Take an exclusive tour of Cleveland’s League Park with a 7-year-old cub reporter (video)
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -Before there was a Progressive Field, the Cleveland Indians played at the ballpark most of us know-Jacobs Field. Before that, League Park was home to Cleveland’s MLB team.
Cleveland 19 News sent out kid reporter, Tucker Rans, to experience all the historic park had to offer and its story.
Bob Zimmer, the president of The Baseball Heritage Museum, gave Tucker the exclusive tour.
Opened on May 1, 1891, League Park sat 9,000 fans to watch the Cleveland Indians play ball.
League park underwent renovations in 1910 that allowed them to double the seating capacity.
Tens years after renovations, the park changed names to Dunn Field in honor of the team owner, James Dunn.
That same year, the Indians would go on to win the team’s first World Series.
Dunn passed away in 1922, leaving his estate to his wife, Edith Dunn.
This included the team ownership and she became the first woman to own a Major League Baseball team.
Edith sold the franchise in 1927 for $1 million and the park’s name was reversed back the League Park.
By 1932, the Cleveland Indians moved to a new stadium, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, where they continued to play until the end of 1933.
The Indians began playing again at League Park on weekdays and holidays the following year until 1947.
The Tribe finally said goodbye and packed its bags.
The Park stood up until 1951 when the structure was demolished.
The only part remaining was the ticket house and part of the grandstand wall along East 66th Street.
In 2014, the city of Cleveland made a $6.3 million investment into League Park.
With the investment the ticket house was restored and became the Baseball Heritage Museum.
The investment also went into restoring the playing field with artificial baseball field that is used today for youth teams all summer, recreation games and baseball games.
Zimmer said the late council woman, Fannie Lewis, deserves the majority of the credit for saving League Park and preserving Cleveland’s history.
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