<P> In 1895, Detroit Tigers owner George Vanderbeck had a new ballpark built at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues . That stadium was called Bennett Park and featured a wooden grandstand with a wooden peaked roof in the outfield . At the time, some places in the outfield were only marked off with rope . </P> <P> In 1911, new Tigers owner Frank Navin ordered a new steel - and - concrete baseball park on the same site that would seat 23,000 to accommodate the growing numbers of fans . Navin Field opened on April 20, 1912, the same day as the Boston Red Sox's Fenway Park . While constructed on the same site as Bennett Park, the diamond at Navin Field was rotated 90 °, with home plate located in what had been left field at Bennett Park . Cleveland Naps player "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, later banned from baseball for life following the Black Sox Scandal, scored the first run at Navin Field on the opening day . The intimate configurations of both stadiums, both conducive to high - scoring games featuring home runs, prompted baseball writers to refer to them as "bandboxes" or "cigar boxes" (a reference to the similarly intimate Baker Bowl). </P> <P> Over the years, expansion continued to accommodate more people . In 1935, following Navin's death, new owner Walter Briggs oversaw the expansion of Navin Field to a capacity of 36,000 by extending the upper deck to the foul poles and across right field . By 1938, the city had agreed to move Cherry Street, allowing left field to be double - decked and the now - renamed Briggs Stadium had a capacity of 53,000 . In 1961, new owner John Fetzer took control of the stadium and gave it its final name: Tiger Stadium . Under this name, the stadium witnessed World Series titles in 1968 and 1984 . </P> <P> A fire gutted the press box on the evening of February 1, 1977 . In 1977, the Tigers sold the stadium to the city of Detroit, which then leased it back to the Tigers . As part of this transfer, the green wooden seats were replaced with blue and orange plastic ones and the stadium's interior, which was green, was painted blue to match . </P>

When was briggs stadium changed to tiger stadium