Showing off some skin at a baseball game is nothing new.
We’ve seen the “Bleacher Creatures” and the “Bleacher Bums,” with the rowdiest of the rowdies congregating, typically in the cheap seats, and often with an adult beverage in one hand and their shirt in the other. Old Tiger Stadium saw its fair share of these kinds of scenes. Wrigley Field in Chicago long has been known for them, too. Heck, one time, late and legendary Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray even called a game shirtless in the stands.
Now, Major League Baseball is embracing the latest shirts-optional movement — known as “Tarps Off,” which made its way to Comerica Park on Tuesday night during the Tigers’ 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
Even Paws joined in on the party, even if he kept on his orange, “Detroit Vs. Everybody” shirt.
How did ‘Tarps Off’ start in Major League Baseball?
The launch of the “Tarps Off” movement in Major League Baseball is credited to, of all people, the Stephen F. Austin club baseball team, which was in the St. Louis area for a tournament this past weekend and decided to take in a game between the Cardinals and Kansas City Royals at Busch Stadium. More than a dozen players from the town decided to ditch their shirts during Friday night’s game. Before long, hundreds of other not-so-shy men joined in on the act, taking over several sections in right field at Busch Stadium.
That night, the Cardinals won on a walk-off, 5-4 in 11 innings. They won the next day, too, and the Cardinals even treated the SFA club team to a postgame tour of the home clubhouse.
The SFA club team remained in St. Louis on Tuesday, to participate in the ceremonial first pitch, before leading another “Tarps Off” mob scene — before yet another Cardinals walk-off win, 9-6 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cardinals are so all-in on the fun, their manager, Oli Marmol, bought an entire section for the shirtless sensations.
“Tarps Off,” since its launch in St. Louis, has been catching on elsewhere throughout MLB, including in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Monday night, when the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 16-6, at Tropicana Field. And, on Tuesday night, “Tarps Off” made its debut at Comerica Park, seemingly starting with a dozen or so fans high up in Section 213 in the mezzanine in the middle innings. By the eighth inning, the throng had grown to hundreds of fans, waving their shirts like rally towels. The “Tarps Off” crowd spilled over into another section.
Alas, the Tigers lacked the Cardinals’ magic, and couldn’t come back against the Guardians, stranding the bases loaded in the eighth inning and stranding the potential go-ahead and tying runs in the ninth inning.
You can probably expect “Tarps Off” to continue spreading like wildfire in the coming days, and then to continue where it’s working and cease where it’s not — because if we know this much about baseball, it’s that players and fans are quick to embrace superstitions, and almost as quick to ditch them. (In recent memory, Tigers fans will remember the “Rally Goose” and the Zubaz.)
Is ‘Tarps Off’ actually a new thing?
Baseball, more than the other major professional sports leagues in North America, lends itself to shedding the shirts, of course, because it’s a summer sport, and it’s mostly played outdoors.
But this latest “Tarps Off” trend actually can trace its roots to last college football season, when one hearty fan got it going — and watched it swell — late in an October 2025 game at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were having a horrific season, they had just fired their head coach, and they were getting blown out again. But rather than leave Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater early like so many others, one student stayed, stripped off his shirt, and waved it around — all to win a $10 bet. Next thing that first fan knew, the entire section had filled up with hundreds of other guys, down to half a wardrobe.
Within weeks, it was game on for “Tarps Off” at college football stadiums across the country, from Wisconsin to North Carolina to Virginia Tech to Oregon, and even to Rose Bowl, for UCLA games.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers fans show some skin for ‘Tarps Off.’ How did this all start?
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
