Summer of Baseball: Cleveland rocks

I’d never been to Cleveland before.

Not for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not to visit the Football Hall of Fame in nearby Canton. Not for baseball or anything else.

That changed with a trip to Progressive Field to see the Indians face off against the Chicago White Sox.

And though I can’t comment on the city – we basically stayed to the area near our hotel and the stadium – I will say I enjoyed myself and wouldn’t mind going back one day. Especially if a trip to Progressive Field to see the Indians again is involved.

What a great park.

Opened in 1994, the home of the Indians has aged well. It’s a great place to watch a game and the sight lines are tremendous. As has been the norm this season, seats were in the upper deck and behind home plate, which gives you a great overall view of the park and the backdrop of the city.

That’s always nice.

OK, so let’s take a look at Progressive.

The views were great. Though I definitely felt like I was upper deck, it wasn’t a bad overall seat. The sightlines were fine and with the massive scoreboard, it was easy enough to keep track of everything. However, the only time a vendor came up to this area was the eighth inning. The area was pretty full, so it would have been nice if one had come up.

Speaking of that side of thing, as I went down in a mid-inning to grab something to eat, the lines were massive. And I’m not saying like 10-12 people deep. But the wrap-around holder went well beyond the limit. I ended up walking down to the lowest concourse and grabbing a couple of hot dogs at one of the smaller, secondary food stands. It was definitely not the best I’ve seen in regard to moving people through, so it did lose some points in that part. When we first arrived, though, the crowd wasn’t big and I did get an ice cream, which was amazing.

The stadium is nice. You can, obviously, walk around the entire concourse, which gives you some nice views. The team store is pretty nice, albeit a bit tight. Prices were decent for major league standards. No lineup board, though. One thing that was cool was the top row of seats has been removed and there’s now a walk-around area at the top of the stadium. At least for part of the stadium, that is. I got out and took some photos, which was cool.

The game we went to was toward the beginning of their big winning streak, so the crowd was hopping. That made the ambiance quite nice. Mike Napoli hit a massive bomb of a home run, which may or may not have landed yet. The crowd was definitely into the game and their team. The Indians won in a rout on this day (the other two games they won by one run… we saw the blowout!), so it was an upbeat crowd for the entire game.

Most of the people I dealt with were nice and easy to ask questions to etc. I can’t speak on parking as we parked at our hotel and took the shuttle down, which was cool. We walked back and it wasn’t a bad trip.

All-in-all, this was a solid trip and stop at this MLB stadium. If you are going to be in the Cleveland area, it’s well worth going, especially if the Indians are playing well at that point. Tickets were reasonably priced and the area was definitely Indian happy.

Not only that, but Cleveland Rocks playing at the end of a win was awesome.

Park Notes:  

Progressive Field
Cleveland, Ohio
Home of the Cleveland Indians
Visited on: June 18, 2016
Opponent: Chicago White Sox

Ratings (out of 10)

• Stadium: 9/10
• Concessions: 7/10
• Parking: N/A
• Ambiance: 9/10
• Friendliness: 9/10

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