Miller Park

I have been to Milwaukee twice in my life. On two different occasions for a combined total of less than 24 hours. During these two trips I have seen three baseball games. (For the first trip/game see County Stadium Milwaukee.) 

[Update July 2010: Make that three times in Milwaukee, four baseball games, and maybe still under 24 total hours in the city.]

A recent trip was part of the Butthead Midwest Baseball Tour of 2007. As John, Gue, and I were planning the trip we had the opportunity to make the day/night double header in Chicago and Milwaukee on Saturday. John and I were for the DH, Gue was against. We made both games.

Gue before the trip: “Why would I want to spend an extra night in Milwaukee?”
Gue after the trip: “That is the best stadium…EVER!”


Miller Park is one of the newer parks that opened in 2001. It has a unique retractable roof that opens 90 degrees from a pivot point behind home plate. The park is nice. This may not be the best park, but it is one of the greatest ballpark experiences you can hope to have. This is in large part due to the Milwaukee fans. For the Saturday night game we sat in the right field bleachers. The fans were friendly and knowledgeable. They understood the game and paid attention. For the Sunday game we sat in the loge section between home and first base. Same friendly atmosphere. Milwaukee also has pretty good ballpark food, especially if you’re in the mood for a brat or polish sausage.


This was interleague weekend and we saw the Brewers play the Royals. Milwaukee had a good team and would contend for the division title. They fell two games short of the Cubs. The consolation prize was taking the last two games of the year from the Padres to remove them from the wild card slot. The Brewers had Prince Fielder, Bill Hall, and Ben Sheets. They also had Tony Gwynn Jr. They were playing a Royals team that would finish last in their division and tied for the third worst record in baseball that year. They had Mark Grudzielanek, Odalis Perez, and Zack Grienke who was coming of a poor 2006 where he only pitched 6.1 innings.

Saturday night was a blowout win for the Brewers on a strong Dave Bush outing. Hall had a home run and Corey Hart had a stolen base. Sunday was a close win for the Royals in extra innings. We saw the prospect Yovani Gallardo pitch a good game with no decision. Grienke also pitched two innings of relief (no decision).

One of the unique aspects of this park is the sausage race. There’s nothing like watching adults in giant sausage costumes racing around the park. What makes it great is that the contestants try to win. This is very different than the farce of the president’s race in DC. They also kept the yellow slide in the outfield for Bernie Brewer to slide down after home runs, but he no longer slides into the mug of beer.


One final note about the park. After the game Saturday night we decided that we needed to tailgate before the Sunday afternoon game. Problem – we don’t have a grill and we don’t know anyone in Milwaukee. The next morning we got up and went to the store and as we were buying burgers and Brats we ran into some guys wearing Brewers jerseys. They said we could tailgate with them. When people get to Miller Park to tailgate, they don’t spread out. They fill every stall then begin the next row. This is important because they fill the aisle with grills, seats, and that bean bag game (corn hole). I haven’t been to Kansas City yet, but you’d be hard pressed to find a group that tailgates better than Milwaukee fans. We were hanging out with the guys we met and some other people around the grill. I asked how they knew each other and they said they didn’t. It’s that friendly.