League Park

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League Park

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Location Cleveland, Ohio

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Opened May 1, 1891

Related Topics:
May 1 - 1891

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Closed September 21, 1946

Related Topics:
September 21 - 1946

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Capacity

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21,414

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Owned By

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Cleveland Indians

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Architect:

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Osborn Engineering

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Dimensions:

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Left

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Left-Center

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Center

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Right-Center

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Right

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385 ft. (1910), 375 ft. (1942)

Related Topics:
1910 - 1942

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415 ft. (1942)

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420 ft.

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317 ft. (estimated)

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290 ft.

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League Park was a baseball stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was home to the Cleveland Spiders, the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League. It was located at Lexington Avenue and E. 66th Street.

Related Topics:
Baseball - Cleveland, Ohio - Cleveland Spiders - Cleveland Indians - Cleveland Buckeyes - Negro American League

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League Park was opened on May 1, 1891, and sat 9,000 on wooden seats at the time. The Spiders played there until going out of business after a disastrous 20–134 season in 1899. They were replaced two years later by the Indians. The stadium was rebuilt for the 1910 season, with concrete and steel grandstands, now seating 21,414. The Indians began playing night, holiday and weekend games at the far larger Cleveland Stadium in 1932. They split games between the two stadiums until the end of the 1946 season. Lights were never installed at League Park, and it was thus impossible to play night games there. For 1947, the Indians moved to Cleveland Stadium full-time.

Related Topics:
May 1 - 1891 - 1899 - 1910 - Cleveland Stadium - 1932 - 1946 - 1947

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Because of a need to squeeze the stadium into the Cleveland street grid, the stadium was rather oddly shaped by modern standards. It was only 290 feet down the right field line—though batters still had to surmount a 60-foot fence to hit a home run (by comparison, the Green Monster at Fenway Park is only 37 feet high). The fence in left field was only five feet tall, but batters had to hit the ball 375 feet down the line to hit a home run.

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After the demise of the Negro American League Cleveland Buckeyes following the 1950 season, League Park was no longer in use as a regular sports venue. The Cleveland Browns football team would continue to use the aging facility as a practice field until the late 1960's

Related Topics:
Negro American League - Cleveland Buckeyes - 1950 - Cleveland Browns - 1960's

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A public park, including a baseball field—where a small section of the old first-base lower deck stands remain alongside a baseball diamond where the original was situated, and also the old ticket office behind what was the right field corner—stands on the site today.

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