Cleveland Stadium (also known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront
Stadium, Cleveland Municipal Stadium) was a baseball and
football stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. While Cleveland Public
Municipal Stadium was derisively nicknamed "The Mistake by the
Lake," die-hard Browns fans in the end zones named their area
of the stadium the "Dawg Pound" during the Awesome80s.
1932:
Left Field - 322 ft
Left-Center - 435 ft
Center Field - 470 ft
Right-Center - 435 ft
Right Field - 322 ft
1971:
Left Field - 321 ft
Left-Center - 385 ft
Center Field - 400 ft
Right-Center - 385 ft
Right Field - 321 ft
1991:
Left Field - 320 ft
Left-Center - 395 ft
Center Field - 415 ft
Right-Center - 395 ft
Right Field - 320 ft
Backstop - 60 ft
The stadium sat 78,000 for both football and baseball - though as many
as 86,000 crowded in for some games. Built under the watch of city
managers William R. Hopkins and Daniel E. Morgan, it was designed by the
architecture firm of Walker and Weeks and Osborn Engineering, and featured
an early use of structural aluminum. The Donald Gray Gardens were
installed on the stadium's north side in 1936 as part of the Great Lakes
Exposition.
The stadium was opened on July 1, 1931, and hosted a heavyweight boxing
match between Max Schmeling and Young Stribling two days later. Local lore
- and completely incorrect - states that the stadium was built in a failed
bid to attract the 1932 Summer Olympics, which went to Los Angeles (as did
the NFL franchise - the Cleveland Rams - in 1945). A January 4, 1931 New
York Times article clearly states that the bond measure for $2.5M for
a 40,000-50,000 seat stadium that passed in 1929 was to attract big
events, like boxing and football, and for the Cleveland Indians. In fact,
the games were awarded to Los Angeles two years before the
Cleveland bond measure was even voted on.
The Indians played night and weekend games at the stadium from 1932
until 1947 - still playing weekday games at League
Park, which lacked lights - and then all of their games from then
until the beginning of the 1994 season, when the team moved to Jacobs
Field.
The stadium was so cavernous due to the dual setup for baseball and
football that an inner fence was constructed in 1947 to cut down the size
of the field. No player ever hit a home run into the center field
bleachers, nearly 480 feet away. According to his own autobiography, Veeck
- As in Wreck, Indians' owner Bill Veeck would move the fence in or
out, varying by as much as 15 feet, depending on how it would favor the
Indians, a practice that ended when the American League specifically
legislated against moving fences during the course of a given season.
The facility, located just across the street from Lake Erie, was known
for the biting cold winds that would blow into the stadium in winter and,
for that matter, during much of the spring and fall. Hot summer nights
would compensate by attracting swarms of midges and mayflies. In its later
years it was known as the "Mistake On The Lake," and came in for
its fair share of lampoonings in an age when the entire city of Cleveland
was ridiculed. The facility, however, had its glorious and humorous
moments. In 1948, the Indians won the American League pennant and World
Series behind pitcher Bob Feller and shortstop/playing manager Lou
Boudreau. In 1949, after the Indians lost the pennant to the New York
Yankees, they buried their 1948 flag in the outfield. In 1954 the Indians
again won the American League pennant, winning a then-record 111 games,
under manager Al Lopez and behind an outstanding pitching staff led by Bob
Lemon. They were swept, however, by the New York Giants in the World
Series.
Primary
research by Jim Herdman & David Vincent
Courtesy of Retrosheet.
On four separate occasions, it hosted the 1935, 1954, 1963 and 1981
All-Star Games. On its last day as home of the Indians on October 3, 1993,
the team's fans, led by comedian Bob Hope (who grew up an Indians fan and
was once a part-owner), who sang a version of his theme song, "Thanks
For The Memories", with special lyrics for the occasion (as he was
wont to do on many of his television shows), bade farewell to the old
stadium.
The NFL's Cleveland Browns began playing at the facility in 1946, and
played there until 1995. The center field bleachers were home to many of
the club's most avid fans, and became known during the Awesome80s as the
Dawg Pound after the barks that fans made to disrupt opposing teams'
offensive plays. Some of the fans even wore dog masks.
In addition to sporting events, the stadium hosted a number of rock
concerts, including a 1966 concert by The Beatles. A series known as the World
Series of Rock was held in the Super70s, featuring big-name acts,
including The Rolling Stones. The inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
concert was held in the stadium in 1995.
The Stadium was an economic drain on the City of Cleveland, which owned
it and originally operated it throughout its life. In the mid Super70s the
Browns owner Art Modell agreed to lease the facility for $1.00 per year.
Modell's company, Stadium Corporation, took over operations and invested
in improvements, including luxury suites. The suites were quite lucrative
for Modell and generated substantial revenue for him. Modell refused to
share the suite revenue with the Indians baseball team, even though quite
a bit of the revenues were generated during baseball games. Eventually the
Indians prevailed upon the local governments and voters and convinced them
to build them their own facility where they would control the suite
revenue. Modell, believing that his revenues were not endangered, refused
to participate in the Gateway Project that built Jacobs Field for the
Indians and Quicken Loans Arena for the Cavs. Modell's assumptions proved
incorrect and the suite revenues declined when the Indians moved from the
stadium to Jacobs Field in 1994. The following year, Modell decided to
move the football team to Baltimore, Maryland after the 1995 season.
Modell's move of the team actually breached the team's lease and so the
City of Cleveland sued. The stadium was demolished the next year - and the
pieces were literally taken across the street and dumped in the lake, so
as to create an artificial reef for fisherman and divers.
Birdseye
view...
Multipurpose
stadiums are a compromise. Football fans
in the premium seats were much farther
away from the action than they would have
been in a football-only stadium.
I'm sure some have fond memories of "The Mistake by the
Lake," but anyone who truly remembers what it was like to watch a
game there and is able to contrast it with the new stadiums will not
remain nostalgic for long. Cleveland Municipal Stadium was put out of its
misery (and ours) in November of 1996. New Cleveland
Browns Stadium now stands on the site.
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