Alex's Baseball Across America: Progressive Field Review

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P R O G R E S S I V E

F I E L D

August 23, 2011

Seattle Mariners v. Cleveland Indains

1:05pm

Cleveland 7, Seattle 5

WP: Perez, C. (3-6, 2.96 ERA)

LP: League (1-5, 3.10 ERA)

Attendance: 22,805

Time: 2:50

78 degrees, partly cloudy

Progressive Field, formerly Jacobs Field, rests in downtown Cleveland. Across the street from “The Q”, home of the Cavs, it replaced Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1994. In a 2008 SI poll, it was voted MLB’s best ballpark. Between 1995 and 2001, there were 455 consecutive sellouts, an MLB record later surpassed by the Red Sox. They sold out opening day this year, but then set records for the lowest crowds at Progressive the next two games. Despite being in the hunt for postseason ball, they continue to struggle in the attendance column this year.

Gates normally open about 1-1/2 hours prior to game time. I ended up here twice because the first game ended up getting rained out (8/14/11). There was no BP that day because of the rain. The official game I went to was a 1:05 game and the gates opened at noon. Folks were lined up at 11:30 ready to go, but all they could do was sit there. If you’re drawing low numbers, you need to please the ones that do show up and let them in. Who knows if there was BP today, because the gates opened after it would have happened anyway. I suspect there wasn’t, as this was the first game in a day-night doubleheader.

The Atmosphere: It’s a very nice place and had to have been a blast back in the sellout days. Meager attendance doesn’t do much for the atmosphere here, and that’s really the only drawback to the atmosphere. But, it’s a big one. Just too quiet.

The Scorecard: Everything was going pretty much perfect until I tried to find a scorecard today (I had no trouble finding one back on August 14th). The first souvenir kiosk I went to said they were sold out, and he was pretty sure there were none left in the stadium. I had a dog in one hand, a beer in the other, knew my seat was in the shade, and all I needed was a scorecard to make it perfect. Thus, the mission began. I went to every single kiosk in the park and then the main team store. No scorecards. The guy in the main store even said, “We’re fresh out.” I made my way over to guest services to see what if they could help me out. An old guy and a younger gal were running the booth and were ready to help. The guy rang up the main team store--the one I was just at--and they said they had one left, so he gave them my name and I took off. I jumped in the line and the guy in front of me asked for a scorecard. “We’re all out.” I walked up, gave them my name, and I had my $1 scorecard. “The last one in the park” according to the lady. “I don’t know anything about the rules or what you write down on these, but everyone has been asking for one today.” Okay, now about the card. $1. Real card. Main drawback is that they boxes aren’t empty. In fact, they even put diamonds in the box score area. I didn’t care today, though. I had a card.

The Hot Dog: There aren’t hot dog carts everywhere but there is a stand in the outfield named “Sausages and Dogs”. This is the place to get your paws on a 1/2 pound all-beef hot dog. It’s a good one, and it’s good enough for #3 on the list. I think it’s the biggest actual hot dog I’ve ever had. I had one on August 14th and got another today. Today, though, I only took down about 3/4 of it. It’s $8.25, but you could even split it with someone or feed 2 or 3 kids with it. You can get it plain, with onions, or with onions/peppers. You can even add (I can’t believe I’m going to say this) mustard to it. I ONLY mention this because this ballpark has their own specialty mustard. I took a picture of it, but that was it. I want nothing to do with mustard. If it gets within the vicinity of my hot dog, my appetite goes away.

The Broadcasters: They did a pretty good job calling the game. During the 8/14 rain delay, all they could talk about was why they should not have even started that game. One guy was more than obsessed with it. Today, they managed to make fun of the Cardinals’ medical staff for removing a moth that flew into Matt Holliday’s ear. They used tweezers, and for some reason that was the funny part. That’s what I would have done. Seriously, though, they do call a good game. Just won’t crack the top 5.

Entertainment: Yes, food runs here, too. I’ve already given my opinion on this and won’t give it again. Here, it’s the Sugardale brand hot dogs. And, just in case I didn’t learn how to spell Ohio at the Sugar Bowl, they taught me again here. They sing “Hang on Sloopy” and throw in an “O-H-I-O”. Yes, we get it, you can spell your four-letter state. At least here they do the whole word as a group. At the football games, they have to divide it up, with half the group taking the first 2 letters and the other half taking the last 2 letters. What happens if they ever move to Arkansas and have to sing our fight song? They’d never be able string together A-R-K-A-N-S...A-S. Oh, the mascot. He’s fat and pink with yellow nose hair. I’m clueless. He will come to your birthday party if you so desire. I don’t know that I’d be hyped up about this, but I do expect Fredbird to attend my 50th birthday.

The last scorecard in Cleveland.

No game-used items here.

I wasn’t sure where to put this, so it’ll go here. Sometime in the third or fourth inning, the stadium started swaying. It was flat weird. The guys in the booth commented on it. I looked around and the old guy several rows up and to my right pointed at me and mouthed, “You feel that?” It seemed to last a solid 20 seconds. Turns out it was the 5.8 quake centered somewhere in Virginia. I spent the month of February at home in Conway and felt numerous Greenbrier-centered earthquakes at night. Those were more of a shaking. This was more of a sway. Just weird. Would just assume to not have to deal with any of that.

Views from Around the Park:

Other words: There’s talk of them going after Thome. I think they should bring him back. He could be the spark they need to overtake the Tigers.

Gripes: No water bottles allowed to be brought in. Need more folks to show up...yes, Cleveland still has a team...uniforms and everything...it’s great.

P R O G R E S S I V E F I E L D

C L E V E L A N D , O H I O

H O M E O F T H E I N D I A N S

Cleveland came in 5-1/2 behind the first-place Tigers and had dropped four straight. The game bounced back-and-forth for awhile. The Indians’ starter went 8-1/3 before they brought in the closer. His appearance led to the first blown save of the day, and the Mariners had the lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Choo, the Cleveland right fielder, hit a 3-run dinger in the bottom of the ninth to give the Indians a walkoff victory. Thus, leading to the second blown save of the game. The attendance was said to be over 22,000. That would mean a half-full stadium. That number must have been the number of tickets sold because I’m guessing there was closer to 11 or 12,000 there. This was a rescheduled game from a rainout earlier in the year. There’s just no way this place was anywhere close to half full. Unfortunate...because they have something to play for.

The Crowd: Too small. The highlight of the crowd is the drummer in the bleachers. Everyone has seen “Major League”. There is a drummer in the movie, and there is one here. He’s always there. He pounds on the drum every time the Indians have a runner in scoring position. Every time!

The Stadium: It’s considered a “retro-modern” ballpark design. I like it. The outside brick color looks like that of old Yankee Stadium. It’s pretty easy to get around and has a great location being downtown. A statue of Bob Feller sits outside one of the gates. I took my glove today because I was right behind the plate. Honestly, I think the screen behind the plate is smaller here. It just seems like there were a lot of foul balls around. I wore my glove the whole time but had no luck. “Heritage Park” sits beyond center and honors past Indian greats.

Bob.

S T A T I S T I C S U P D A T E

MLB Games Seen

21 of 31

Days

53 of 86

Driving Miles

12,460.7 of an estimated 18,735

Estimated Gallons of Gas

655 of an estimated 1,102

States

Hot Dogs Eaten

Too Many

Border Crossings

0 of 2

P R E D I C T I O N S U P D A T E

(AFTER 20 OF 30 GAMES)

Runs

185 of 249

Hits

355 of 512

Errors

28 of 36

Home Runs

48 of 65

Doubles

79 of 101

(12 doubles today!)

Triples

9 of 10

Sacrifices (Hits & Flies)

22 of 31

Strikeouts

311 of 415

Walks

117 of 189

Home Team Wins

14 of 17

Complete Games

1 of 1

Shutouts

1 of 2

Saves

11 of 15

Blown Saves

5 of 7

(2 today)

Balks

1 of 2

Wild Pitches

6 of 19

Hit Batters

5 of 18

Walk-offs

2 of 2

Stolen Bases

23 of 40

Caught Stealing

8 of 15

Ejections

1 of 4

Smallest Crowd

18,640

The Coliseum, Oakland

July 27th, Tampa Bay v. Oakland

(I’d argue that today’s game was smaller in attendance, but officially it was not)

Largest Crowd

45,633

Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

August 18th, Arizona v. Philadelphia

B A L L P A R K R A N K I N G S

The Stadium

1. PETCO Park, San Diego

2. AT&T Park, San Francisco

3. Target Field, Minneapolis

4. Comerica Park, Detroit

5. Wrigley Field, Chicago

6. Safeco Field, Seattle

7. PNC Park, Pittsburgh

8. Minute Maid Park, Houston

9. Chase Field, Phoenix

10. Progressive Field, Cleveland

11. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

12. Miller Park, Milwaukee

13. Coors Field, Denver

14. Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati

15. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington

16. U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago

17. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City

18. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

19. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim

20. The Coliseum, Oakland

The Atmosphere

1. AT&T Park, San Francisco

2. Target Field, Minneapolis

3. PETCO Park, San Diego

4. Wrigley Field, Chicago

5. Comerica Park, Detroit

The Crowd

1. AT&T Park, San Francisco

2. Target Field, Minneapolis

3. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

4. Miller Park, Milwaukee

5. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington

The Scorecard

1. Target Field, Minneapolis

2. Comerica Park, Detroit

3. AT&T Park, San Francisco

4. Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia

5. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington

I will say that today’s scorecard was my most coveted.

The Hot Dog

1. Coors Field, Denver

2. AT&T Park, San Francisco

3. Progressive Field, Cleveland

4. Wrigley Field, Chicago

5. U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago

The Broadcasters

1. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

2. AT&T Park, San Francisco

3. Miller Park, Milwaukee

4. Target Field, Minneapolis

5. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

Plain, onions/peppers, and onions only. No, these are not all mine. Mine is on the right. There is probably a week’s worth of calories in this picture.

Out-of-town score go here.

My dog from today. There’s a beer there, too. They don’t let you bring water into the stadium. If I’m going to have to spend $4.25 on liquid, I might as well spend a few more to get a beer.