League Park: Cleveland's Original Ballpark

League Park was located at E. 66th and Lexington Ave. in Cleveland (see Google map). Cy Young pitched the first game there on May 1, 1891 for the National League Cleveland Spiders. Other famous players who appeared at League Park include Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Satchel Paige, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio.

Built in the late 1800s, the ballpark was the site of numerous historic sports moments, including:

  • the 1920 World Series
  • the first grand slam in World Series history (1920 series)
  • first unassisted triple play in baseball history (1920 series)
  • Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller's first game (1936)

The Cleveland Indians abandoned the park in 1947, and it was eventually torn down and turned into a playground in the 1950s. All that was left of the original park was the ticket house built in 1909 and part of the E. 66th Street grandstand wall.

In 1979 the site was declared a Cleveland landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

League Park was restored with an artificial turf field and reopened on August 23, 2014 as a venue for Cleveland youth baseball and softball games, and Senate League high school games. Read a Plain Dealer article about the reopening.


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One of the most popular images in all of Cleveland Memory
One of the most popular images in all of Cleveland Memory