Ron,

Was any of the wooden park incorporated into League
Park IV? If so, how long did this/these section(s)
last before they were replaced?

Thank you.

--- rselter <rselter@...> wrote:

> Recently I posted an article to this list on the
> subject of the first AL
> ballpark in Cleveland-League Park III. After
> reviewing game accounts
> involving home runs for the 1908 season I arrived at
> a conclusion concerning
> the RF-CF configuration of the park in the 1908
> season.
>
>
>
> Here is the evidence:
>
>
>
> (1) From the Cleveland Plain Dealer June 5,
> 1908: In the game account
> (G on prior day 6-4-1908), Inside-the-Park home run
> (IPHR) by Bill Hickman
> (an IPHR to CF) was described as the first home run
> by Cleveland on the
> enlarged grounds.
>
>
>
> (2) HR data for League Park showed over the five
> seasons (1903-07) nine
> IPHRs, of which three were to CF. For the 1908
> season there were nine
> IPHRs, of which six were to CF.
>
>
>
> (3) The cause of this marked increase in IPHRs
> was first believed to be
> due to the removal of the RF bleachers before the
> 1908 season. Photographic
> evidence (photo in the Cleveland Leader) showed no
> RF bleachers in existence
> in the 1909 season. However during the 1908 season
> there were six home runs
> hit into the RF bleaches.
>
>
>
> (4) Clearly, the RF bleachers were not removed
> before the 1908 season.
> The answer to the increase in IPHRs-especially to
> CF- was due to the
> construction of new bleachers in left-center behind
> the LF-CF fence. As
> these bleachers extended all the way to the CF
> corner, the view from them
> would have been largely blocked by the CF portion of
> the pre-existing RF
> bleachers. The answer I concluded, was the CF
> portion of the RF bleachers
> were removed prior to the 1908 season-thus the
> reference (G of 6-4-1908) to
> as the first home run by Cleveland on the enlarged
> grounds, and six home
> runs into the RF bleachers still remaining.
>
>
>
> (5) Home data supplied by David Vincent from the
> SABR Home Run
> Log-additional research on all home runs at League
> Park in the Deadball era
> by the author.
>
>
>
> The revised article on League Park III follows. I
> hope the formatting of
> the tables comes out better in the List than my
> first attempt.
>
>
>
> Ron Selter
>
>
>
>
>
> Cleveland LEAGUE PARK (III) In The Deadball Era
>
> (Revised 4-9-2006)
>
>
>
> 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 park
> in Cleveland to be called League Park was at a
> different location (39th St,
> East 35th St, Euclid Ave, and Payne Ave). 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
> used by the little-lamented NL Cleveland Spiders for
> the 1891-99 seasons,
> and was the first Cleveland ballpark used by the AL.
> 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 later 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 first used by the AL in 1901,
> consisted of a covered
> wooden 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.
> In 1901-02 there were no seats in the fair portion
> of the outfield. The
> seating capacity of the park in 1901 was about
> 9,000. The ballpark's
> dimensions were constrained 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 therefore had to
> intersect the LF fence at less than 90 degrees. The
> LF and RF fences meet
> in the CF corner (to the right of 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 majority of
> the high RF fence. These bleachers extended from
> center field to within
> about 50 ft of the RF foul line. These RF
> bleachers, whose depth was
> estimated, reduced the straight-away RF distance
> from 323 to about 290. The
> seating capacity of the park was again increased for
> the 1908 season by the
> construction of a second 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. At the same time the center field portion
> of the RF bleachers were
> removed-most likely to unblock the sight lines from
> the new bleachers. The
> main portion of the RF bleachers remained in use for
> another season (1908)
> after which, 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
>
=== message truncated ===


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