![]() ![]() “The funny part was Whiskey didn’t drink,” Rottach said. Physical labor made fond memories of crewmates who depended on each other and of foremen nicknamed Fat Jack and Whiskey. So did picnic tables in municipal parks all over town. Wood at the carpentry shop came from the sawmill.” “Furniture at the City-County Building downtown, like desks and tables, were made at the Belle Isle carpentry shop. “On Belle Isle they had a carpentry shop,” Rottach said. Duties not only consisted of trimming and cutting down trees, but also manning a sawmill on Belle Isle. You name it.”ĭuring summer breaks from Servite Catholic High School and through earning a master’s degree in urban planning at Wayne State University, he worked in the city’s forestry department. “We should have saved that wall,” he said, remembering all those autographs. Rottach managed the stadium for a decade starting in 1999, the last year the Tigers played there before moving to Comerica Park, until after it was torn down in 2008. They have two children, Robert, an attorney for Oakland County and Nicole, working locally for a medical company based in California. His wife of 42 years is Giuseppina Darlofi, a retired Detroit public school teacher. Rottach, 72, of Grosse Pointe Park, is retired as the City of Detroit’s director of real estate. They weren’t autographed by the players.” “When he ran out, he copied the autographs and sold balls on the side. “There was pretty high demand for autographed balls,” Rottach said. ![]() Hundreds of players’ autographs also covered one of the room’s walls. “In that office were all these baseballs,” Rottach said. Then there’s the side hustle operated out of an office behind stands along the third base line. “If it was 440, it really would have been deep. “Everybody raved about how deep Tiger Stadium was in center field,” Rottach said. Barnum.įred Rottach, 72, helped a construction crew install steel support beams during the renovation of his house. Rottach chalked up the discrepancy to the team owner having a streak of P.T. “He measured it twice with a laser,” Rottach said. The dark green wall was labeled in big white numbers “440” feet. “He measured from home plate to the center field wall.” “The guy from Sports Illustrated was interested in the distance the home run actually went,” Rottach said. Only eight players have hit the ball over the roof here in Detroit.” He spoke faster the farther the ball flew: “There’s a long drive,” NBC TV announcer Curt Gowdy said. Jackson stepped to the plate in the third inning with one runner on first and nobody out. The hit remains the highlight of the 1971 All-Star game. “They wanted to do a special on the home run Reggie Jackson hit into the light fixture in right field.” “Sports Illustrated called me while I was managing the stadium,” Rottach said. The century-old sawmill on Belle Isle will see better days when the Arboriculture Society of Michigan Foundation raises enough money to renovate it into a working museum.įred Rottach managed Detroit Tiger Stadium through its death throes and he knows where some of the skeletons are buried. Heating/Cooling Repair and Installation. ![]()
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