Читать книгу No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression онлайн

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Truly the Yankees were a dynasty, with few teams that could throw down with them. One was Philadelphia. After more than a decade of being hopelessly inept, Connie Mack had his Athletics competitive again. Young players, including pitcher Robert “Lefty” Grove and outfielder Al Simmons, were leading Philadelphia back to the upper division. A new third baseman named Jimmy Foxx was about to pay big dividends for Mr. Mack. The Washington Senators were a solid club and St. Louis usually played above .500. The Indians had to improve tremendously to jump over any of these ball clubs.

With a number of obstacles to overcome, the 1928 Indians prepared for spring training. The new ownership determined to move camp to New Orleans, a familiar location for Cleveland teams past. A few weeks before they left, City Manager William Hopkins addressed the city council. He advised them that a meeting had taken place on January 25 with Alva Bradley, Chuck Bradley, and team secretary Joseph Hostetler. A new stadium was on the table and Hopkins wanted to test how much the Indians might pay for an exclusive lease. He had in mind an enormous facility on the lakefront that could seat approximately eighty thousand fans. Osborne Engineering, the firm that had built League Park, gave Hopkins some tentative plans that included a price tag of two million dollars.