” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for Lars Nootbaar’s MLB debut, which was a great gesture for a visiting player.

Summary & Scoring

Date Visited: June 22, 2021 and June 23, 2021
Game Played: Cardinals 2, Tigers 8 – Lars Nootbaar’s MLB debut and he got his first RBI via a sac fly. Schoop HR and Rogers had 3 RBIs. Boxscore
Cardinals 2, Tigers 8 – Lars Nootbaar’s first MLB hit with a triple. Arenado, Cameron, and Schoop HR. Boxscore
Design: – Tiger players and actual tiger statues and “Walk of Fame” throughout stadium. Keyhole and flagpole from Tigers Stadium maintained.
Location: – Downtown Detroit near Fox Theater and Tin Roof and walking distance to hotels and Greektown
Concessions: – Detroit-style pizza (Little Caesars) and hot dogs, local brews, custom Tiger daiquiris and ice cream
Amenities: – Ferris wheel, carousel, and many free picnic areas to hang out
Culture: – Lively fans that started the wave, many activities on video screen that engaged fans
Overall: – While Comerica Park doesn’t have one defining “wow” feature beyond its iconic tiger statues, it quietly delivers a well-rounded experience. From the thoughtful integration of Tigers history and creative design touches to its wide concourses, family-friendly attractions, and solid concessions, the stadium is at or above average in nearly every category. The lively fan culture, walkable downtown location, and interactive touches like the Walk of Fame and themed in-game entertainment make it a surprisingly memorable stop on the ballpark circuit.

Other Pictures

Lars Nootbaar’s first MLB hit:

We got four batting practice balls between the two games we visited:

• One from Genesis Cabrera, who threw Sarah one from the bullpen (the second time he’s given her one)
• One from Adam Wainwright, who threw Sarah one from a long way away after warming up on the field
• A batting practice home run by Lars Nootbaar on the day of his major league debut that Scott caught
• One from Paul DeJong, who threw it to Scott on a bounce after warming up in game two