CLEVELAND (WJW) — As fans walked up to Progressive Field for the Cleveland Guardians game Monday night, many took time to stop on Gateway Plaza and look down.
“There are a lot of tributes, a lot of families that will be disappointed,” said Guardians fan Ray Anderson.
It’s the end of the road for the bricks that were used to raise money for the Bob Feller statue.
“People paid money and they did it for a reason. It meant something to them, it had sentimental value to them,” said Carolyn Holub, fan.
Back in the 90s, 6,000 bricks were sold to finance the statue, which was unveiled at then Jacob’s Field in 1994.
“They are over 30 years old and are becoming a safety hazard so we had to make a tough decision to move on from them,” said Curtis Danburg, with the Guardians.
Since then, Danburg said the team worked to maintain them, even moving the bricks from outside the right-field gate to Gateway Plaza.
“They’ve been around for a long time. When we moved them once, they were broken down then and that was in 2015,” said Danburg.
Now people will not be able to keep their brick, but the Guardians took a picture of every single one and will create an online gallery for people to view.
Danburg said purchase records do not exist, so the team does not have a database to alert brick owners.
If you bought a Bob Feller brick, the team asks that you email fanservices@cleguardians.com with your information.