Seth Gold (Transcript)

Robby Incmikoski: So my man here, Seth Gold. Seth, you're the 97th interview here for this book. And let me ask you about this. How would you describe your Detroit Tigers fandom? Where did it come from? And how long have you been a Tigers fan?

Seth Gold: Yeah, so, being born in 1981, the earliest memories I have of people talking about was the '84 Tigers, and what that meant for the city of Detroit. My history is kind of tied to the Tiger Stadium area, as my great-grandfather started a pawn shop about a half a mile away. So from an early age, my dad always talked about Tiger Stadium and what that experience was like, especially the '84 World Series. You can't talk about Tigers baseball without being reminded about that year.

Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, and so, which kind of begs the question, how does baseball bring families together in your opinion?

Seth Gold: You know, it's America's pastime, and growing up in the Detroit area, we're fanatics about sports—whether it was the Pistons, Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings. It means a significant amount to families just growing up and having that experience, going down to the ballpark, taking an evening out. There's no set time in a baseball game. So you could be sitting there for hours watching, and no one has a prescriptive time when you're going to be getting home. So it's kind of one of those nights where you just hang out with the family, grab a couple hot dogs, and just sit and watch a great game.

Robby Incmikoski: You know, when you take your kid, and I've seen you there multiple times at Comerica Park—you talk about your memories with your grandfather, great-grandfather at Tiger Stadium. Now you have a chance to do that with your family, right? Take your kids to Comerica Park and do it. What does it mean to pass the torch along to your kid, and when he is your age, he'll talk about his early memories with his dad at Comerica Park? What is that like for you?

Seth Gold: Yeah, I mean, it's tremendous having that experience walking in that park. The Old English D kind of represents the city, and it's noticeable everywhere. And so kind of seeing the origins of it and seeing the players play in that uniform is significant. Of course, you get to go see some cool other teams like the Pirates, and last year we had the opportunity to see the LA Dodgers, and so seeing them in your home stadium kind of under enemy fire is a unique experience. But you get to see all the stars that wore the Old English D.

And for me, some of my earliest memories was like seeing Cecil Fielder and then his son. That experience wasn't too great. But, you know, every year we have the aspirations of kind of recreating the '84 season, so it's kind of fun just to kind of go through that ride. And that's what it is. Your fandom is tied to emotion, and so the highs and lows you experience with the teams is a significant part of growing up, and you instill kind of your fandom on later generations. And so my dad was a big Tigers fan. I'm a big Tigers fan, and I hope that I can pass it on to my kids as well.

Robby Incmikoski: Seth, when you look at this generation of the Tigers—you think Miguel Cabrera, right? You got Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Victor Martinez, and Anibal Sanchez—they had some pretty good teams. When you look back a decade, a decade and a half ago, what did that team and what was the experience like at the ballpark, at Comerica Park, watching those teams play and win as much as they did?

Seth Gold: I mean, it was amazing. And I think the other day, I just watched a clip of Magglio Ordonez's home run to send us to the World Series in '06. My God, almost 20 years ago, but I remember it like yesterday and how electric the whole city was—just on fire, I would say, for lack of a better word, just with excitement. And you know, every year, "This is our year, this is our year." Although we couldn't get the win in the World Series, it was a fun ride, and a pennant race is always great. There's always excitement. And I think Detroiters are part of their heritage, part of their teams, and ultimately, root for them, whether you're doing well or not.

And I can remember the down years as well. So we had that run from '06 through—I'd say a significant amount of time. I don't know when it stopped, but then it went really sideways. And they're kind of resurging again. And last year was a great ride as well. Everyone thought that the season was over. I think there was a 0.2% chance we make the playoffs. And then we went on an incredible run. And that's the thing about sports—although it seems like you're down and out, they resurrected themselves. And that was a great ride too. And we thought we'd be able to get to the ALCS and we fell a game short. And it's one of those things in sports—you can't, you don't know where you're going to go. All you need to do is get into the playoff picture and then you can make a run.

Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, no question about it, man. Let me ask you this. Comerica Park—you got the big, giant cement Tigers outside in the main entrance. It's right across from Ford Field. There's a couple bars and restaurants and stuff. People can make their way around, walk around a little bit, but still, the experience is a pretty fun one. And then you walk around, you got a merry-go-round out there, like a kids' park inside the ballpark. What would you say to a fan that was coming to Comerica Park for a ball game?

Seth Gold: I think Comerica Park was the anchor. They built Comerica Park, and then they started building Ford Field, and then, I believe, Little Caesars Arena after that. So that's kind of like the center of Detroit entertainment. You head downtown, and you can experience the great city and surrounding bars, as you mentioned.

But I will tell you the unique—I feel the unique design of the ballpark, where you said you had the Tiger statues, but even when you're walking around the field, you'll see the Tigers with the baseballs in their mouths on the outside decoration. You get the feeling that you're walking into Tiger Stadium, right? So it's Comerica Park, and I love Comerica Park's name, but this is like the home of the Tigers, right? And everything is themed that way. And so the consumer experience is amazing.

I will tell you, the drawback, I think, for Comerica Park is recruiting free agents, because I know our ballpark is large to hit home runs, so it's not really a hitter's stadium, from what I understand. But I know they did bring in the outfield railings a little bit over the past few years to make it more of a hitter's stadium. But I love the fact that it's unique. And I love the fact that baseball is unique like that. And so you have different stadiums where you have the Green Monster, or just depending on the stadium, the field. And I think when you look back at Comerica Park, you're going to take it in for the greatness and the unique aspects of it.

Robby Incmikoski: You know, it's interesting because you get the statues in the outfield, the big Tigers at the top. How much is Comerica Park connected to Tiger Stadium? It's an interesting point that you bring up, Seth, that it reminds you a little bit of Tiger Stadium. How much of that did they bring into this ballpark?

Seth Gold: Yeah, I think they brought in a significant amount. I mean, the history of Tiger Stadium—I can still remember the double decks, and I can still remember the feeling when you walked in. It was so close and it felt so intimate. I think that they tried to recreate the nostalgic feel with the players that played in that stadium. So you have Al Kaline's statue, you have a bunch of plaques around the stadium, like Ty Cobb, and there's a tremendous amount of history that they reference in that stadium. Ernie Harwell, the statue of Ernie Harwell. So it's like, okay, I remember. I could feel it. It's a different location, but you still get the feel of the history of the Tigers and the organization and the Detroit history.

Robby Incmikoski: What was that like? What is the baseball vibe like in Detroit? Just how do you describe it overall, from a fan—obviously, you're a fan of the game. What is it like being—what is life like as a Tigers fan?

Seth Gold: You know, the ups and downs of any sport. So you have the highs and lows, and you feel it in your gut every year, and it's like, "All right, what are we going to do?" And I think Sparky said the first 30 games are who you are, and you can get a real good feel about how you play in the first 40 games. And so that is a talking point on radio all the time in the local Detroit market—"How are the first 40 games going?" And they'll go game by game, and that's kind of like the precursor for the rest of the season. I think—we were awesome last year, so I don't think we played particularly well the first 40 games, but you ride the highs, you ride the lows, and the true fans and Detroiters stick with their teams through and through, right?

I think we're a working man's city. We love our sports, we love our history, and kind of going for that ride every year is a roller coaster. You never know what you can get every off-season. It's like, "Who are we going to pull into the system? What does it look like?" And without the salary cap in baseball, I think Detroiters are often like, "We love the big names, but it's hard to get them sometimes." But it's one of those things that you have to be patient, so I think the new general manager's doing a nice job.

Robby Incmikoski: Scott Harris, I think, right?

Seth Gold: Yeah, yeah. And so A.J. Hinch was a great pickup. I think he believes in his system, and it worked last year at the very end. And I think this year we're kind of going on that track as well.

Robby Incmikoski: Now that's cool, man. Hey, what's it like taking your family there for a game? I know they have that parking and all that kind of stuff on the first baseline. What's it like when you walk in and walk around? What would you say to a fan going there?

Seth Gold: I mean, it's good. The experience is great for any age, right? So you can have your kids there. They can go on the merry-go-round or carousel. I think they have them both. They have one with all the Tigers. I think the carousel is all Tigers, right? And then you have a food experience right in there. And then they have the merry-go-round with the baseballs. So it's a really great family environment. I think they cater to every desire that you want. And if you're looking for a scale experience, you can have that, obviously in the suites with all great views. So I spent some time in those as well, and I know that they upgraded the stadium behind home plate—they put in a whole new section with new chairs. So they're really trying to cater to every taste. And I think taking your family there is a great experience.

Robby Incmikoski: That's super cool, man. Is there any advice you would have? Can people get a bite to eat or drink or something before the game? Like somebody's coming from out of town to see their opposing team. What would you tell them?

Seth Gold: Yeah, so you got to experience the city of Detroit. So one, you have to go to American Coney Island—experience a Coney Island experience, which is the hot dog with chili on top. But it's unique, somewhat unique to Detroit. There's Hockeytown Cafe. So the owner of the Tigers also owns the Red Wings. So the stadium is super close, and you can experience the history of the Red Wings and just take a walk down Woodward in Detroit. I mean, it's an awesome place. There's some new attractions. And I encourage anybody wanting to take a trip and doing a ballpark tour to check out Comerica Park because it really is a great experience for all folks that come by.