My Love Affair with a Gray Old Lady

The title of today’s blog may be a bit misleading. If you thought I had some weird thing going with a senior citizen at a nursing home…SHAME ON YOU! Today’s blog is going to be about a few of my memories spent up on Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio at a place that was as perfect of a building as there could be for the city and teams that it served from 1931 until 1995. Of the 64 years she was around I got to fall in love with her for 35 years. She has been accused of being a Factory of Sadness but that was not her fault.

Growing up in northeast Ohio, I always felt like Cleveland was the center of my small universe. Back in the 1960’s when I was first coming on the scene, Cleveland was a major industrial city in the U.S. It was a major steel producing area, a major automobile manufacturer, a transportation hub and many other things which made it a 24-hour city. It was considered a “blue-collar” city. On average, there are 166 sunny days per year in Cleveland. The U.S. average is 205. While the average snowfall in the U.S. is 28 inches, Cleveland averages 54 inches. This creates some pretty tough folks. Along with a great work ethic, the people I knew worked hard and played hard. I hung out with kids that had parents that worked in steel mills, manufacturing plants, factories, and other similar places. They didn’t take kindly to whiny, weak people who had their feelings hurt very easily. They also were not very good at being “PC”. Tough city, tough people that needed tough teams to cheer on. Not air-conditioned stadiums with valet service but an open-air stadium next to a big ole lake!

We who loved our area of the world grew up with a chip on our shoulder because many liked to make fun of the city. It was the butt of jokes in Johnny Carson’s monologues. Some of it was deserved like the Cuyahoga River catching on fire from being too polluted to being one of a very few major cities to go bankrupt. It seemed like we always had to fight for respect which built an insecurity that is still there today. I heard a term one time that was used to describe the area as “unbeautiful.” Not ugly but definitely not some warmer climate city. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and I know many people that love Cleveland and you best be prepared to rumble if you want to start something.

If Cleveland was in a beauty contest she would be like the girl with jeans and work boots on with a black leather jacket that says, “Bite Me!” on the back. She would have a bandana on and would roll up on a Harley, spit her cigarette out and ask “What Are You Looking At?” Those of us that knew her from the neighborhood would smile and sit back and wait for Miss Florida to start some crap. She would get fourth runner-up but the after party would be a blast!

I was born in Akron, Ohio which is about 40 miles from there and a lot of our people carry the same chips. You can tell someone from the area because they are the ones that will start throwing stuff out about the world-class Cleveland Symphony, world-class Cleveland Clinic, and other stats and information to back up the claim that we are as good if not better than any city you want to try and compare us to.

When the Old Gray Lady was first built, many thought she was so amazing that they described her as potentially the Eighth Wonder of the World. She was beautiful in her youth, but she lived a hard life next to the lake and she slipped away as we all do in time. She was one of the first multi-purpose stadiums to be built for baseball and football. They broke ground to build her on June 24, 1930, and she opened for business right before the fourth of July in 1931. The first event was a World Heavyweight boxing match between Max Schmeling and Young Stribling that drew 37,000 people.

She cost about $60 million in today’s dollars and could seat approximately 80,000 people. She was called a number of things in her lifetime including Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium, and The Mistake on the Lake. To me and my buddies it was just “The Stadium.” No Casino or Insurance Company sponsor, just forget that. The inside had all the beer and cigarette ads you could ever need.

The seats were all made of wood and the decks were held up with more I-beams that I have ever seen used in one facility. It was really hard not to get stuck behind one. To be honest, it wasn’t built great for either sport. If you were under the overhang, you couldn’t see punts or home runs. It was all concrete and not too much of the glass and other nice things you see in modern stadiums. But when the Yankees were in town you could get over 80,000 people in there which was pretty cool. In the men’s restroom they had trenches dug in the floor so you could just come and relieve yourself right in the floor. It always seemed to smell bad, especially towards the end.

Initially, the Cleveland Indians were the main tenant. They used to play at League Field before the Stadium was built. They played in 1932 to 1933 and then for several years they played at both locations until finally moving there on a full-time basis in 1937. This beautiful lady hosted the last MLB championship for the Tribe in 1948 and a World Series close call in 1954.

In 1945, the Cleveland Rams won an NFL championship there and decided to move to Los Angeles a month later (typical!).

In 1946 the newly formed Cleveland Browns starting using the stadium for football games. The Browns won the All American Football Conference (pre-NFL) championship from 1946-1949. In 1950, they moved to the NFL and won the NFL championship that first year. Over the next eight years they won two more NFL championships (1954 and 1955) and came in second four times. They were one of the dominant teams of that era.

I was born in 1960 so all of these events happened before I was born but I loved to sit at the knee of my dad and grandparents and listen to the stories of how great it was to go to the Stadium and experience all the big events that were going on in Cleveland.

I would like to share three stories that drew me into a love affair with this special gal and would love to hear yours.

But First…A Joke:

Patient: Doctor, my stomach is getting really big.

Doctor: You should diet.

Patient: What color?

A Verse to Contemplate:

He knows where I am going. And when He tests me, I will come out as pure as gold - Job 23:10 (NLT)

Have I Told You This One?

My First Game (1968)

My earliest memory of going to the Stadium was in 1968. I had just turned eight and my dad took me and the family up for a baseball game with the Tigers. I had just started playing little league and played for the Tigers, so I was fired up and very excited to go.

On the drive up I-77 North I saw some things that I had never seen before. As we got closer to the city we started traveling by the steel mills that you could see from the highway. You could look right into one of the gigantic furnaces. I asked my dad what that was and he told me that was how they made steel. I had no idea what that meant but the fire scared me to death. There were mountains of coal outside this plant which was used to fire the furnaces. It was apocalyptic looking for me and I began to wonder where the heck the stadium was in this land of stuff on fire. Once we hit East 9th Street we turned and headed for the lake. I have never been anywhere at this point and when the lake came into view, I thought it was majestic. I was told this was the smallest of the Great Lakes. WOW! We parked in a muni lot that was covered in cinders and crunched loudly as we were waved into our spot. My dad was always a nervous driver and didn’t care much for big places, so we got there well before the game was to start. He took us down to the lakefront and we looked at all of the huge ships and manufacturing facilities. We ate at a restaurant right on the 9th Street pier which was very amazing.

It was time to head in for the ballgame, so we walked toward the Stadium through the parking lots and across the railroad tracks over steel bridges that put us on the stadium property. As we headed up a small grade, I finally saw the Stadium for the first time. I saw the neon Chief Wahoo swinging a big bat and smiling as the sign underneath said Go Indians! We walked through the turnstiles and found our section. You walk up these big ramps to get to the seats and once you reach the top it opens up and I got my first view of the greenest grass I had ever seen and with the lake in the background it was nothing short of amazing. We found our row and the usher walked us in and wiped our seats off with his cloth. My dad flipped him a silver dollar and we sat down and I was about to explode. We could see right into the Indians dugout. There were my idols and they were so close I could almost reach out and touch them. I knew all those guys. They actually had a really good team that year with some fantastic players. Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, Tony Horton, and many more. My dad got the vendor to get us some peanuts and he told me to enjoy and just throw the shells on the floor. Seriously!?

The Star-Spangled Banner is played, and dad tells me to stand and take off my hat and explains why it is important to do that. The game starts and the guys run out on the field. I’m cheering like a fool and dad just smiles. When the Indians came up to bat Tony Horton was coming up and dad tells me to watch closely because these guys are professionals, and I can learn something. Horton gets rung up and strikes out and slowly walks to the dugout. Dad leans over and says, “See how he handled that?” “Yes”, I say and as soon as I get it out of my mouth Horton steps into the dugout and fires his batting helmet into the wall and shatters it into pieces! I just slowly turn back at dad, and he is laughing and suggests we might want to watch somebody else today.

It was also the first time I heard guys yelling at the players for either encouragement or criticism. During the game they brought in Steve Mongori to be a relief pitcher. For whatever reason my dad did not like Mr. Mongori. The whole time he is pitching my dad is mumbling about this bum that couldn’t get anyone out. I don’t know why I thought that was so funny, but for years every time we were watching or listening to a game and Mongori came in my dad would lose it and I would chuckle. You could set your watch by it. I would poke the bear and say to dad “Hey they are bringing in Mongori what do you think of that?” He would say “Mongori’s ass, he couldn’t get me out!” I can still hear it.

I think it cost my dad $8,000 in concessions that day, but I had a ball. He took me to the bathroom about every time someone got a hit. We would get to the ramps just in time to hear the crowd erupt. But, hey I got to pee in the floor trench, so there’s that.

Ten Cent Beer Night (1974)

For my 14th birthday in 1974 dad took me, my brother and my friend Jeff to the Stadium to see the Tribe take on the Texas Rangers. What we didn’t know until we got there was that they were running a promotion for this weekday game, Ten Cent (unlimited) Beer Night (what could possibly go wrong!).

A little backstory. The teams had just played in Texas and things got chippy. Billy Martin was the manager of the Rangers, so you know he wasn’t going to let it go. The game started to progress, and the copious amounts of dime beers had started to take affect. People started jumping on to the field and running around and the cops would track them down and arrest them. Streaking was a thing then, so a LOT of people were running around naked, and the liquored-up crowd kept urging them to do more and more.

Meanwhile the game itself started getting heated with hard slides, bean balls and other niceties. There was a play at second and after a hard slide the players started to fight. People poured out of the stands and started fighting the Rangers players. It was NUTS! It was real fights and cops were trying to get people off the field, but it just kept getting worse. I looked over at my dad and it was the first time in my life that I had ever seen him afraid. So, this develops into a riot and the police finally get some order restored and then the PA announcer says that the Indians have been forced to forfeit the game and everyone needs to leave the Stadium immediately.

As kids, we just sat there thinking how funny this was not understanding how dangerous it was and then suddenly they turn the Stadium lights off, ALL of them! It gets real dark on the lake at night with no lights. Dad grabs us and tells us to hold each other’s hands and to stick close. We shuffle out and outside of the Stadium was Crazytown. Mounted police were going through the crowds at full gallop. Police cars, paddy wagons, officers chasing people down, people fighting, and more.

Luckily, we got out of there and got back to the car and made it back to Akron without any further problems. Needless to say, there was never another ten-cent beer night. But What A Night
That Was!! I don’t think dad ever went back after that.

World Series of Rock (1978)

I had just graduated from high school in June of 1978 and was all grown up and educated so I was looking to do “grown up” stuff. My friend Bob and I got some tickets to attend the World Series of Rock which were concerts held at the Stadium in the mid to late 1970’s. The concert we were going to attend was on July 15, 1978. Electric Light Orchestra was the headliner and Journey and Foreigner were the supporting bands.

So, these two 18-year-old rockers head up to the Stadium for a long day of rock n’ roll and other shenanigans. WHAT A SIGHT that was! We received quite the education that day. The music was great, and it felt really freeing to be there. We got seats under the overhang which was shaded and enjoyed the goings on. I’m not a doctor but I’m pretty sure many people were taking a LOT of medicine that day. Crazy sights.

Journey and Foreigner were just coming on the music scene, and they were really good. Journey had just released Infinity and it was taking off and Foreigner had recently released their first album and it was blowing up. ELO was a unique act. They came out of a spaceship which was lowered by cranes on to the stage. They were also using lasers which had just started to be a thing. They were firing them off of the light standards which really made it powerful.

The Old Gray Lady hosted her last Browns game in December of 1995 when Art Model moved the team to Baltimore and became the Ravens. The city fought hard to keep a team in Cleveland which included demolishing the Stadium and shoving it into Lake Erie to form a man-made reef. A new stadium was built on the same footprint and a new team started playing there in 1999.

My romance came to an end with this special lady. I have never been to the new one. It feels like I would be cheating on my girl.

I don’t get misty when they tear down old buildings like some, but this one stung a little bit. A lot of good memories were made in that place, and I haven’t lived in Ohio for forty years now, but that place was a big part of my youth, and I will never forget her.

It wasn’t a place for cheerleaders in skimpy outfits. The football team didn’t even have an emblem on their helmets. It was a tough old place for tough hard-working people. One final memory. Me and a few of my buddies came back into town for one last Indian game in 1993 because the team was moving to a brand-new modern stadium at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. As me and the other guys in our early thirties were walking in for one last look, we noticed some graffiti on the outside of the building that they apparently decided to leave which read “Fxxx The Steelers”.

I just love that old girl.

Share some memories if you have any.

A Prayer:

Heavenly Father, You love me even when I am unlovable. Grow my capacity to be loved by You so I can grow in capacity to love You and others.

Book Recommendation:

Suffering by Paul David Tripp (2018)

Music Recommendation:

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie (1971)