After a nice dinner and a movie, I hit the sack early and tried to catch up on the sleep I lost on my way to Chicago. No luck. I set the alarm on my pager for what I thought would be 7:30am, not realizing my pager was still on Eastern Standard Time. I woke up at 6:22am Chicago time.
Rachel and I loaded up the mini-van at 8:30am and took off for Milwaukee, an estimated hour and a half from Chicago. When we arrived in Milwaukee, more than three hours in advance of the first pitch, Rachel dropped me off and went to explore the surrounding areas. I grabbed my press pass for the day and went into the stadium.
From the outside, County Stadium in Milwaukee is an extremely plain building. On the outside of the complex are the words "County Municipal Stadium" and "Home of the Brewers", but little else would distinguish the stadium from an empty warehouse or meat packing plant. The stadium is surrounded entirely by parking lots, located several miles away from the nearest metropolis (or Brewery as the case may be) and you get a feeling of solitude when there are no cars around to fill the lots.
But, when you get inside the stadium, you notice that this grey, boring building has a lot of feeling and life to it. The concourses are small and dark, but the concession stands are embedded in the wall and decorated to replicate traditional German buildings. Each stand has a little roof, shutters, are constructed (or made to appear as if they were constructed) out of brick, and give the whole area a warm personal feeling. There are no elevators or escalators, instead ramps and catwalks get fans to their seats. And, the bathrooms are plentiful and large, but old and musty feeling.
The seating bowl area shows the age of the stadium. The seating sections are designated by color and wrap around most of the stadium in two levels (that stretch all the way back to the main councourse). The seats are faded from harsh weather. The overhang from the top level prevents fans on the lower level from watching balls hit in the air and some of the support beams obstruct the view from seats in the very back rows. There are special bleacher sections, family sections (no smoking or alcohol) and sections sponsored by local companies that receive special perks. But, overall the stadium is comfortable to sit in and friendly to watch a game from.
The field is plain, the dirt not very attractive, but the grass in the outfield is cut in several different patterns creating a visual tunnel down the middle of the field. The scoreboard was installed before diamondvision replays had been invented so there is no way for fans to get replays of the game, and there are only a few stats that can show up on the scoreboard at any time. Advertisements are everywhere, on teh outfield walls, beyond the bleachers, around the concourses. And, in deep center field is the highlight of the stadium, a little house and beer stein for the Brewers Mascot, Bennie the Beer Man. Following a Brewers homerun, Bennie slides down a ramp from the house into the beer stein to the enjoyment of the crowd.
Overall, the stadium has a lot of feeling to it, with the brick, the beer shack, and the patterns cut into the grass. But, it is obvious the stadium is out of date and in much need of repair or renovation. Construction has begun for the new Miller Park, a baseball only complex being constructed in an adjacent parking lot to County Stadium that will open to the public for the 2000 season. Fans, players and ownership alike are very excited about the stadium, as expected, but will certainly feel the loss of County Stadium, which as one fan put it "has sort of grown on us".
When I arrived on the field to watch batting practice, the Brewers were still stretching in the outfield and the music hadn't been turned on in the stadium. I stood by the cage and watched one of the Brewers coaches throw batting practice to his son (no older than twelve years old) and shagged a few balls that the boy hit in my direction. One of the coaches offered me a ball from the practice, I gladly accepted, thanked him, and placed the ball (with the word Brewers stamped on the side) in my bag.
The rest of batting practice was pretty boring. It was very hot on the field (upwards of 90 degrees) and everyone seemed to be moving pretty slowly. The players were all talking about how they were going to spend their All-Star break (four days off to rest and spend with one's family seemed to be the concensus). A twins coach also offered me a ball during practice and I gladly passed on the gift to Rachel, who was waiting patiently in the stands while I watched practice from the field. I waited for a reporter who never showed up, soaked up some final rays of sun, and headed for the seats.
I only had limited interaction with the Brewers Management, but I have nothing to complain about. When I firt wrote the letter to the clubs asking for a meeting with the folks in the front office, I removed the one for the Brewers and instead tried to meet with Bud Selig, Brewers President and Commissioner of Baseball. I sent him a more personal letter and asked for help in organizing the trip and making it special. I received a nice letter from Mr. Selig offering support on setting up my trip, and until a few weeks ago, still held out hope that I might be able to sit down with him before the game. Unfortunately, we couldn't work it out and I ended up without a meeting in Milwaukee.
At the same time, the media relations office was very supportive of the journey, offering me press credentials which granted me access to the field, press box, clubhouses and everything else you could think of. I wasn't able to find anyone from the media relations office during my time at the stadium so I didn't get a chance to thank them or ask them any quetions. There was simply nobody around.
The press box at County Stadium is only reachable by a little catwalk (after you climb the ramp up to the Mezzanine level) and not really worth the effort. The box stretches around the under side of the top level of seats at the stadium, giving the writers a good view of the field, but it is a very narrow and sparcely decorated area. The food is free (Bratwurst, hot pretzels, soda and the like) and the staff very nice and helpful, but it is sort of depressing environment. I spent the game in the stands.
THE FOODI was very impressed by the food selection at County Stadium. As one fan put it, "if ther is one thing we are good at in Milwuakee, it is food." There are regular hot dogs, polish sausages, bratwursts, and bavarian sauages available -- all smothered in something called "County Stadium Special Sauce". There is a bakery, two stands offering real Wisconsin Ice Cream, a specialized nacho stand, a jalapeno pretzel stand, an outdoor sports bar and grille, and several beer stands (not surprising). As expected, the bratwursts were the most popular, with almost every fan walking past me trying to finish one so they could get another. And, most of the fans had hot pretzels or nachos to wash down their sausage product.
SInce the press box offered free hot pretzels, I grabbed a few and headed for the seats. I was impressed by the pretzel -- it was warm, soft, tasty (no plastic residue). The mustard was the weak yellow kind (like children's paint) and actually made the pretzel tast worse. I didn't see the jalapeno pretzel stand until after the game so I didn't get a chance to try one, but they certainly looked tasty. It wasn't the best pretzel that I have had yet, but it certainly beat some of the ones I have had in the past few days.
Only 22,800 fans showed up to watch the Brewers finish off the series against the Minnesota Twins. They were a quiet crowd for most of the game, only getting involved in the fourth inning when the Brewers scored the majority of their runs. There were a lot of Brewers hats and t-shirts, but by far, the Green Bay Packers were the most popular team in the area. And, to my surprise, there was not a single minority individuals (off of the field) in the entire stadium -- not a single fan, employee, or secruity person.
Once again, I was joined at the game by Rachel Turow, the daughter of my father's college roomate. Today, I taught Rachel how to score a baseball game -- she did very well. We spent a lot of time talking about the differences between County Stadium and Comiskey Park (the location of yesterday's game) and the various details of the game related to scoring. When we weren't talking to eachother, we engaged in conversation with a woman sitting behind us (she had a broken leg, but it didn't slow her down a bit). She was both interested in the game on the field and knowledgable of the game as a whole. We debated trades, talked pitching, shared thoughts on stadiums and even talked about the food at the stadium. She was a good fan.
As for the game, Brewers starting pitcher Ben McDonald finally earned his seventh win (on his seventh try at it) in leading the Brewers to a 6-2 victory. The Brewers scored the majority of their runs in the 4th inning on a series of doubles and a deep homerun to left center field. Both teams go into the All-Star break well under .500 and neither has much of a chance of winning the division. Both teams are full of talent, but it was obvious in this game, racked by errors, that there is some practice still needed.
After we left, Rachel and I stopped at Mars' Cheese Castle, a store selling Wisconsin Cheese and other various cheese related items. We shared a cream puff and a pie, both excellent, and headed home to get some healthy food and a good nights' sleep. It was another full day.
The view from my seats at County Stadium.
Here's Rachel Turow scoring a baseball game for the first time.
