Tracy Stitt and her husband, Andrew Dalgliesh, exchanged vows over a sacred Cleveland spot: home plate at Progressive Field. On Labor Day 2011, lifelong Tribe fan Stitt — and Dalgliesh, a Chicago Cubs fan-turned-willing-Indians adopter — donned red, white and blue and said their "I do's" in front of their family, who filled the first several rows of seats behind home plate. Stitt, who now lives near Washington, D.C., still returns each year for opening day.
For as long as I can remember, I've been an Indians fan. My parents were fans, and it was always something that we used to do as a family. I remember visiting [Cleveland] Municipal Stadium when I was little and going to games with my dad.
The cool part about it was I wasn't just getting ready for my wedding. I was actually able to explore parts of the ballpark that I hadn't seen before. We were able to be down in the dugouts and dugout suites. I got to go in the locker room and make calls to the bullpen. You know, just run around the field and do all of those crazy things that I'd always wanted to do as a kid.
My one bridezilla moment happened when the wedding planner had originally given Andrew the home team dugout. I nixed that immediately.
My favorite part was walking out from the dugout onto the field [for the ceremony]. You got to pretend that you were actually a player for once. One of the things I cherish most was that [my father] was able to be there and walk me out of the dugout.
Andrew and I exchanged vows over home plate. I had on red shoes, which was my tribute to the Indians. And my something old was a 1995 American League Championship Series pin that belonged to my grandmother. — as told to Abigail Walters
