League Park: Historic Home of Cleveland Baseball, 1891-1946

by Ken Krsolovic, Bryan Fritz

This is a comprehensive history of League Park, primary home field for Major League Baseball in Cleveland from 1891 to 1946, but with a significant history that includes the National Football League, Negro League baseball, college football and boxing, and an uncanny multitude of amazing events and people. This chronicle allows for these grounds to take their place among the more heralded parks of baseball's past and present. The site has survived to this day as a baseball grounds; a groundbreaking for renovations took place in October 2012.

Genres: History

228 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[James Klagge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It had just the right combination of pictures, baseball info and historical info. I especially enjoyed the stories about important or just interesting games that occurred at League Park. The Cleveland baseball team has had precious little to celebrate over the years, winning titles in only 1920 and 1948. But the 1920 series was at League Park. The park had an infamously short right field fence which was a wall 20 feet up, and then a screen for 25 more feet up. It was a sort of mirror of Fenway Park, but harder to play, since the screen did not predictably bounce the ball back. As with other old parks, the dimensions were dependent on the dimensions of the block where it was located. It is nice to see that some new parks are being built with oddities that make them interesting again.
The Cleveland AL team vacated the park in 1946, and it gradually went down hill from there, being either dismantled or neglected. The book was published in 2013, before any renovation took place. However, I visited the site in summer of 2017, by which time the place was in good shape, if not quite thriving. There is a well-kept ball field, though it has astroturf, unfortunately. And there is the small but interesting Baseball Heritage Museum housed in the old ticket office--the only original structure remaining on the site. It was a pleasure to visit.
I grew up near Cleveland as a baseball fan. My grandfather (born in 1899) lived on Linwood Ave, just a block or 2 from the park. He told stories about the park when he was young, such as offering protection for a dime for the cars of fans who drove to games. Since there was no on-site parking, only street parking, kids would climb around on the open cars of that era, potentially doing damage. It sounded sort of like a protection racket. Knowing my grandfather, it might have been. The park site was chosen before cars were a thing, and the owner was also the owner of the local streetcar line, so they supported each other.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I knew a lot about League Park, which is just a short bike ride away and where my vintage team has played a few times, but this book had some genuine finds that were really interesting. Thoroughly researched back to the origins of the park as a wood structure built to house the National League Spiders up to the 40's with the end of the Indians reign, the Buckeyes' championship season, and beyond to the days of the Rams and finally destruction and attempts at preservation. The book ends just as funding is approved for renovation in the early 2010's, of which I can attest that the city has done a wonderful job and there now exists a playable ballfield with approximately the same dimensions as the original with the absurdly long center field and the 40-foot-fence at 290 feet in right along with a museum in the old ticket office in right field.

I bought the book at the museum and it will go into my baseball library for future reference needs.

[Jonathan Frankel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read!! So much great history here!

[Chris McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of great history in here. Loved all of the pictures to go with the facts.