Most people today associate pivoting with the ability to change one’s plans on the drop of a dime, ad-libbing. I’m of the Wes Unseld in the middle of the lane, getting ready to unleash one of his patented outlet passes without traveling. Regardless, it’s easier to pivot when one’s not responsible for a gaggle of kids and a better half.

When I planned my trip to Ohio, I knew that certain venues would be closed or open at different times due to the holiday. What I didn’t expect was a shutdown of much of downtown Cleveland (there was no mention in the news). I’m glad I went to the art museum on Tuesday and held off downtown Cleveland for the 3rd.

One of the biggest, positive surprises of the trip was the Baseball Heritage Museum at League Park. Their website really doesn’t capture the spirit of the museum or that it’s a must-see for baseball fans of all ilks and colors. The museum is a wonderful repository of baseball artifacts of MLB, the Negro Leagues, The House of David, and the sandlots. More importantly, the site is on the original footprint of the original League Park. The current field can be rented out and visitors are free to walk the field and examine the very unique dimensions. 380 down the left field line, 480 to dead center and 290 down the right field line. Originally, it was 240 down the RF line. The staff is both passionate and extremely knowledgeable about the local aspect and the game in general. Where else will Babe Ruth and Gary Bell be mentioned in the same sentence?

After parking about a block from Progressive Field (for $12 for the day), I hit the mean streets. Either my memory is completely shot, or things have changed dramatically since my longest stay in The Land back in 1994. I remember The Flats being much closer to the park and that the entertainment district surrounding the ballpark was more vibrant.

With 610% humidity and hunger getting the best of me, I grabbed an excellent lunch at Mabel’s BBQ, located on 4th Street and only a 7-minute walk from the ballpark. 4th is little more than an alley crammed with a dozen restaurants, bars and joints-something for everyone and quite fun.

I won’t bother with the specifics of what I saw and what was shut down by the filming of the new Superman movie, I covered a lot of territory and was spent. The humidity had risen to 784% and I was tired. Unfortunately, the area immediately surrounding Progressive (I still call it the Jake) is bereft of convenience stores, peddlers selling bottled water and bars.

Back in 2016 when the Cubs were winning the WS in Cleveland and the Cavs were winning the NBA Championship Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, I neither appreciated their proximity or the lack of joints to get a drink in the immediate hood.

Aside from the postgame fireworks, 37,151 fans came to the park for a chance at a Hawaiian shirt (15,000). As we say in the old country, “$2 beer night in Cleveland, what could go wrong?”

According to my newest friend, an usher, they made some major changes a few years back, including knocking out some seats in the upper deck, they transformed the outfield concourse into more profitable SRO sections with rails. Management correctly figured that younger fans (who go to bars) prefer standing around drinking and changed the seating accordingly.

Including the previous four games I’ve seen at the Jake, I haven’t had a bad seat. Initially I was worried about my seat in Section 567, all the way down in left field. I was pleasantly surprised that the rise wasn’t steep at all.

The staff couldn’t have been friendlier and the dining more wonderful. I had my only ballpark dinner of the trip and paid less for a pizza than at Hi-A Lake County. (Bottled water was also cheaper).

What both surprised me and disappointed me was the quality of the scorecard (no rosters, or game notes) and the dearth of working televisions in the concourse. If you stepped away from your seats, you missed the action.

On to the action

The Guardians and their fans were excited about Gavin Williams taking the bump against the 24-63 White Sox. I really didn’t know much about Williams and his decent 2023 season and his short ’24 ST. He was making his first start of the season. Spoiler Alert: He didn’t pitch well (4 innings, 7 hits and 5 earned runs allowed) and took the loss in an 8-2 game. However, I got this nifty shot from the 500 level.

From Cleveland’s perspective the highlight of the day came before the firs pitch was thrown. Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez were named starters for the AL All-Star team. And because we look for excuses for poor performance, I’ll suggest Kwan was overwhelmed and shouldn’t have been in the lineup.

The Sox got the scoring started in the first when Luis Robert (2-4 with a walk and two runs scored) scored on an Andrew Vaughn single. It looked like the Guardians would bounce back in the bottom of the first when Kwan singled to left. However, that was the high point of the evening for Cleveland. Sox starter and my personal pitcher, Erick Fedde completely snuffed out the Guardians like a bad Virginia Slim. Editor’s note: I’ve seen 3 Sox games this year-all on the road and Fedde has started all of them.

Fedde completely held the Guards in check, limiting them to one earned run and five hits in 6 innings. I’m surprised they pulled him after retiring the last 12 batters and showing no signs of tiring. Their only run came on a sinking liner off the bat of David Fry which Robert caught easily.

While most of us didn’t realize it at the time, the Sox won it in the 4th when they tacked on an additional 4 runs. It was one of those days as light-hitting Andrew Benintendi (double), Nicky Lopez (double) and Martin Maldonado drove in runs that inning and third baseman, Lenyn Sosa (3-5) scored after doubling. I say most of us because I was the only one not drinking $2 beers or stuffing my pie hole with flavorless $1 hotdogs.

As surprising as those performances were so too was the absolutely awful defensive performance of Kwan in left field. He misplayed three different fly balls and followed it up with limp-armed tosses to the infield. Instead of the former gold glover, he looked more like a rookie catcher forced to play left in front of the Green Monster in Fenway for the first time.

Given that I had no intentions of staying for the fireworks, I headed down to the main concourse for the rest of the game and enjoyed the view equally. When asked by somebody why I like Toledo’s ballpark so much, I cited Hensville as an asset. Because I’m unfamiliar with Toledo’s ordinances I was surprised that fans could have a pop on the street outside the park while they were waiting to get in and could refill from the local establishments. It seems Cleveland is content confining all the drinking to the confines of Progressive Field.

Cleveland tacked on a meaningless run immediately after Fedde departed, but the Sox countered with three more-including 2 on Maldanado’s second homer of the season boosting his average from .083 to .096.

Since I didn’t have a horse in the race and the outcome didn’t affect my happiness, I had a most enjoyable day and night at the park. It was capped off by a nice last few innings of the Akron shutout on the radio as I returned to Casa Bob.