Stadium Central

The next stadium on my review of stadiums from Ohio and Pittsburgh is Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. A Saturday night game versus the New York Yankees was the event that brought me to this venue. Situated right off of downtown, the stadium is convenient to downtown restaurants and generally easy to get to, especially considering its location near several interstates. From the outside, the white metalwork of the stadium accentuates the structural aspects of the venue, with the light brick surrounding adding a classic touch to the stadium. Adjacent to the stadium is the Quicken Loans arena, creating a mini-sports plex close to downtown, a la Seattle or Pittsburgh. Another interesting aspect of the stadium's surroundings is the cemetery just beyond the stands in the right field outfield. Quiet neighbors are always a plus.A few features of the stadium stand out to me. First, the bleachers beyond the left field fence appear to be quite steep, allowing those fans to be right on top of the action. A high outfield wall provides some distance, but it certainly appears to be an interesting feature where occupiers of the Browns' Dawg Pound could have a grand time. A nice plaza in the left field corner gives the opportunity to casually watch the game from a Standing Room Only vantage point. Our seats in the upper deck afforded a nice view of the downtown skyline, always a nice feature for a ballpark in my book. I often embrace non-symmetric elements, and the club level provided such a feature. Down the first base line, conventional seats jutted out over the lower deck, but the third base line housed luxury suites that were set back and did not have general seating in front of it. Sight lines were excellent throughout, and the setting was very nice.Now to some negatives. First of all, and it is not a fault of the Indians or the designers of Jacobs/Progressive Field, the insects and birds were awful! Joba Chamberlain had a memorable battle with the Cleveland flies in the 2007 playoffs, and I now have a better understanding of those issues. Flies definitely took away from the enjoyment. My other major gripe has to do with the food. Very poor choices (simply mediocre ballpark food). Every other modern stadium has a nice mix of food, from the traditional burgers and dogs to local fare that gives one a taste of the city in which you are seeing the game. None of this local fare was present, and the rest of the food looked rather mediocre. Fortunately, restaurants abound just beyond the outfield gates.

All in all, it was another beautiful park. I liked the white metalwork on the exterior, definitely providing an interesting view. That look may not be for everyone, giving what some might say as a high school stadium appearance, but to me it was clean and classy.