The Little Orange

Have to say, I’m a-OK with the Indians’ Jacobs Field becoming Progressive Field. I know it’s turned more than a few stomachs — and even, in some of Cleveland’s tide pools, threatened the very fabric of space-time. But the way I see it, there are at least a couple of reasons why the venture bodes well for Cleveland, if Cleveland chooses to see it that way.

For one, there’s the money. Put your thoughts of selling out aside. Money is baseball’s raison d’être: baseball would not be without money. Come to grips with it already. Yes, baseball is also nostalgia. There’s nothing like it to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But if you’re going to go to the ballpark and slug down your $5 coke and $6 nachos in your $30 cap and $100 jersey, or even if you only go for the nachos, I don’t want to hear it when it comes to corporate sponsors. You must be aware that baseball is a moneymaker first and foremost. And someday you will come to terms with the fact that money (usually) means good baseball (unless you’re haunted by a goat) and good baseball means good memories and that the nachos and the sponsors’ names are always worth it in the end.

But much more important than the money is the chance for a Cleveland sports team to partner with a high-profile national corporation based in Cleveland. There are very few companies out of Cleveland that are as identifiable as Progressive. We take pride in our baseball team; can’t we take pride in the fact that such a successful company grew up right down the street?

Not only a successful company — a great company. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, let me say that my experience as a Progressive customer has far surpassed my expectations. When I got rear-ended last summer — by someone without insurance, no less — every single person I interacted with at Progressive had a great attitude, running the gamut of what customer service should be: sympathy, patience, care, cheerfulness, honesty, precision. Progressive’s service was superior, far above almost every other company I’ve ever worked with. Put their name on my ballpark? Go right ahead!

So I take pride in the fact that one of our corporate jewels has plunked its name atop one of our sports teams’ homes. To me, it’s about the region uniting, about sticking together and backing each other up. Accusations of selling out or of the park losing character miss the big picture, the one in which both the Indians and Progressive are huge regional players, employing us, driving our economy, and being good neighbors to us and to each other. Now doesn’t that make you all warm and fuzzy?