Sep 02 2018 06:04 PM
I think I've long owed youse guys a writeup on my adopted hometown's ballpark.
The reputation is that it's a second-tier Good Place to Watch a Game. Not as good as the holy triumvirate of PNC, AT&T, and Camden Yards, but still quite nice. I've never been to PNC or AT&T; I think Progressive vs Camden Yards is about a wash.
What sets Progressive Field apart is how open it feels. At ground level, there are generally gates rather than walls, so even walking around to the concession stands, there's a feeling of being outdoors. I don't really get that at Citi, except at the Shea Bridge.
I've generally watched games from the large bar inside the ballpark, called The Corner, which gets its name from radio announcer Tom Hamilton's tag line to open a home game, "...and we're underway at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario", with Carnegie pronounced the Scottish way with an accent on the second syllable.
It's a nice bar, featuring fire pits and couches that come in handy on cold nights. You get a great view from the railing, similar to the Pepsi Porch (Coca-Cola Corner now?), but closer in, and purely standing room. On weeknights, you can get a "District Ticket" that includes admission and a free beer from among the cheap selections (Labatt's is the best of the bunch) for $15. You don't get a seat; the expectation is that you hang out in The Corner.
On the downside, it's crowded for weekend games, the lines at the bar are long, and for whatever reason they didn't have a selection of local beers on tap, particularly odd considering that Progressive generally pushes local flavor. I had a Pilsener from Belgium that was reasonably good.
The ballpark plays small. Its deepest part is in right center.
Sightlines are excellent. I've rarely sat in the seats. I'm usually too cheap to buy a field level ticket - last time I did so was a couple of years ago, when the Mets were in town. I had the pleasure of chatting with 41Forever for a bit that day; he'd made the four hour drive in from western Michigan. Those of you who know me in real life know that I don't do high places, so I generally don't sit in the Promenade Level. I've only done it once in Cleveland; for Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, a friend had an extra 400-level ticket, so I sucked it up for Corey Kluber. He returned the favor by sucking in the game.
The scoreboard beats Citi Field's, though that's admittedly not a high bar. Informative, good clear replays, and short on advertisements. The one thing that I found very odd is that the batter's major counting stats - home runs and RBIs - are only shown on the auxiliary scoreboards. The main scoreboard shows batting average, hits, walks, OBP, OPS, doubles, triples, and has a blurb that includes some home-only stats. But it takes a while to get the hang of remembering to look to a smaller scoreboard if you want to know how many home runs Frankie Lindor has on the season.
The Indians Hall of Fame is very well done - understated, with a sea of plaques. All outdoors, at ground level of the ballpark.
I wouldn't mind a retractable roof along the lines of Safeco. Fun fact - Cleveland has more rainy days than any other major league city, including Seattle.
The location is ideal - a formerly desolate area near downtown. That seems to be the best formula for a ballpark location when it's available - convenient, with plenty of things to do in the area already built in. It works well in Denver, Seattle, and Baltimore, too. The atmosphere around the park during ballgames is festive, with people watching the TV broadcasts outside the park. There are two main drags within a couple of blocks of the ballpark - E. 4th Street for tourists and restaurants, and W. 6th for frat boy bars. Before and after the game, people also go across the river to the Ohio City neighborhood where W. 25th Street has somewhat better and less generic bars and restaurants. Great Lakes Brewing Company, the granddaddy of Cleveland brew pubs and the anchor of the W25th bar and restaurant strip, sponsors the vegetable oil powered Fatty Wagon shuttle bus, which will take you to and from the game for $1 plus a purchase from the bar or gift shop. I've never taken it, but it looks like fun.
Concessions at the ballpark are generally solid, with an emphasis on local restaurants.
I generally bike over to the games. It's about a two mile ride, mostly in dedicated bike lanes. There's plenty of bike parking behind the ballpark. The downtown train stop (Cleveland has three rapid transit lines, all of which converge downtown at the Terminal Tower) is about a four block walk. Progressive Field itself has no parking garages; the local lots charge $15-25.
A few words on Wahoo, because you can't talk about the Indians without talking about Wahoo:
The ballpark itself no longer sponsors anything with Chief Wahoo on it; they've gone to the block C logo (they may still sell Wahoo hats in the gift shop; I didn't check). There are Wahoo shirts all over the ballpark, though. I don't like Wahoo at all, though I see the point of view of the fans. Wahoo is probably the most readily identifiable logo in all of sports, and had been long before the rest of us figured out just how loathsome the logo is. And the Indians have generally been one of the more progressive franchises in baseball in terms of their actions; they were the first to integrate the American League and the first to hire an African-American manager, so there's a sense of frustration that they're being looked at as a bunch of ignorant yahoos because of a picture on a baseball cap. And Clevelanders are a stubborn bunch. They don't appreciate being told what to do. They're getting there, but they're not ready to let go of the Chief yet.
One compromise I've seen proposed is a new Indian logo that's a dignified image rather than a crass caricature:
An out-of-the-box way to keep the tradition with honor rather than bigotry. I can see this possibly working, if Native American leaders are on board. Otherwise, no.