Cleveland LEAGUE PARK (III)

 

 

There were four ballpark in Cleveland called League Park.  The first (League Park I) was used by the NL Cleveland Spiders 1879-1884.  This park was located at Silby (later Carnegie) St, Kennard (later East 46th) St, and Cedar St.  The second park (League Park II) was used by the AA Cleveland Spiders 1887-1888 and the NL Cleveland Spiders 1889-1890.  This second League Park in Cleveland was at a different location (39th St, East 35th St, Euclid Ave, and Payne Ave) from League Park I.  League Park III was at a third location (located in downtown Cleveland at East 70th St, Linwood Ave, Dunham (later East 66th) St, and Lexington Ave Northeast)⁽¹⁾.  League Park III was the first ballpark used by the AL in Cleveland.  League Park IV was built of steel-and-concrete on the site of League Park III between the 1909 and 1910 seasons.  This park was used by the AL Cleveland Indians until mid-season 1932, and again for most home games from 1934 to 1946.

 

At League Park III, home plate and the grandstand were located in the Northwest corner of the site.  Dimensional data for this ballpark in Green Cathedrals are limited to RF (290) and the height of the RF fence (20 ft).

The park, when it was used by the AL in 1901, consisted of a covered grandstand in several sections from well beyond 1B to well beyond 3B.  In addition, small bleachers were located far down the LF and RF foul lines.  The seating capacity of the park in 1901 was about 9,000.  The ballpark’s dimensions were affected by the inability of the club to purchase a saloon on Lexington Ave in what would have been the RF corner.  Except for this aspect the park site was rectangular.  Because of the necessity to avoid the saloon property, the field was angled such that the RF foul line just missed the corner of the saloon property.  As a result, the RF line met the RF fence at more than 90 degrees,  and the LF foul line had to intersect the LF fence at less than 90 degrees.  The LF and RF fences meet in the CF corner (not in dead CF) at a right angle. 

The knowledge of the park’s configuration and dimensions was based on two principal sources: (1) an 1896 Sanborn fire insurance map, and (2) a 1909 panoramic photo of the park from the Cleveland Leader.  The known RF dimension (290) was used to position home plate (at an estimated 75 ft from the backstop) on the Sanborn map.  The resulting LF dimension was 353 and dead CF was 409.  The CF corner, at the junction of the LF and RF fences, was about halfway between dead CF and right-center, and was a substantial distance from home plate (445).

The first configuration change was before the 1903 season.  Capacity was increased with the building of bleachers in RF in front of the high RF fence.  These bleachers extended from about right-center to within about 50 ft of the RF foul line.  These RF bleachers reduced the straight-away RF distance from 320 to about 295.  The seating capacity of the park was again increased for the 1908 season by the construction of a set of bleachers behind the left-center field portion of the LF fence.  These bleachers, as shown in the 1909 photo from the Cleveland Leader, extended from about left-center all the way to the CF corner.  The RF bleachers remained in use until the end of the 1908 season when they were removed. 

Unlike many Deadball Era ballparks, League Park III was not a park conducive to Inside-the-Park-Home Runs as shown by the home run data below.  The installation of the RF bleachers for the 1903 season led to a rough equality in the number of OTF home runs to LF and RF in the next six seasons.  One suspects the park’s original configuration was not designed to suit the home team’s sluggers, as Cleveland hit zero home runs in 1901 to the visitors 12.

 

Home Runs By Type

 

Seasons                  Total                OTF                 Bounce             IP

1901-02                   32                    22                       0                 10

1903-08                   86                    68                       4                 18         

1909                          3                      0                       0                   3

1901-09                 121                    90                       4                 31

 

OTF: Over-The-Fence

Bounce: Bounce Home Runs

IP: Inside-the-Park-Home Runs

 

OTF Home Run Distribution (Excluding Bounce)

 

Seasons                  Total                LF                CF                RF              UNK

1901-02                   22                  12                  1                    1                 8

1903-08                   64                  28                  3                  29                 4        

1909                          0                   

 

 

Dimensions           (From 1896 Sanborn)

                             

Seasons                  LF        LC         CF       RC        RF

1901-02                 353      362        409      390       290

1903-08                 353      362        409      352       290

1909                      353      362        409      390       290

                                         

 

 

Average Outfield Distances   (Calculated from Park Diagram)

Seasons                  LF                    CF                   RF

1901-02                 351                  402                  328

1903-08                 351                  397                  306

1909                      351                  402                  328

 

 

Fences Heights       (From pre-season newspaper article)

Seasons                  LF                    CF                   RF

1901-02                 10                    10-20                  20

1903-07                 10                    10-20               6-20

1908                      10                      6-20               6-20

1909                      10                      6-20                   20

 

 

 

1        Philip Lowry, Green Cathedrals, Revised Edition 1992

2        Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. map, Cleveland 1896