Visit League Park
"League Park opened on May 1, 1891, with the legendary Cy Young pitching for the Cleveland Spiders in their win over the Cincinnati Redlegs. The park remained the home of Cleveland's professional baseball and football teams until 1946. In 1920 the Cleveland Indians Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam home run, and Bill Wamby executed the only unassisted triple play, in World Series history. Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run over the park's short right field wall in 1929. With the park as their home field, the Cleveland Buckeyes won the Negro World Series in 1945."
So read the official Ohio Historical marker at what remains of League Park. Located in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood on the city's East Side, I visited the park in November of 2007. There's not much to see, but it's still a pretty neat place to check out.
Here it is at the corner of East 66th and Lexington.
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Here is a picture I found on the web of the park in its heyday. I think that the street at the bottom is Lexington, and the street on the left is E. 66th. If I'm correct, that makes the building in the bottom left of the photo the ticket office.
The biggest piece of the park that remains is what I understand to be that original ticket office.
The ticket booth is obviously in pretty bad shape. Unfortunately, as is much of the neighborhood. (That guy panhandled me and my brother-in-law moments before this photo.)
For whatever reason, the area immediately adjacent to the ticket office is fenced off.
This is the view from E. 66th - at the end of the wall in the photo is the ticket booth/Lex. Besdies the ticket office, this wall is all that appears to remain from the original park.
This is looking the other way on E. 66th. The brickwork is pretty cool. I think this is the wall that would have been immediately behind the grandstand behind home plate.
It's an ultimate neighborhood park, with houses all around. If you're ever been to Wrigley Field, it makes it easier to imagine a thriving park in the heart of an inner-city neighborhood. Pretty amazing that parks like Fenway and Wrigley have survived. My understanding is that the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium was built in an unsuccessful attempt to lure the Olympics to Cleveland in the 1930s. It makes me wonder, what sort of fate the park would have had, or for that matter the City of Cleveland, has this relic remained a thriving inner city park?
Evidently, there are efforts to preserve and restore the park, with both the Indians and the City uniting to do the work. I hope they are successful!
(For more on the history of the park, click here or here.)
So read the official Ohio Historical marker at what remains of League Park. Located in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood on the city's East Side, I visited the park in November of 2007. There's not much to see, but it's still a pretty neat place to check out.
Here it is at the corner of East 66th and Lexington.
View Larger Map
Here is a picture I found on the web of the park in its heyday. I think that the street at the bottom is Lexington, and the street on the left is E. 66th. If I'm correct, that makes the building in the bottom left of the photo the ticket office.
The biggest piece of the park that remains is what I understand to be that original ticket office.
The ticket booth is obviously in pretty bad shape. Unfortunately, as is much of the neighborhood. (That guy panhandled me and my brother-in-law moments before this photo.)
For whatever reason, the area immediately adjacent to the ticket office is fenced off.
This is the view from E. 66th - at the end of the wall in the photo is the ticket booth/Lex. Besdies the ticket office, this wall is all that appears to remain from the original park.
This is looking the other way on E. 66th. The brickwork is pretty cool. I think this is the wall that would have been immediately behind the grandstand behind home plate.
It's an ultimate neighborhood park, with houses all around. If you're ever been to Wrigley Field, it makes it easier to imagine a thriving park in the heart of an inner-city neighborhood. Pretty amazing that parks like Fenway and Wrigley have survived. My understanding is that the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium was built in an unsuccessful attempt to lure the Olympics to Cleveland in the 1930s. It makes me wonder, what sort of fate the park would have had, or for that matter the City of Cleveland, has this relic remained a thriving inner city park?
Evidently, there are efforts to preserve and restore the park, with both the Indians and the City uniting to do the work. I hope they are successful!
(For more on the history of the park, click here or here.)
posted by Jason at 12:42
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