As the Guardians enter the final week of the regular season in yet another playoff push, the team is celebrating a milestone. They’ve drawn 2 million fans to Progressive Field for the third straight year. Ideastream Public Media sports commentator Terry Pluto reflected on how the team’s relationship with fans has evolved.
“From 1956 to 1985, so that's basically 29 years, they only drew 1 million fans five times in that period," Pluto said. "I remember when I was covering the Tribe in the early '80s (for The Plain Dealer), I think three times they had the lowest attendance in the American League. And that was in that big old ballpark with 70,000 seats.”
The last time Cleveland drew 2 million fans three straight years was 2000 to 2002. They drew a franchise record 3.4 million in 2000, near the end of Cleveland’s ’90s baseball boom at then Jacobs Field. Pluto said several factors drove that success.
“Back in that time, it was a product of several things ... the brand new ballpark ... it's almost like from the old stadium to Progressive Field, you went from indoor plumbing to this luxury mansion," Pluto said. "That's how big of a difference those two ballparks were. Secondly, the Browns moved after the ‘95 season. The Cavs were very mediocre. And the other thing that was going on is back then, a lot of your money came from ballpark sales, not from the cable TV which became later on. So suddenly the Guardians were flush with cash."
Pluto said that era also showed Cleveland could compete without one of baseball’s biggest payrolls.
“(It's) basically showing that we can be successful even without ... a big budget," Pluto said. "In the last 10 years, the five winningest teams in the majors, No. 1 is the Dodgers, big spender. No. 2, the Yankees, big spender. No. 3 is Houston, pretty big spender, not quite as big as them. But then come two other teams, Milwaukee and Cleveland. And Tampa Bay is right behind them ... those three teams just don't spend anywhere near like the others. But they find a way to win anyway. And you know, fans don't like to hear Northeast Ohio and the Cleveland market is the smallest sports market with teams in Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA, but that's just a fact.”
Pluto said the Guardians have built something else that matters to fans: consistency.
“They’re closing in on possibly their third Central Division title," Pluto said. "They have a really good chance of making the playoffs. They are consistently good, or as I tell people, since they hired Terry Francona back in 2013 and then with Stephen Vogt, the Guardians are never bad. And I think, at least, a certain amount of fans have come to appreciate that.”
From 1960 to 1993, a span of 33 years, the team never made the playoffs.
“They were never closer than 11 games out of first place," Pluto said. That’s what I grew up with. And so, this, to me, is sort of a golden age of baseball. You had the late ’90s and early 2000s, and now we have this period of more than a decade. I mean, this is fun. They are relevant. If this was going on in Berea with the Browns, with going to the playoffs nearly every year, they’d be building statues ... if they had a record like this. That’s why I just don’t have a ton of patience with people who won’t look beyond the Guardians’ low payroll. They don’t spend, but they win. I mean, doesn’t that count for something?”
And Pluto said the Guardians’ connection with fans goes beyond what happens on the field.
“I think the marketing department is creative with some of the things they give away, and also with the way they’ve redone the ballpark," Pluto said. "It’s just a terrific age of baseball that’s been happening in Cleveland.”
