Photograph © Robert K. Shoop

There are few ballparks (except maybe for Shea Stadium) that were more maligned than Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. In fact, the stadium was so disliked by fans and players alike from the moment it opened… that the Indians returned to their old ballpark (League Park) after only 2 seasons here... and left this brand new facility abandoned for 6 years! As Cleveland teams began to fail miserably in the standings, this cavernous 72,000 seat stadium (the biggest ever used for baseball at the time) was often home to between 1000 and 10,000 fans per game for whole seasons at a time. This made the ballpark look even more empty and depressing. The name Municipal Stadium was quickly dropped by fans in favor of their newly given name… the "Mistake by the Lake". Despite it’s often un-appreciative fan base, it was still quite impressive because of its sheer massiveness. Eventually, the Indians gave up on League Park and would have to make this their full time home, which it remained for decades until Jacobs Field (Progressive Field) was built in 1993.