Cleveland Stadium

==Tenants==

===Indians===
The stadium was built for football as well as for the [[Cleveland Indians]], who played their first game there on July 31, 1932, losing to the [[Philadelphia Athletics]]' great pitcher [[Lefty Grove]] 1–0 while attracting a then-major-league-record crowd of 80,184.<ref>Cormack, ''op.cit''. p.17.</ref> The Indians played all of their games at the stadium from the middle of the [[1932 in baseball|1932 season]] through 1933.  However, the players and fans complained about the huge [[outfield]], which reduced the number of home runs.  Moreover, as the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] worsened, attendance plummeted.<ref>[http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/LeaguePark.html Clem's Baseball ~ League Park (IV)]</ref> The Indians returned to their smaller previous home, [[League Park]], which was owned by the team, for all of the 1934 and 1935 seasons.

The Indians used the stadium to host the [[1935 Major League Baseball All-Star Game]] and returned to the stadium in 1936 to host the New York Yankees on August 2 as part of the [[Great Lakes Exposition]], drawing a crowd of 65,342. In 1937, the Indians began playing Sunday and holiday games at Cleveland Stadium during the summer, adding selected important games there in 1938. League Park lacked field lighting, so the emergence of night baseball in the 1930s led to the addition of night games to the schedule after lights were installed at the stadium in 1939. In 1940 and from 1942 on, the Indians played the majority of their home slate at the stadium, abandoning League Park entirely after the [[1946 in baseball|1946 season]]. They remained at Cleveland Stadium until the end of the [[1993 in baseball|1993 season]], after which they moved to [[Progressive Field|Jacobs Field]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lowry|first=Phillip|title=Green Cathedrals|url=https://archive.org/details/greencathedralsu0000lowr_u1c9|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Walker & Company|location=New York City|isbn=0-802-71562-1}}</ref>
[[Image:ClevelandMunicipalStadium1993Outfield.jpg|thumb|right|View of center field in 1993. [[Lake Erie]] is visible just outside the stadium. Visible beyond the outfield wall is a portion of the original (larger) outfield area.]]
The stadium foreshadowed problems that would emerge 40 years later when [[cookie-cutter stadium]]s were in vogue.  Due to the fundamentally different sizes and shapes of baseball and football fields, the baseball sight lines generally left much to be desired. Many of the seats in the upper deck were too far from the field to be of any use during the regular season. The original baseball playing field was so large that an inner fence was constructed in 1947 to cut down the size of the spacious outfield. Even after the fence was installed, the distance markers on the bleacher walls remained visible for many years: {{convert|470|ft}} from home plate to the bleachers in straightaway center field, {{convert|463|ft}} to either corner of the bleachers, and {{convert|435|ft}} to the far corners of the main stands in left-center and right-center. No player ever hit a [[home run]] into the center field [[bleacher]]s. 
According to his autobiography, ''Veeck – As in Wreck'', Indians owner [[Bill Veeck]] would move the fence in or out, varying by as much as {{convert|15|ft}}, 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. But over the years, various ownerships tinkered with the position of the fence from time to time.

Like some other facilities built before [[warning track]]s became standard, the stadium had an earthen berm in front of the center field wall. After the inner fence was installed, the berm was still visible during football season.

[[Jim Palmer]] was convinced that the pitcher's mound at the stadium was taller than most. "The mound was, despite whatever the rules claim, just a little lower than [[Mount Kilimanjaro]]."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Jim|last2=Dale|first2=Jim|title=Palmer and Weaver: Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine|year=1996|publisher=Andrews and McMeel|location=Kansas City|isbn=0-836-20781-5|page=127}}</ref>

The facility, located just south of [[Lake Erie]], was known for the biting cold winds that would blow into the stadium in winter, as well as during much of the spring and fall. Because of its proximity to the lake during hot summer nights, its lights attracted swarms of [[Chironomidae|midges]] and [[mayfly|mayflies]]. Game 2 of the [[2007 American League Division Series]] at Jacobs Field on October 5, 2007, brought back memories of the old stadium, when swarms of midges (misidentified by the television announcers as mayflies) infested the field, particularly the pitcher's mound.

The Indians set three Major League attendance records during the 1948 season, when they won the [[List of American League pennant winners|American League pennant]] and [[1948 World Series|World Series]] behind pitcher [[Bob Feller]] and shortstop/player-manager [[Lou Boudreau]]. That season, Cleveland had the highest single season attendance, 2,620,627, which was not eclipsed until 1962 by the [[1962 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Toman|first=James A.|title=Cleveland Stadium: The Last Chapter|year=1997|publisher=Cleveland Landmarks Press, Inc.|location=Cleveland, Ohio|isbn=0-936-76010-9|page=87}}</ref> largest regular season night game attendance of 72,434 for the first major league start of [[Satchel Paige]],<ref>Cormack, ''op.cit''. p.59.</ref> and biggest World Series game attendance of 86,288 for game 5 on October 10, 1948.<ref>Cormack, ''op.cit''. p.58.</ref>  However, during the Indians' lean years from the 1960s through the 1990s, they rarely attracted more than 30,000 people, and even crowds of 40,000 looked sparse in the cavernous environment. After the Indians were eliminated from the pennant race in 1949, as a [[black humor]]-themed stunt they held a mock funeral procession on the field and buried their 1948 pennant behind the center field fence.<ref>"'Mortician' Veeck Buries 1948 Flag" ''The Plain Dealer'' September 24, 1949: 14</ref> Due to the large size of the facility, the Indians began using a [[bullpen car]] in 1950.<ref>{{cite web|first=Paul|last=Lukas|url=http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=bullpencars/071018 |title=Lukas: Long live the bullpen car - ESPN Page 2 |work=Espn.com |date=October 19, 2007 |access-date=February 24, 2018}}</ref>

In addition to the 1935 MLB All-Star Game, Cleveland Stadium also hosted three additional all-star games: [[1954 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1954]], [[1963 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1963]], and [[1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1981]]. Cleveland Stadium and [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] are the only venues to host four MLB all-star games. On May 15, 1981, [[Len Barker]] threw a [[Perfect game (baseball)|perfect game]] at the stadium, the second in franchise history and [[List of Major League Baseball perfect games|eighth]] in modern Major League history. The final Indians home game at Cleveland Stadium was held October 3, 1993, a 4–0 loss to the [[1993 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox]] in front of 72,390 fans. During the game, fans, led by comedian [[Bob Hope]], who grew up an Indians fan and was once a part-owner, sang a version of his signature song "[[Thanks for the Memory]]" with special lyrics for the occasion.<ref>{{cite web |title=1993 Cleveland Indians Schedule and Results |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/1993-schedule-scores.shtml |year=2016 |access-date=October 31, 2016 |work=Baseball-Reference.com}}</ref>

===Browns===
[[File:Cleveland Municipal Stadium last game played in the stadium December 17, 1995.jpg|thumb|During the last Browns game played in the stadium, December 17, 1995, against the [[Cincinnati Bengals]].]]
The [[Cleveland Browns]], originally members of the [[All-America Football Conference]] (AAFC), began playing at the facility in 1946, and played there through 1995. The stadium was the site of the AAFC Championship game in 1946, 1948 and 1949, all Browns wins. The Browns joined the NFL in 1950 and hosted the [[List of NFL champions|NFL Championship Game]] in [[1950 NFL Championship Game|1950]], [[1952 NFL Championship Game|1952]], [[1954 NFL Championship Game|1954]], [[1964 NFL Championship Game|1964]], and [[1968 NFL Championship Game|1968]], winning titles in 1950, 1954, and 1964.

The first Browns game at the stadium was also the first AAFC game, when the Browns hosted the [[Miami Seahawks]] on September 6, 1946. The Browns won the game 44–0 and drew 60,135 fans, what was then a record for a professional football crowd. During the 1980s, the center field [[bleacher]]s at the east end of the stadium were home to many of the club's most avid fans and became known as the [[Dawg Pound]] after the barks that fans made to disrupt opposing teams' offensive plays. The fans were copying Browns players [[Hanford Dixon]] and [[Frank Minnifield]], who frequently appeared to bark to each other and to the opposition. Some of the fans even wore dog masks and threw dog biscuits at opposing players. The Dawg Pound was included in the design of [[Cleveland Browns Stadium]] (built on the same site as Cleveland Stadium), where the east end zone also has bleacher seating.

The stadium was also the site of two notable moments in Cleveland sports and Browns history. In a [[1980–81 NFL playoffs|1981 divisional playoff game]] on January 4, Browns quarterback [[Brian Sipe]] was intercepted in the end zone with less than a minute remaining in the game, resulting in a 14–12 loss to the [[Oakland Raiders]]. The game has since been referred to by the name of the pass play, [[Red Right 88]]. Six years later, during the [[1986–87 NFL playoffs|1987 AFC Championship game]] on January 11, [[John Elway]] led the [[Denver Broncos]] on what is referred to as [[The Drive (American football)|The Drive]], a 98-yard touchdown drive with 5:32 left that tied the game and sent it into overtime. The Broncos ultimately prevailed 23–20.

The final game in the stadium was held December 17, 1995, an emotional 26–10 win over the [[Cincinnati Bengals]], the Browns' final game before the franchise was [[Cleveland Browns relocation controversy|officially deactivated until 1999]].  At the end of that game, many fans cut and removed their seats.<ref>{{cite news |title=This Day in Browns History: Original Browns win farewell game in Cleveland Stadium |url=http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2009/12/this_day_in_browns_history_ori.html |author=Exner, Rich |date=December 17, 2009 |newspaper=[[The Plain Dealer]] |access-date=January 15, 2016}}</ref>

===Football Indians and Rams===
Prior to the arrival of the Browns, the stadium was briefly the home field for two other NFL teams, the [[Cleveland Indians (NFL 1931)|Cleveland Indians]] in 1931, and the [[History of the Cleveland Rams|Cleveland Rams]] from 1936 to 1937 and again from 1939 to 1941. The football Indians played two home games in their [[1931 Cleveland Indians (NFL) season|1931 season]], a 6–0 win over the [[Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)|Brooklyn Dodgers]] and a 14–0 loss to the [[History of the Chicago Cardinals|Chicago Cardinals]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cli/1931.htm|title=1931 Cleveland Indians|publisher=Pro Football Reference|access-date=May 27, 2015}}</ref> The team drew a crowd of around only 2,000 spectators for the September 26th game against Brooklyn and 10,000 for the loss to the Cardinals on November 8.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/193109260cli.htm|title=Brooklyn Dodgers 0 at Cleveland Indians 6|publisher=Pro Football Reference|access-date=May 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/193111080cli.htm|title=Chicago Cardinals 14 at Cleveland Indians 6|publisher=Pro Football Reference|access-date=May 27, 2015}}</ref>
 
The Rams were founded in 1936 as members of the second [[American Football League (1936)|American Football League]] and joined the NFL in 1937. They played home games at the stadium their first two seasons, before moving to the smaller [[Shaw Stadium]] in 1938. The Rams returned to the stadium in 1939 and played home games there through the 1941 season before moving to [[League Park]] for the remainder of their time in Cleveland. The team returned to the stadium one last time to host the [[1945 NFL Championship Game]], a 15–14 win in what was the final Rams game in Cleveland before the team relocated to Los Angeles.