"Why Is That Important?" Game Part 2

24 days are left to "Opening Day". The official beginning of the season for professional baseball. Leslie and I rarely miss a game. It gets tedious in August and begins to feel like work, especially when the Tribe are slipping after the annual June Swoon and the players are succumbing to injuries and their minor-league call ups are unknown. The starters feel like family by June. The call ups feel like your deranged uncle Leonard crashing your dinner party by July. Every year.

I was an Indians fan long before moving to Cleveland. In 1995 I remember watching the division series on the living room floor with my dad in Roy, Utah. Dad was a closet Red Sox fan (and an uncloseted Mariners fan) and so to make it fun, I became an Indians fan that year, just to screw with my dad. I was only into baseball when dad was around in those days, and the following year the Tribe made the division series again (and were dismantled by the Orioles and did not see the World Series again) I laid belly down on the floor with him while he read the paper, and watched the games with him. I knew dad loved baseball, and though I played little league I never watched it unless he had it on TV.

Going forward many years and here we are: Living in the city, able to watch every game (even some Cactus League games). But no Albert Belle hitting ( 8 seasons of 30+ home runs and 100+RBIs - only 5 others in history have done that), and thus no World Series. (A popular Cleveland joke is to say "There's always next year."). 

So in reading about spring training results, I see a sponsored article that talks about an old stadium that the Indians used to play at; It was called League Park. A group is trying to revive this old stadium and make it more of an attraction. So I Google it to find it on the map. It is in a less-than-savory part of the city and definitely not on the tourist circuit. One wall stands at the end of a city-owned beat down city park. So I ask myself "Why is That Important to these Clevelanders?" Here are then and now pics:

It doesn't take much digging beyond a Wikipedia page to find out why is should be a big deal to the locals and anyone else that likes baseball (This will probably mean more to ball fans, but the names will be certainly familiar):

* Cy Young delivered the first pitch in this park.

* Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run in this park.

* Joe DiMaggio hit the last of his 56 game hitting streak in this park in 1941.

* Jim Bagby hits the first home run by a pitcher in a World Series in this park.

* The first and only unassisted triple play in World Series history happened in this park.

* The first grand slam home run in the history of the World Series happened in this park.

* The site of the first World Series win by the Cleveland Indians.

* Alta Weiss, female pitching sensation (for a men's team) debuted at this park in 1907.

* Adie Joss pitched his perfect game in this stadium in 1908.

* Cleveland Buckeyes won the Negro League World Series in this park in 1945.

So, Why is that Important to Cleveland? If there is a recognizable name from old-school baseball, they passed through this park. I would have to say that it not only is important to Cleveland but to the world of baseball in general.

It was recently given a $5 million budget for restoration because word of mouth spread through the baseball community to the political community to keep it around. It's Important!