PHOTO: Tiger Stadium today

The last baseball game played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit was on Sept. 27, 1999. By Sept. 21, 2009, Tiger Stadium was gone, demolished. 

But life still exists at the corner of Trumbull and Michigan:

The Navin Field Grounds Crew -- all volunteers -- maintains the field, and has since 2010. Tom Derry, the leader of the crew, said:

"I went down to the site on Mother’s Day 2010 with a few friends to play catch, but when I saw how bad the field was with tall grass and weeds everywhere I wasn’t excited about playing and knew I had to do something.

"There were so many weeds that it was difficult at first to make out the infield and the pitcher’s mound and baselines, so basically we brought back this revered baseball diamond back from the dead.

"I say this with all modesty, but if it wasn’t for the Navin Field Grounds Crew, you would have had eight acres of giant weeds, trees growing wild, garbage everywhere, and it would have been a major eyesore.

"It is amazing to just stand at home plate where Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb stood, and when I ride my lawn mower in the outfield I have thought about those who patrolled the area like Willie Horton, Mickey Mantle, and Tris Speaker.

"When I have been down at the field I have seen people spread the ashes of their loved ones on at least five occasions, and twice in the last couple of weeks I found ashes, one that also had flowers near first base. It really is sacred ground for so many people.”

Here's to history, and the Navin Field Grounds Crew.