Throwback Thursday: When It Was The Jake

Two years after visiting Cleveland Stadium, we were back for another Yankees-Indians series. But this time, it was brand spanking new Jacobs Field. The second of baseball's new wave in parks didn't take as clearly a retro direction as Camden Yards, but was just as clearly designed for the national pastime.

The seats, angled toward home plate, seem to hug the field. The ballpark is named not for a sponsor, but the owners at the time, the Jacobs Family. The outside architecture leans modern, with plenty of glass and metal. The timing was ideal -- thanks to smart drafts and trades by GM John Hart, Cleveland was a contender again and playing in front of sell-out crowds. A year later, the Indians would win their first of six AL Central titles in seven years, and make their first appearance in the World Series since 1954.
Eventually, that run came to an end; after the Jacobs sold the club to the Dolan family (relatives of the New Yorkers who own Madison Square Garden), John Hart left to run the Texas Rangers and the park's naming rights were sold to Progressive Insurance.
But in 1994, which was soon tarnished by a season-ending strike, the sharpest new stadium belonged to Cleveland.

-a- an

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