There Used to be a Ballpark
... and with League Park, there may yet be again

Ah yes, the Great American Pastime. The Indians are into the first half of the season at Progressive Field (we won't talk about their record). But in another time, in another place, the cry of "Play Ball" was heard to the east of it. The National Anthem echoed in the air there, too. There was the crack of a bat and the cheers of thousands of baseball fans -- just like Clevelanders expect at the corner of Ontario and Carnegie every year.

But at this location, the walls are silent, the field is overgrown, and the grounds unkempt. Most of the red brick edifice that once saw some of the most historic baseball ever played is in ruin. Before Progressive Field, before Cleveland Municipal Stadium, there was League Park. And if a handful of ragtag Cleveland baseball fans have anything to say about it, League Park will rise again as a phoenix from the flames.

League Park opened in May of 1891. Nine thousand fans sat on wooden bleachers to watch the legendary Cy Young pitch for the Cleveland Spiders of the National League, the forerunners of the Indians. It was a more elegant time and baseball was a more elegant game.

The park was the brainchild of Frank DeHaas Robinson, a pioneer in the street railway lines and owner of the Spiders. Robinson built League Park on his Payne Avenue streetcar line on the corner of E. 66th Street and Lexington Avenue to increase ridership on his Cleveland City Cable Railway and, in turn, baseball game attendance.

Designed by Osborn Engineering, the Park was to be built as a neighborhood park in much the same style as Philadelphia’s Shibe Park or Brooklyn’s Ebbet’s Field. The stadium is uniquely shaped due to the need to fit the ball field into a city street grid. The diamond, situated in the northwest corner of the block, was turned slightly counterclockwise. The right field line was only 290 feet but batters had the extra challenge of clearing a 60 foot fence to hit a home run. By comparison, the Green Monster at Fenway Park is only 37 feet! In left field the fence was only five feet high but the left field line was a full 375 feet. The deepest part of the field was 460 feet to the scoreboard.

The Spiders played at League Park until the end of the disastrous 1899 season. That year, the Spiders won only 20 games out of a 154 game season. The very next year the Spiders’ were replaced by the “Naps”, an American League Team. In turn, the Naps were replaced by the Cleveland Indians.

On April 29, 1901, the Tribe played their first game in League Park against the Milwaukee Brewers, beating them 4-3. By the time the 1910 season rolled around, attendance had increased so much that the park was enlarged and rebuilt with a concrete grandstand to accommodate 21,000 fans. A second level was also added and box seats became available for the first time.

In 1916 the name of the park was changed to Dunn Field, after Sonny Jim Dunn who was owner of the Cleveland Indians at the time. After ownership changed hands again in 1927 the name reverted to League Park.

1920 saw the World Series come to Cleveland (and League Park) pitting the Indians against the Brooklyn Robins, later known as the Dodgers. The 1920 Series is arguable one of the best ever played and certainly the best played by the Indians. Not only did the Tribe win the series but League Park was the site of the first grand slam home run in World Series history. In that same series, Indians second baseman Bill Wambsgass made the only unassisted triple play in a World Series, ever!

Unfortunately, the success of the Tribe in the 1920 series was overshadowed by the death of shortstop Ray Chapman. The date was August 16, 1920 and life was being good to “Chappie,” as his teammates called him. The Indians were playing the Yankees at the Polo Grounds in New York. Carl Mays, the Yankee’s pitcher, was known for having a nasty disposition and throwing “high and tight.” Chappie was crowding the plate when Mays delivered a raising side arm pitch hitting Chapman in the temple, fracturing his skull. In spite of efforts to save him, Chappie died the next morning from his injuries. It remains to this day the only death during a game in major league history. Baseball history abounds at League Park.

Another notable event from baseball history occurring at League Park was the 500th home run of Babe Ruth in August of 1929. Interestingly, the “Sultan of Swat” credits Indians left fielder, Joseph Jackson, otherwise known as “Shoeless Joe” with his hitting success. Ruth was quoted as saying “I copied Jackson’s Style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He’s the guy who made me a hitter.” In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Shoeless Joe 35th on their list of the 100 greatest baseball players.

Baseball history abounds at League Park. In 1936, one of the greatest names in Cleveland sports began his long and illustrious career. That was the year that Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller began his 18 year career with the Cleveland Indians. The Indians were the only team he played for and he was part of the “Big Four in the Indians pitching rotation in 1950. In his career he amassed 266 victories, 2,581 strikeouts and led the American League seven times in strikeouts. For Feller baseball was not only a game but a philosophy.

“Everyday is a new opportunity,” Feller said. “You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind you and start over. That’s the way life is, a new game everyday, and that’s the way baseball is.”

Other events that assured League Park’s place in the baseball stadium hall of fame were Joe DiMaggio’s 56th and last hit of his record breaking hitting streak, the first season with over one million in fan attendance (1946) and Ted Williams only inside the park homer, also in 1946.

The Indians were not the only Cleveland professional ball team to play at League Park. The Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro League started play at the site under the name of the Cleveland Tate Stars. The Buckeyes were organized by Ernest Wright and Wilbur Hayes. Wright was a nightclub owner from Erie, Pennsylvania and Hayes, a local sports promoter. In 1945, the Buckeyes compiled a record of 53-16 to win the Negro League Championship.

That was backed up in 1947 with a pennant win in the Negro American League. Success on the field did not necessarily mean success of the team. The Buckeyes lost money and eventually disbanded in 1950.

For all its fame and glory, the beginning of the end came sometime in 1931 when a new stadium was built on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland Municipal Stadium. At first the Indians played at the new stadium only on Sundays and holidays. By 1946, games were split between the stadiums. Then in 1947 the Indians moved to the Cleveland Stadium full time under the ownership of Bill Veeck.

Lights were never installed at League Park making night games impossible. The last game played there was on September 21, 1946 against the Detroit Tigers. So it came that after 55 years, professional baseball ceased at League Park. The city bought the property in 1951.

The venerable old ballpark served as the practice field for the Cleveland Browns from 1945 until the late 1960’s. By this time the neglected and decaying stands were torn down to make room for a playground. The bright spot is that in 1979 League Park was declared a Cleveland landmark and earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

Unlike contemporaries like Shibe Park, very little remains of League Park; same goes for Ebbets Field. But you can still visit. A public park now occupies what used to be the baseball field and only a small section of the brick facade along the first base side that remains standing. The old ticket office still stands proudly on the corner of East 66th Street and Lexington. The last remaining grandstand was deemed unsafe and taken down in 2002.

But that doesn’t mean that League Park will never return to its former glory.

In fact, a group of diehard baseball fan Clevelanders, led by League Park Society co-director Russ Haslage and are carving out a plan to make League Park into a revitalized historical landmark and tourist destination. The goal is to completely refurbish and give the park a new lease on life; a "vintage" 1860s style team called the Cleveland Blues is already scheduled to play there in 2010.

"We have [filed for] our 501(c)(3) info from the IRS and are officially approved! We are beginning grant research to help with operating expenses," Haslage offers. "We’ll also begin more active reaches for donations. We meet with Senator Sherrod Brown [today] and are waiting to hear from [Cleveland Ward 7] Councilman [T.J.] Dow about a meeting with him and Mayor Jackson."

There's a long way to go, according to Haslage, but because League Park was one of the first stages for the grand era of baseball that exists today, he and his partners are completely committed to its restoration.

"Next year marks the 100th anniversary of when the original League Park wooden park was torn down and replaced by a brick and mortar facility," Haslage says. "But our construction plans are ready to go. Once we can start recreating the field and museum and recreational facilities, which is expected to take between $8-10 million, League Park's completion is about three years down the road. We'll be doing it in stages."

The Society has also registered the old Cleveland Buckeyes name from the old Negro League and plan to have a new team with that vintage name play the modern game. Should be compelling.

Perhaps a romantic thought will hold all of the baseball fans over while they wait for League Park to return to its former glory: the grass is still green, the ticket office is still intact and if you listen closely, the echoes of the shouts and cheers of thousands of frenzied fans may be heard in the breeze and the aroma of hotdogs and popcorn may still linger in the air.

Visit the League Park Society website at http://www.leaguepark.org. Visitors can sign a petition to save the park there.

From Cool Cleveland Ernie L. Papp elpappATadelphia.net

Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian contributed to this article peterATcoolcleveland.com
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