Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 23, 1995 TAG: 9510230076
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN LEIGHTON KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CLEVELAND LENGTH: Long
But now Cleveland is getting national attention for its beautiful new baseball stadium, Jacobs Field, and its sizzling major-league team, the Indians.
They're in the World Series for the first time since 1954. Game Three against the Braves of Atlanta is tomorrow night in Cleveland.
The Ohio city, which will celebrate its bicentennial in 1996, has clearly made great strides since the late '70s, when it became the first American city since the Depression to go into default.
Sure, you can continue to think of it as the place where the Cuyahoga River once caught fire. (``Burn on, big river, burn on,'' Randy Newman sang in a musical tribute.)
These days, however, it is the Indians who are burning up the American League.
In other words, the Mistake by the Lake has been replaced by the Winner by the River.
Want more reasons to visit? How about the first-class Cleveland Museum of Art, a renovated downtown and the newly opened Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum?
Having a team in first place, after a 30-year slump chronicled in Terry Pluto's book ``The Curse of Rocky Colavito,'' has generated plenty of excitement. Nearly everyone seems to be talking about the Indians or wearing a Chief Wahoo T-shirt or cap.
``The whole Cleveland area and the Indians are sort of baseball in a bubble,'' Pluto said in a telephone interview, drawing a distinction between Cleveland and most other major-league cities, where attendance is down because of anger over last season's baseball strike. ``There is such a celebration of the Indians and, in a lot of ways, the fans themselves. If this season were to be ruined by a strike, the whole town would be in therapy.''
The Cleveland Plain Dealer published a journal called Indians Summer in which readers could share ``the small but significant ways our winning baseball team is affecting us.''
On the journal's first day, one man wrote to say that he considered his Indians tickets so valuable, he kept them in a safe deposit box.
Another fan reported that she had a Chief Wahoo tattoo on her ankle. What's more, her husband, brother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew all had tattoos, too. And her 13-year-old daughter wanted one.
Like Camden Yards in Baltimore, Jacobs Field, which opened in 1994, combines some of the conveniences of a modern stadium with the charms of an old ballpark such as Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. It can hold 42,865 fans, and regular-season ticket prices range from $6 for a seat in the bleachers to $14 for a lower box.
The 19-foot-high wall in left field, which includes an out-of-town scoreboard, is reminiscent of the Green Monster at Fenway. The bleachers beyond the wall remind one of Wrigley, albeit without the brick or the vine.
And the Indians play on natural grass, as Abner Doubleday intended, not artificial turf.
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc., the Kansas City architectural firm that also designed Camden Yards, obviously made an effort to create a fan-friendly stadium. For example, seats in left field and right field are angled 8 to 12 degrees toward the middle of the diamond.
The Indians seem to have thought of everything. If you visit the bathroom, you can still follow the action through Herb Score's piped-in play-by-play.
Jacobs Field is part of the Gateway sports complex, which includes Gund Arena, home of the NBA's Cavaliers. Connected to Gateway by a walkway are the Avenue, Tower City Center and the Ritz-Carlton and Stouffer Renaissance Cleveland hotels. Under the domed skylight between the Cuyahoga River and Public Square are three levels of movie theaters, restaurants and more than 100 stores, including J. Crew, Banana Republic and the Nature Company.
If you have time, Tower City Center on Public Square is worth exploring. You can take an elevator to the tower's 42d floor, where you get a panoramic view of Cleveland.
Originally named Terminal Tower, the 708-foot structure was built by railroad magnates O.P. and M.J. Van Sweringen over six years beginning in 1923. It was the tallest building in Ohio until the 888-foot Society Center was erected across the square in 1991.
There is a good view of the city including the Flats, to the east of Public Square, where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. Along the east and the west banks of the river, once the site of heavy industry, you will now find restaurants, nightclubs and bars.
To the east of the Flats, not far from Cleveland Stadium, where the Indians used to lose frequently before sparse crowds and where the NFL's Browns still play, can be seen the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened Labor Day weekend. The 150,000-square-foot museum was designed by I.M. Pei and its triangular glass facade, supported by a six-story tower, bears a 1Gresemblance to his addition to the Louvre.
In ``Ball Four,'' Jim Bouton made the ghoulish observation that if you had to die in a Cleveland plane crash, it might as well be an inbound flight.
It may be time to retire the one-liners.
Snub Cleveland just when it's becoming a winner again?
That would be a grave mistake.
by CNB