GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Today marks 25 years since the Detroit Tigers played their final game at Tiger Stadium — The Corner of Michigan and Trumbull.

The Tigers spent 88 seasons in the stadium and even longer in Corktown. News 8’s Jack Doles spent time talking to Tigers legends and fans about what it meant to say goodbye to the ballpark and what made it so special.

You can watch the video above and read the transcript of the report below. Original air date: Sept. 27, 1999.

Ernie Harwell: “We got so used to the place, you know? It’s like an old slipper. You go home and it doesn’t look too good, maybe, but it’s comfortable and you’re used to it, and you love it.”

Tiger fans have had a love affair with this place ever since it was built.

Fan: “It means a lot to baseball fans. It’s been here since 1912.”

For 87 years, the corner of Michigan and Trumbull has been the cornerstone of a city. A place where generations of families have come to forget about all that’s wrong and take in America’s pastime.

They’ve come to see Hall of Famers like Cobb, Kaline and Greenberg. This is where Denny McClain became the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season. This is where Joe Louis knocked out Bob Pastor in 1939. And it’s where the Lions won their last world championship way back in 1957.

Each spring, Tiger Stadium stands for the promise that this could be the “Year of the Tiger.” Even in the depths of our worst depression, the park on The Corner gave people something to feel good about. It was the one place in a broken city that actually represented hope.

Harwell: “I lived through that Great Depression. It’s just unforgettable how bad off people were. We’ve got guys who were lawyers and doctors and stockbrokers who were selling apples on the street. We didn’t have a welfare system at that time. It was really hand to mouth. The guys were down in the dumps and to have a ballclub that you could rally around like the 1934 Tigers and the ’35 Tigers who won the World Series. That meant a lot to this city.”

It soothed the city again in 1968 after race riots had torn Detroit apart. But at Tiger Stadium, Black and white people cheered as one. The Tigers gave them a common cause and everybody celebrated when they won another world championship.

Then in 1984, with the auto industry in the dumps, Tigers fans flocked to The Corner once more. And their spirits soared when Kirk Gibson fired this shot into the upper deck. Once again, the Tigers were world champs.

Harwell: “Any time you got a pennant-winning team, something happens to a city. You get together and it’s not only the team but the city becomes sort of a big team in itself. They cooperate and have a great time. It’s a tremendous feeling of community when that happens.”

The Tigers didn’t win a world championship this season, but fans are still coming together. Only this time, to say goodbye, to get one last look at an old friend that has provided so many treasured memories.

Fan: “That field, that grass, you know. I’ve been coming here off and on since I was a little kid. I was a safety boy when in the sixth grade, my first game. I sat right over above the scoreboard over there and I watched Kaline make a throw from right field to the plate on a line and I was hooked from there on out.”

Fan: “Just a fabulous place. Fabulous.”

Gary Gillum’s dad started bringing him to The Corner in the early ’60s. On this night, he brought his wife and kids. He kept score in his souvenir program. He wanted a lasting reminder of his final visit.

Fan: “It’s quite sad. It just seems like part of your life, part of everything, a piece of you is missing now.”

Sad, too, are the men who have called this place home.

Trammell: “To say I’ll be sentimental is an understatement. And if I shed a tear, I’m not embarrassed to say that.”

Alan Trammell played his entire 20-year career at The Corner, and like most men who have ever stepped foot on this field, it was love at first sight.

Trammell: “I was in awe, to say the least. I looked and saw how green it was. And I think most people will say that. And I’m going to the days when they didn’t have the plastic seats, they had the wood seats. I remember the balls in right field especially splintering up there when the balls would hit up there.”

As a child, Phil Regan used to make the trip from Wayland to see the Tigers play the Red Sox. His hero was Ted Williams. Years later, this became his real-life Field of Dreams, when Phil actually got to pitch against Williams. If only every memory was that sweet.

Regan: “I remember the longest game in history, you know, when we played the Yankees. I got the loss on Saturday, and I got the loss on Sunday.”

Like that memory, there are some things that players and fans won’t miss at the new park. The obstructed views, the weathered look of a tired, old stadium.

Fan: “If you ever go to Rome, you ought to see the Coliseum. It’s a wonderful, little place. But I guarantee you one thing, they don’t play any more games there.

Harwell: “I think we all lose a little bit, but I’m really happy to go on and go to the new ballpark and keep the old one in my memories and treasure it in that way.”