(iStock), For Joe Spear, the lead architect for Kansas City-based HOK Sport (now Populous) hired to design Progressive Field, first impressions made all the difference in conceptualizing the ballpark’s look. All of this was not only bad news for the Indians, who were losing out on significant revenue, but also for the restaurants and bars that had ganged up north of the ballpark and relied on the big crowds to expand its bottom line. Cleveland Indians to expand fan safety netting at Progressive Field. Progressive Field’s more devout regulars include Ron Ochmann, “The Mayor of Section 164,” who bought season tickets for himself and his wife to The Jake’s inaugural 1994 campaign. There’s the especially minute residential presence in downtown Cleveland itself. There was one thing Jacobs didn’t want in a new home for the Indians: A co-tenant. Perhaps to show solidarity, mayor Ralph Perk had his hair catch fire from flying sparks at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Over the next 10 years, the fruits of their labor would yield the city a substantial makeover, with a $400 million renovation of Terminal Tower, a refreshed entertainment district (Playhouse Square), new downtown malls and the creation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Indians were not only good—winning five straight AL Central division titles from 1995-99—they were simply fun to watch. Indians fans still lovingly refer to Progressive Field as The Jake, the shorthand title for its original name of Jacobs Field. Between the two dugouts behind home plate, 10 suites are situated that include swivel-chair seating for 12 and a backstage living area that includes the usual creature comforts of the suite life. On the field, the Indians displayed a rollercoaster existence in the standings through Dolan’s first decade behind the wheel—good one year, bad the next, and so on—but the gate remained stubbornly low, unwilling to respond to the better campaigns. Section 164. Still, the Indians were weary of coming off as imitating the Baltimore blueprint. Happiness is a ballpark, one that brings smiles to people in a city where smiles were once an endangered species, where grins were cast only out of painful sarcasm. Providing slight interference to the view of downtown Cleveland is the main scoreboard, the majors’ largest at over 13,000 square feet. Not quite to the foul poles, but further than it was. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. “The problem is that Cleveland is a city with many, many problems,” Roldo Bartimole, a reporter for the city’s alternative weekly Cleveland Free Times, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Skip to Content. Sweet Moses at the Ballpark. A young girl struck by a foul ball in Houston now has lasting brain damage and a lifetime risk of seizures, according to her family’s attorney. They got used to their new home in more than ways than one could have imagined. The Indians maintain an herb and vegetable garden in the players’ parking lot, food ultimately used as part of the clubhouse buffet. They’re closer to home plate than the pitching mound. Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News penned that the ballpark was “like the pearl you hope to find inside of an oyster: beautiful and full of grandeur.” Longtime Indians sportswriter Terry Pluto would later reflect the feelings of Clevelanders on The Jake’s opening, after so many years tolerating Municipal Stadium: “I suddenly felt like, ‘This is what it was like in America when the lights came on and indoor plumbing showed up.’” Indians players and coaches were just as pleasantly thrilled with the quantum leap between Municipal and The Jake, salivating over a clubhouse four times bigger—even the bat boys got their own locker—along with a spacious weight room and several batting cages. And then there’s this: Within a 50-mile radius of Progressive Field, there are four minor league ballclubs—three affiliated with the Indians, the other an independent outfit. HOK Sport (Populous), Kansas City, MissouriWhitley & Whitley Architects, Cleveland, OhioTriad Design, Cleveland, Ohio, Left field line: 325 feetLeft field: 370 feetLeft-center field: 410 feetCenter field: 405 feetRight field: 375 feetRight field line: 325 feet, April 4, 1994Cleveland Indians 4, Seattle Mariners 3 (11 innings), 1997—American League 3, National League 12019—American League 4, National League 3, Aimed at younger fans who like to drink and converse, The Corner is a multi-level bar with 40 different brews to choose from and plenty of lounge space outside to enjoy the game from behind the right-field corner. The ballpark had much to do with it, but so did the performance of the Tribe. And if the Indians were hoping that this enhanced intimacy would bring higher attendance figures as a result, they had a golden opportunity to prove it in both 2016 and 2017. In a message to season ticket holders today, the Indians announced that they will be expanding the netting at Progressive Field. 28. When the 2007 team gave Cleveland its first divisional title in six years—coming within one win of an AL pennant—only 2.2 million fans, good for 21st out of 30 MLB teams, showed up. Down on the field level behind the right-field foul pole, another playland—this one aimed at Millennials—was developed and entitled as The Corner, a reference to long-time Indians broadcaster Tom Hamilton’s first-pitch phrase, “We’re underway at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario.” The Corner is a two-level bar and lounge that includes patio furniture, a fire pit and plenty of drinking rails; there’s even an automatic beer dispenser if you want to refill on your own (credit cards accepted). Cuyahoga County officials agreed, and in 1990 put forth a new initiative for building a sports complex that would include an Indians ballpark and an adjacent arena for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, who had abandoned the city—and, just as importantly, the county—in 1974 to move to a suburban facility 20 miles to the south in Richfield. Adjacent to The Corner, behind the right-field bleachers, is the Neighborhoods—a wonderful touch of local food flavor in which Cleveland-area restaurants are allowed to offer some of their best sellers. Its steep bleachers in left field are reminiscent of Chicago’s Wrigley Field, while the wall they stand behind, at 19 feet tall, is a nod toward Fenway Park’s famed Green Monster in Boston. The result was a virtual home game for the Cubs, who won a nail-biting rubber match in 10 innings, 8-7. To the north, those who disembark from public transit at Cleveland’s iconic Transit Tower can walk a few blocks to Progressive Field and rarely touch the ground, traversing through an elevated mall-like passage and pedestrian street bridges. Pro baseball has saturated the Cleveland market; perhaps it’s encouraging would-be Progressive Field spectators to go someplace where they experience admittedly inferior baseball, but at admittedly cheaper prices for tickets, parking and food. Progressive Field has its share of ballpark standards in the way of nachos, burgers, barbecue, ice cream, and dogs (there are even pierogi hot dogs). pic.twitter.com/rIkkTvT0bT. All this, and few came to the ballpark; only the lowly Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays drew fewer fans, as the Indians could only muster 1.59 million through the turnstiles. There’s the region’s relatively minimal corporate presence, a cash-cow source of revenue for the Indians and any other major league team. Not that anyone complained, as Clevelanders developed a soft spot for the little fellow that has stood the test of time and survived in one form or another all the way to the present day. Downtown became dark, desolate and dangerous at night, which is probably why the producers of Howard the Duck decided to pick a dumpster in a Cleveland alley as a landing spot for the title character after his involuntary journey through space. I love the Field Boxes for Indians games. “People had Wahoo signs in their front yards,” Orel Hershiser told Terry Pluto. By 1980, Cleveland politicians and business leaders woke up and realized that smokestacks were not the wave of the future. The Cleveland Indians will extend the current safety netting at Progressive Field to the far ends of each dugout for the 2018 season. Email Us your comments along with the stadium and section number! The Cleveland Indians will extend the current safety netting at Progressive Field to the far ends of each dugout for the 2018 season. Before The Jake, there were none. “A guy on the street can look at a bridge and see how it is held up,” Spear said. Nevertheless, any fan can access the standing areas and hang there all game—if, for any reason, he or she wanted to. The netting now will extend from Section 164 down the third-base line to Section 140 down the first-base line. In 1986, the Indians had new ownership; curiously enough, the new Lords consisted of Cleveland commercial property king Richard Jacobs—who just happened to be Jeff Jacobs’ father—and his brother David. Progressive Field’s 19 light standards remind many of toothbrushes, but they were designed to mimic Cleveland’s age-old smokestacks.