Subject: Cleveland's Jacobs Field Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 19:52:58 -0400 From: Don Dudley Organization: Sun Microsystems To: Don.Dudley@Sun.COM Fans, Unlike three weeks earlier when I had to skip Cleveland altogether, the airlines cooperated Sunday and I was able to get there to see a ball game. One wouldn't think it would be so difficult to get to such a large city from Boston, but United doesn't fly there directly -- you have to go through DC first. Then you have to take a puddle-jumper, a 'la Denver-Pueblo, to Cleveland. After a wedding the night before, I got up at 4:15 am to catch the first flight down to DC. I arrived at the Cleveland airport on time, 103 minutes before game time. I decided to cancel my rental car and just take a cab to and from the ballpark. Both directions, the cab drivers were quite "up" on the Indians. The Indians sell out all their tickets as soon as they go on sale in December or shortly thereafter. Sunday's game was their 348th consecutive sellout, which I believe exceeds the Rockies' streak. Jacobs Field opened in 1994, the same year as The Ballpark in Arlington. Of, course, the strike shortened that season, and they started their streak early after the 1995 resumption. So, I knew all along I might have trouble finding a ticket. The cab let me out in front of Gate D. People were filing into the park like crazy, but there wasn't a soul in sight looking to buy or sell tickets. The ticket windows were closed. On the advice of a ballpark attendant, I walked around to Gate A. Here at least the Will Call window was open, but again, not much of a ticket "market." Eventually, I found a family of four talking to a guy, but he only had one ticket. I got _very_ lucky; Bill sold it to me. He has been a season ticket holder with several others since the park opened. His wife had to go to a shower, so he had an extra. It was a lower field box, even with the pitcher's mound on the third base side and came with passes to the Terrace Club. The Terrace Club passes didn't interest me; it's a fancy restaurant where you can watch the game, but behind glass out in left field. The face value of the ticket alone was $30 and that's what I gave him after he offered $25. A policeman saw us talking and insisted if we were going to exchange money, that we get out of his sight, so we walked off a couple hundred yards and made the transaction. I told Bill this was a lot cheaper than the All-Star Game ;-). I went with him into the Terrace Club. He wanted some buffalo chicken wings, but after nobody waited on us after 5-10 minutes, I talked him into leaving the air-conditioned comfort. Anyway, I wanted to try some real ballpark food. I sat next to Bill and his friends at the game, of course. He was pretty knowledgeable; at least he was well aware of who Napoleon Lajoie was -- I guess any sort of Cleveland fan ought to be! If you're not aware, this ballpark has significantly revitalized the city of Cleveland. The Browns new stadium, which opens this year, is at the site of old Municipal Stadium near Lake Erie, but The Jake is right downtown. I was surprised to see buff-colored brick instead of the red brick of Camden Yards, et al. The architecture is intended to reflect the area's industrial history. It is beautiful. The exposed steel exterior echoes the many bridges over the Cuyahoga River, while the sharply vertical light towers symbolize both the smokestacks of the heavy industry that helped build the city and the high-rise office buildings of the city's current economic renaissance. They have a 19-foot miniature of Fenway Park's "Green Monster" in left, above which is a bleacher area reminiscent of Chicago's Wrigley Field. The White Sox beat the Indians 6-3 as James Baldwin outdueled Charles Nagy (the Indians had hammered Baldwin in two previous starts this year), holding the Indians to less than half their average 6.7 runs per game. I longed see Jaret Wright lose, but he was still on the disabled list. Of course I paid for my negative Wright-thoughts, Charley, as Magglio Ordonez was the hitting star for Chicago with three hits, including a home run, and three RBI. So, I saw the Indians lose their only game in a string of eight; the Ranger loss I saw to the Diamondbacks 15 days earlier was their only loss in their first 12 games after the All-Star Break. The eastern part of the country was in the midst of a heat wave, so the fifth-inning shade was quite welcome. The Indians have tons of injuries -- their Opening Day lineup has only played four games so far -- but they have some great prospects up from AAA Buffalo and AA Akron-Canton. They figure to lose Manny Ramirez to free agency after next year, but they've got their ducks lined up. I arrived in my San Francisco hotel room 23 hours after the 4:15 am wakeup. As The Captain says, "Ya gotta want it." I had a pleasant connection at Denver International Airport. I saw two kids, not rolling, but throwing hard grounders to one another, right on the B Concourse. Rog, Duv, I can't imagine us ever doing that ;-). What's the world coming to! They were playing with a real baseball and were being admired by what looked like an entire girls softball team -- in uniform. On the way to my gate, I noticed that the Red Sox-Yankees game was still on in the sports bar. Chili Davis had just led off the ninth with a double. I had just enough time to watch Tim Wakefield make it very interesting, but induce Derek Jeter to hit a two-out, bases-loaded roller to second to end the game and give the Red Sox their second one-run victory after getting blasted 13-3 on Friday. Those Cleveland cab drivers were very happy. Next stop? Might be the HHH Metrodome in three weeks. Regards, Don