Before They Were Guardians: Catching Some Cleveland Baseball

Cleveland Indians

Specifics:

Progressive Field

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Cleveland Indians

Date of Game: Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Time of Game: 7:00PM EST (MLB says it started 7:11PM)

Final score: Dodgers - 7, Indians - 5

**Cleveland Indians changed their name to Cleveland Guardians in 2021.**

Seat: Section 154 Row M Seat 1

Cleveland was chosen as one of our destinations so that we could watch an Indians game at Progressive Field. Since this was our first time in Cleveland, I did, however, pad with an extra day for our visit so that we could go sightseeing too. We attended the baseball game on our last night in Cleveland.

Tickets were purchased ahead of time through StubHub.

We were already in town staying at the Tudor Arms Hotel, as we’d arrived a few days earlier to explore the city. Progressive Field was a quick drive (approx. 4 miles) through the downtown part of the city from the hotel. While it wasn’t the only hotel I considered, I chose it over one closer to the stadium because it has historical significance and is on the national registry of historic places.  I love it when I can fit in some additional site seeing during nontraditional hours.

Although there is stadium parking, I opted to use the mall parking at Tower City Center. From there we could use the “Walkway to Gateway” which provides access from the mall to the baseball stadium. While there was still a fee to park, I felt this option would provide us with more opportunities to see some of Cleveland as a local might. Plus, being unfamiliar with the area, and it being a night game, I hoped it might be a more populated route that the local fans might take. The downside is that there was a bit more walking than perhaps using the official stadium parking. The lot we used was 1527 W 6^th Street.

It was a little before 5:00PM when we arrived at Tower City Center parking, with two hours to game time, there was plenty of time to walk through the mall, look around and walk to the stadium alongside the other fans. Once inside the mall we saw signs for the walkway and headed in that direction. Before we went to the entrance of the walkway, we sat on the lower level of the mall near an indoor fountain for a little bit. It gave us the opportunity to catch our breath and take in some of the ambiance of the mall. The walkway itself was near the food court with bathrooms nearby as well.

As we walked along inside, I saw that this was a walkway led to other sporting arenas, like hockey and basketball. The entrances seemed to all be on our left, while on the right we could see the different parking lots through the windows. I thought the shared walkway and parking were such a cool set up! What I didn’t realize was that we needed to exit the premises and cross the street to Progressive Field. I would have preferred a direct walkway into the stadium, still cool, nonetheless.

We entered the stadium about 30 minutes before game time and stopped at a nearby vendor for hot dogs and soda which we brought to our seats. The weather was about 80 degrees, and although it was a stormy day, with a lot of rain, it turned out to be a nice evening albeit a bit cloudy. But the sun did peek out for a little while before it set.

I’m usually not a fan of sitting too close to the ground, but these seats were great. Close enough to get a up close perspective, yet far enough away that the net wasn’t too distracting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still happy there was a net!

In the second inning, the Dodgers got on the scoreboard first, a home run that sent another runner home. The score was now 2-0 and but only stayed that way until the bottom of the third. Cleveland batted a runner in, making the score 2-1. By the top of the 4^th inning, my partner and I went to stretch legs and find a place that sold souvenir ice cream helmets. As luck would have it, Pierre’s Ice Cream had a stall only a few sections away from us. Neither of us have tried Pierre’s Ice Cream, so this was truly a novelty to go along with our ice cream helmet tradition. (As I was putting the pieces together for this blog post, I discovered that Pierre’s started as a local ice cream shop in Cleveland in 1932).

We were just settling back into our seats, when Cleveland tied up the game at the bottom of the 5^th inning. The score now 2-2. The game stayed tied until the top of the 8^th inning where one of the Dodgers hit a homerun which pulled his team ahead by 1 run. Then, another run came in via a forceout (when a fielder touches the base with the ball before the batter or runner gets to the base) which resulted in the score being 4 to 2.  The same player on the Dodgers, Cody Bellinger, was up at bat in the top of the 9^th where he hit another home run that sent 2 other runs home the Dodgers got 4 more runs in the top of the 9^th. Cleveland fought back and scored 3 more runs, but it was just too late in the game to salvage the loss.

As we exited the stadium, I didn’t get the impression of it being crowded. Although during the game I did see an upper deck towards the outfield was completely empty. But as we were exiting, there was little to no congestion. We walked along the sidewalk with several other fans that also walked towards the Walkway to Gateway. I tried to take some photos of the area, but it was too dark to really grab anything useful. Once inside the walkway to the mall, the other fans seemed to exit earlier than us. The closer we got to the mall, the less fans were around. It was off putting. It seemed like we were the only two heading to the mall. When we got to the mall area it was completely silent sans one security guard. We made our way across the mall and down to the parking garage. The garage was still somewhat active; there were other people picking up their cars.  

All in all, I feel that using the mall parking area worked out well for us. It might not have been the closest or cheapest location to park for the game, but it gave us a perspective that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. As for the stadium itself, it felt less commercial than some of the others I’ve visited already. It had a laid-back atmosphere, and I’d look forward to returning to watch a game there again.

​Written June 10, 2025

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity. Blog title brainstorming too!