League Park was a baseball park located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was situated at the northeast corner of E. 66th Street and Lexington Avenue in the Hough neighborhood. It was built in 1891 as a wood structure and rebuilt using concrete and steel in 1910. The park was home to a number of professional sports teams, most notably the then-Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. League Park was first home to the Cleveland Spiders of the National League from 1891 to 1899 and of the Cleveland Lake Shores of the Western League, the minor league predecessor to the Indians, in 1900. From 1914 to 1915, League Park also hosted the Cleveland Spiders of the minor league American Association. In the late 1940s, the park was also the home field of the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League.
In addition to baseball, League Park was also used for American football, serving as the home field for several successive teams in the Ohio League and early National Football League (NFL) during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as for college football. Most notably, the Cleveland Rams of the NFL played at League Park in 1937 and for much of the early 1940s. Later in the 1940s, the Cleveland Browns used League Park as a practice field. *
LEAGUE PARK FACTS #
- Cy Young pitched the first game played in League Park on May 1, 1891.
- Was a National League park until 1900.
- Balls hitting 20-foot-high screen above the 40-foot-high right field wall were still in play.
- Renovated for the 1910 season. The wooden grandstand was replaced with steel and concrete and double decked.
- Seats were added for the 1920 World Series which cut the center field distance from 460 feet to 420 feet.
- Called Dunn Field from 1916 to 1927 after then owner Sunny Jim Dunn.
- Indians second baseman Bill Wambsganss made the only unassisted triple play in World Series history here on October 10, 1920 in game 5 against the Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers). In the same game Elmer Smith hit the first grand-slam and Jim Bagby became the first pitcher to hit a home run in World Series history.
- Joe DiMaggio set a record by hitting safely in his 56th consecutive game here on Wednesday, July 16, 1941.
- Used only for the Indians weekday and Saturday day games from 1934 to 1946.
- Owner Bill Veeck moved all of the Indians home games to Cleveland (Municipal) Stadium in 1947.
- A park now occupies the site and a portion of the outfield stands still exists.
- The two-story ticket booth built during the 1909-10 renovation is still standing and serves as a recreation center
Read our ‘Stadium Seat Spiel’ Article on League Park
*Source Wikipedia
#Source ballparks.com
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE ARTIFACTS FROM LEAGUE PARK IN THE MUSEUM – CLICK THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW
