The Final Season: Fathers, Sons, and One Last Season in a Classic American Ballpark (Honoring a Detroit Legend)

Tom Stanton has written a beautiful book. If you are a Tigers fan you still miss Tiger Stadium whether you have ever been there or not. If you haven't, you will feel like you have after you have read this book.Tom Stanton decided to attend every home game of Tiger Stadium's final season. He did it for love of baseball, the Tigers, the stadium and his dad. This book is a diary of sorts of not only the season, but of Stanton's journey of understanding why the stadium's passing has come so hard for him. We get an interesting history lesson of his family, the neighborhood around the stadium, the team, the Tigers and the stadium itself. I found that I cared whether or not Uncle Herb would be found just as much as I cared whether Stanton would give our old girl the send-off she deserved. He did.Even though I knew how the story ends (psst, the Stadium is replaced) I still cried when it happened. Stanton's words drew me back to that painful time and painted the picture anew. He balances the personal, the public and the behind the scenes perfectly. I am glad I got to know the people who ran the elevator, provided parking, sold peanuts and more as they were a part of that which is no longer. This book is a living history and tribute to both the stadium and those who loved it the most...the stadium workers, the players who spent their entire career there, and most importantly, the fans.Stanton interviewed scores of people, and thus was able to provide us with a crosscut of them all. We meet those who worked to save the stadium, those who could care less we lost it, and those who practically lived there. All of them provide a view worth having.If you are a Tigers fan, or just smart enough to love one, this book is for you (or them.)

Warm. Winsome. Wise. Wistful. In “The Final Season”, the author elegantly chronicles Tiger Stadium’s 88th and final season. Along the way, we get to be flies on the wall as he interviews a carnival of characters including Al Kaline, Ernie Harwell, Elmore Leonard, Alice Cooper, Cal Ripken, Jr., Bleacher Pete, Fred Smith, Chicken Legs Rau and the author’s extended family. The author offers provocative observations about fathers and sons and mortality. In 1967, my dad took me to my first MLB game at Tiger Stadium and I joined the family of baseball. So, this story was especially poignant for me, but I think any baseball fan would enjoy it. The author’s Uncle Clem was glad that his nephew was a writer, but he hoped that journalism would lead to something more meaningful, like fiction or poetry. In this book, I think the author did his Uncle Clem proud.

I grew up as a Tiger's fan and some of my favorite memories of my father, uncles, cousins and grandfather take place in Tiger stadium. This book by Tom Stanton brought up those memories as well as tears in my eyes and sometimes streaming down my face. Staton's description of his attendance of every home game during the final season at Tiger Stadium surprised me. I expected box scores and game descriptions but instead he related each game to how his relationships to his father, uncles, children, and friends all were linked, somehow, to Tiger Stadium. I will always hold on to two memories of Tiger Stadium - Being eight years old, wearing my Little League uniform and standing next to the Tiger dugout only to have my hero, Dick McAuliffe come over and ask me about my season. My second involves driving 15 hours with 4 hours yet to go with my pregnant wife when we heard Ernie Harwell's voice on WJR. We made a quick detour and I ended up spending a great evening reveling my wife with all my Tiger Stadium stories. Thanks Tom for giving me one more chance to stand on "The Corner".

It was too old for me and I am old. I only knew a few of the baseball players they referred to and I bought this copy for my grandson, and he was not at all interested in it. My mistake. But I finished it and the personal story was a good one, just took me through a lot of games I found boring. If you lived through this time, it probably would interest you more than myself.

This book combines the authors love for baseball and the nostalgia of family stories with the final season of Tigers Stadium. This book, for me, hit me in the feels and made me think of the past and the future. He explains his family dynamic as well as their connection to Tigers Stadium while introducing us to stadium veterans who have their own story.As a baseball fan I found this fascinating. As a history fan I found it interesting the different stages of the Stadium. But as a son and soon to be father I found it touching. I hopefully will be able to share my love of baseball with my son and create many great memories with him at the ballpark.

As a child growing up in the Detroit area, Tom Stanton dreamed about attending every home game of his beloved Tigers. When the dreaded news game that 1999 would be the team's final season in historic Tiger stadium, he decided to make that dream come true. What emerged was much more than just a game-by-game chronicle of what was, on the field anyway, a rather dreary season.This book celebrates the stadium as a place that spanned the generations for countless players and fans. It's about the traditions that tie family and friends together; it's about life, love, loss...all the things in life that truly matter. You'll share this season with Tom, his aging father, and a cast of wonderful people he encounters during that summer, including Al Kaline, Ernie Harwell, Alice Cooper, Al the Usher and dozens more."The Final Season" won an award as best baseball book of the year. I hope you'll open these pages and learn why.

One thing I remember clearly from the 70's was the Tigers were there, and every game we loved to hear Ernie talking to us over the hiss & crack of the AM radio... Late at night during the west cost trips, the glow of the radio. Tom tells the story like I remember it, the Parking lot guys, the hot dog/peanut guys, the elevator operators... The regulars... Thanks Tom. I enjoyed the trip back in time. My Grandfather, would have loved this book. He drove bus for DSR, so undoubtedly, can tell you stories that would fit right in. My Dad will love it too.

Baseball, like no other sport, seems to link and connect generations of fans. This book examines this aspect of the sport though the author's quest to attend every game at Tiger Stadium in its last season as the of the home of the Detroit Tigers in 1999. The book is more about familiar relationship and shared memories than it is about baseball, but it is still a good read.

Baeball, for reasons that are too complicated and complex for me to verbalise, is passed on from generation to generation within families like no other sport. The Detroit Tiger's last season at Tiger Stadium allows Tom Stanton to draw on his own experiences in order to explore this phenomenon. The result is a touching account of a historic season and a reminder of how sports can bond families and people together.