The first real post on Four Baggers and Foreclosures is about the only one I've got that can crossover between both genres... An abandoned baseball stadium!
My love for baseball was solidified during four separate bus tours I took in the 1990's. After discovering
Jay Buckley's Baseball Tours at the Minnesota Twins annual fan festival "Twins Fest" in 1992, my mother and I booked a 3 day trip to Chicago, seeing a total of 5 games in three days, with White Sox and Cubs doubleheaders for two of the days, then a stop in Milwaukee on the way back.
By 1993, we wanted to see more games that would take us to the east coast, and booked a trip in late September that included a game in Cleveland at Municipal Stadium. The Indians were set to leave at the end of the 1993 season for their new ballpark, Jacob's Field (which has since been renamed to a bastard insurance company). This tour included a Saturday afternoon game on the second to last week of the season. Only 4 more baseball games would ever be played here after the one I watched... And that kind of means something to me...
As the bus came into Cleveland, we rode off the highway and into an old and run down residential area. As a bonus side trip, we would be taken to the remains of League Park, where the Indians played from 1901 through 1946.(Indians games between 1931 to 1946 were shared between League Park and Cleveland Municipal Stadium.) Some of it's original structure was still standing at a public park.
After the Indians left League Park in 1946, it was used by the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro Leagues until they disbanded after going 3-33 in the first half of the 1950 season. The Indians sold the stadium to the city of Cleveland in 1950 before the Buckeyes season started, but since they wouldn't be using League Park, the city had most of it demolished in 1951. The upper deck along the baselines was removed, with only the lower deck between first and third base remaining. The Indians old clubhouse was kept intact behind first base.
The Cleveland Browns of the NFL used League Park as a practice space, and the former Indians clubhouse from 1952-1965. The third base and home plate section of stands were demolished in 1962. Leaving the last section of stands behind first base, and the clubhouse underneath, until it was finally demolished in 2002. Leaving only the ticket booth in right field and the outer wall standing from the original park.
In 2011, the Cleveland City Council approved a plan to restore the still standing outer wall and badly neglected ticket office in right field. The office would be restored and converted into the Cleveland Baseball Heritage Museum, which would be relocated from it's downtown location. The baseball field would be restored and a new park would be built along the right field line, roughly where the chunk of first base stands were back in 1993.
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| Ohio State Historical Marker. |
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| Tour bus outside League Park. |
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| West side of ticket office |
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South side of ticket office. The door on the second floor of the ticket office used to enter the right field stands.
They've been gone since 1951, so that door has lead to nothing for well over a half a century. |
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| Stadium Entrance. This has been closed off after park renovations. |
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| Entering League Park. First base stands on your left. To the right would have been the right field stands, which were demolished in 1951. |
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The remains of the first base stands. The Indians clubhouse was located under the stands.
An out of focus me is standing in front of the closed off dugout. |
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| A closer look at the remains of the first base stands. This was demolished in 2002. |
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| A more in focus me is standing in front of the closed off dugout. |
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| Looking towards where the right field stands used to be. The ticket office is in the center of the picture |
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| The northwest corner the first base stands. The Indians clubhouse was behind the bricked up windows. |
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| Me again... Walking towards the north edge of the first base stands. The Indians clubhouse was behind the sealed up door, marked by the black char marks. I don't know if there was a fire underneath the stands. This was demolished in 2002. |
After we left the League park site, we rode the bus down to a few blocks from Lake Erie and the home of Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Indians were playing the Milwaukee Brewers for an early afternoon game. Opening in 1931, the place was massive (a capacity of over 74,000 for baseball), dingy, old and awesome! making the day even better was cool and overcast.
The gigantic stadium was clearly nearing it's end. Built in 1930 in a failed attempt to lure the Olympics to Cleveland, Cleveland Municipal was commonly known as "The Mistake By The Lake." Cold winds and swarming bugs from Lake Erie were a year round problem. The Indians were also a poor gate draw for much of their stay, even 20,000 people in a 75,000 seat stadium is going to look empty. There was 22,000 people here today according to the official numbers. I would have guessed 6,000 from what I saw. League Park only held 22,000 total, so the Indians have seemingly been looking for a home that best fits their needs for much of their existence. Jacob's Field ended up being the correct fit, selling out 455 straight games at one point, at a capacity of 43,000 and change.
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| Here's the free Sunoco New Park Pin that was the giveaway promotion today... |
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Cleveland won the game 6-2, with Mark Clark pitching a complete game. I didn't remember the game itself, but with the help of Baseball Reference, I was able to see that nothing too noteworthy happened. Matt Maysey pitched an inning for Milwaukee. He appeared in 2 games for the Montreal Expos in 1992... I'm reaching here...
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| View from my seat... |
After the game, we boarded the bus and were back on the road. Spending the night at a motel in Elkhart, Indiana, we would be in Chicago the next afternoon to see the White Sox take on the Texas Rangers at Comiskey.
The Indians finished the 1993 at Municipal Stadium, selling out the final weekend against the Chicago White Sox, 74,000+ each night. The park officially closed for baseball on October 3, 1993.
The Cleveland Browns of the NFL played there for two more seasons, before pulling a bunch of shady secretive business nastiness and moving to Baltimore after the 1995 season. The final Browns home game was played on December 17, 1995, then the stadium was closed.
Cleveland Municipal Stadium was demolished November 1996. Later, I read that part of the stadium was sunk into Lake Erie to create an artificial reef. And that's really cool!
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| First base side of the stands... Do fish swim here now? |
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Unfortunately during the September 1993 tour, my mother's camera had unknowingly broken. All pictures taken west of Toronto were ruined. Including all of League Park and the 5th to the last game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium later that day. Luckily, a woman my mom befriended on the tour sent her copies of some pictures she had taken of the Indians game that afternoon and sent us copies. Too bad she didn't take any of League Park...
I was able to visit Cleveland again during the 1995 bus tour. Again they drove the bus down to the League Park site to take the pictures. It looked about the same as I'd remembered. Cool and creepy as all hell...
Later that night at Jacobs Field, I bought a sweet pin set commemorating the three Cleveland baseball stadiums.
While I've never been an Indians fan, I really liked the FIRST Major League Movie. And they have two of my favorite stadiums of the past in their history. Just not the one Flo works for...
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