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

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While the Indians continued to improve their club, news came that Western Reserve University had invited Yale to play a football game in the new Cleveland stadium. Ground had not been broken yet, but the proposed game was to be played in 1930. The local college was rumored to be negotiating a home-and-away series with the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes. Ambitious college grads in the area were contacting their former schools to schedule games at the new stadium. Among the colleges being courted were Syracuse, Nebraska, and Cornell. City Manager Hopkins was elated at the news. He had visions of 80,000 fans packing his new facility, not to mention the downtown hotels and restaurants. His stadium plan might just be exactly what his city needed.

Near the end of December, Hopkins announced some details about the new facility He wanted a study done to preserve the harmony of the lakefront. He had no intention of the stadium being built at a crazy angle that might detract from the buildings and pedestrian mall that extended north from Public Square. He contracted with Osborne Engineering Company, the builders of League Park, to provide the city with exact dimensions of the stadium. Once those were completed, the city engineer could determine the amount of excavating needed for the foundation. All those involved believed it would take one to two years to complete the project. Soon the bonds would be put up for sale, funds accumulated, and the digging would commence. The probability of any last-minute roadblocks to delay the project seemed remote at best. It seemed that 1929 would be a good year for the city of Cleveland.