| Cleveland followed the trend of Baltimore's Camden Yards by building a so-called "retro" park, Jacobs Field (since renamed with a corporate moniker of Progressive Field). And Indian fans have flocked here since its opening in 1994, making almost every game a sellout until 2001 when the team when into a slight decline. Having never been to Municipal Stadium, I can only guess from the photos that Jacobs Fields is an immense improvement over that monstrosity. The downtown location makes for a great setting both while walking around the park and while taking in the view while inside the park. Sometimes downtown parks are harder to access, but I didn't find that to be the case here as it is right off of I90. While a lot of the parking was in garages (which I don't prefer as egress tends to be brutal), it seemed to be sufficient. The main entrance to the park is in the left field corner which features a nice plaza area. The main concourse, which is very spacious, is filled with a decent variety of concessions and has numerous picnic tables to enjoy your food at. Unfortunately, with larger crowds, lines can get very long at the concession stands. This seems to be caused by some ballpark favorites (like chicken fingers) only being available at a few select stands. It seems that too many of the concessions stands only serve the ballpark basics. Most of lower deck seating seemed to have a good view of the field, but the same cannot be said of the upper deck. Because of the multiple levels of luxury boxes, the upper deck has been pushed up higher than in other parks. Heritage Park (opened in 2007) is located in center field and features plaques for all the Indian players who are in the baseball hall of fame and Indians team HOF. It is definitely worth a stroll through before the game. The scoreboard, which was billed as the biggest in the majors when Jacobs Field opened, dominates the outfield view. It is really too big as it eats into the view of the skyline. The atmosphere here is probably one of the best in the majors, most likely due to the Indians prolonged success in the late 90's. The guy who beats the drum all game long can get a bit annoying, but that's just a minor complaint. Overall, a nice new park, but of the retro parks, it's not one of my favorites.
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