Milwaukee County Stadium

Milwaukee County Stadium (locally known as just County Stadium) was a ballpark in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1953 to 2000. It was primarily used as a baseball stadium, but was also utilized for football games, ice skating, religious services, concerts and other large events.

Architect: Osborn Engineering
Builder: Hunzinger Construction
Owner: Milwaukee County
Cost: $5 million (1953)

Construction

County Stadium was originally built as a home for the Milwaukee Brewers of the minor league American Association, replacing the outdated and deteriorating Borchert Field.

Several locations around the city were considered before the city settled on Story Quarry, on the west side of Milwaukee.

The city of Milwaukee also hoped to use the new facility to attract a Major League Baseball franchise (the city had been considered a potential relocation target for years), and in this respect their efforts was immediately successful. The minor league Brewers would never get a chance to play at the new stadium.

In the Majors - Baseball at County Stadium

Home of the Braves, 1953-1965

Even before it was completed, the new "Milwaukee County Municipal Stadium" drew the interest of major league clubs. The St. Louis Browns, who had played in Milwaukee in 1901, the inaugural season of the American League, applied for permission to relocate back to the city they had left half a century before. The Boston Braves, the parent club of the Brewers, blocked the proposed move.^* The Braves had long been struggling at the gate in Boston, and rumors of them relocating had been floating for some time. The move to keep Milwaukee available as a new home indicated to many observers that the Braves would move to Milwaukee themselves.

Three weeks before the beginning of the 1953 season, and right before the new stadium was ready to open, the Braves made it official, and applied for permission to relocate. The other National League owners agreed, and the Milwaukee Braves were born. The Braves' first home game, on April 6, 1953 was an exhibition contest against the Boston Red Sox. In their first season in Milwaukee, the Braves set the National League attendance record of 1.8 Million. The stadium continued to be the National Leagues top draw until the Los Angeles Dodgers overtook the Braves in 1959 (both in the stands and on the field). In the early 1960s attendance fell along with the Braves standings and an unstable ownership situation.

The Milwaukee Braves used the stadium until 1966, when the franchise moved to Atlanta.

The Milwaukee White Sox?

In an effort to return Major League Baseball to Milwaukee after the Departure of the Braves, local businessman and minority Braves owner Bud Selig brought other teams to play at County Stadium, beginning with a 1967 exhibition game between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. The exhibition game attracted more than 51,000 spectators, so Selig's group contracted with Sox owner Arthur Allyn to host nine Chicago White Sox home games at County Stadium in 1968.

Selig's experiment was staggeringly successful - those nine games drew 264,297 fans. In Chicago that season, the Sox drew 539,478 fans to their remaining 58 home games. In just a handful of games, the Milwaukee crowds accounted for nearly one-third of the total attendance at White Sox games. In light of this success, Selig and Allyn agreed that County Stadium would host Sox home games again the next season.

In 1969, the Sox schedule in Milwaukee was expanded to include 11 home games (one against every other franchise in the American League at the time). Although those games were attended by slightly fewer fans (198,211 fans, for an average of 18,019) they represented a greater percentage of the total White Sox attendance than the previous year - over one-third of the fans who went to Sox home games in 1969 did so at County Stadium (in the remaining 59 home dates in Chicago, the Sox drew 391,335 for an average of 6,632 per game).

Selig was unable to gain a major league franchise for Milwaukee through expansion, so he purchased the Pale Hose from Allyn with the intention of moving them north to County Stadium. The American League vetoed the sale, so Selig bought the struggling Seattle Pilots instead. In the spring of 1970 Milwaukee had baseball again, and County Stadium had a new tenant.

Finally, the Brewers

The new Milwaukee Brewers, named for the American Association club for which County Stadium was originally built over twenty years earlier, called it home from 1970 to 2000.

The final season at County Stadium was originally going to be the 1998 season, but financial problems in funding for Miller Park, the new stadium, prevented the move from happening early. Therefore, the last season was postponed to 1999. That June three construction workers at the Miller Park site were killed in a crane collapse and a good part of the construction site was also damaged as a result. Cleanup and an investigation delayed the closing of County Stadium to the 2000 season.

County Stadium was demolished on February 21, 2001, and replaced with Miller Park. Although most of the stadium site is now covered with parking for Miller Park, the area where the Braves and Brewers played is still used for baseball. The site of the old field was preserved for Little League, and is now called Helfaer Field.

Other Uses

Due to the large seating capacity, County Stadium was home to more than just baseball. In July of 1953, the new stadium hosted the Ice Capades for nine consecutive nights.

Football

The National Football League's Green Bay Packers played two or three home games per year at County Stadium from 1953-1994.

Marquette University's football team also played some home games at County Stadium.

County Stadium's configuration as a baseball park caused some minor issues as a football venue. The playing surface was just barely large enough to contain a football field, with both end zones spilling over onto the warning track. The football field itself ran parallel with the first base line, and there was not enough room on that side of the playing surface to accomdate a team. Both teams had to occupy the same sideline.

Concert Venue

County Stadium was also a popular home for concerts throughout its history. Bob Hope performed for fans during a Braves doubleheader in 1960.

County Stadium also hosted the Kool Jazz Festival every year from 1976 through 1980.

In 1975, the Rolling Stones played a concert with the Eagles and Rufus. Following the concert, the Brewers complained that the bands destroyed the field.

Also in 1975, Pink Floyd performed at County Stadium. An urban legend has sprung up around this show - according to legend, the dark and brooding skies parted and revealed a brilliant moon just as the band was launching into the line "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon." Pink Floyd returned to County Stadium in 1977, drawing an estimated 60,000.

1981 saw the World Series of Rock make an appearance, starring REO Speedwagon.

Paul McCartney played to sellout crowds in 1993, as did Billy Joel and Elton John during their "Piano Men" tour in 1994.

Other musical stars to perform at County Stadium included Simon and Garfunkel, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, Nancy Wilson, the Staple Singers, Archie Bell and the Drells, Frankie Avalon, the Hollywood Argyles, Johnny and the Hurricanes, James Brown, the Famous Flames, Lobo, Bread, Andy Kim, Gary Puckett, Rare Earth and the Honeycombs.

Religious Services

Billy Graham held services at County Stadium in 1979. The Jehovah's Witnesses held an annual event there during the 1960s and 1970s, drawing as many as 57,000 people.

Movie Location

The movie Major League was shot at County Stadium during the summer of 1988. Even though the movie was about the Cleveland Indians, they did use Milwaukee Brewers radio announcer Bob Uecker in the movie, with signage for local channels WTMJ (Channel 4) and WCGV (Channel 24) not covered up and visible in the film. Announcements were made on local television news programs about the number of extras required for the day's shooting, and capacity crowds turned out for the shooting of the final scenes, which involved the Indians in the final games of a pennant race.

Unique Features

There was a chalet and giant beer mug, originally at right-center field and later at left, where mascot Bernie Brewer would "dunk" himself whenever a Brewers player hit a home run. County Stadium also gave rise to the Sausage Race, during which several anthropomorphized sausages participate in a fictional race to home plate between the sixth and seventh innings. Whoever finished first was the "wiener" and whoever finished last was the "wurst".

Notable Games

County Stadium has hosted two Baseball All-Star Games, in 1955, when the National League Braves played host (and won 6-5 in 12 Innings), and in 1975, when the then American League Brewers played host, and lost, 6-3. It also hosted the World Series in 1957, 1958 and 1982, as well as a league playoff in 1959 and a Packers playoff game in 1967.

Capacity

When it opened in 1953 it had 28,111 permanent seats and could hold up to 36,011 people. After an expansion one year later the seating capacity was increased to 43,394. Subsequent expansions raised the capacity to 53,192 in 1975 until the final game was played on September 28, 2000.

Dimensions

Final

Left Field - 315 ft
Shallow L.C. - 362 ft
True L.C. - 382 ft (unposted)
Deep L.C. - 392 ft
Center Field - 402 ft
Deep R.C. - 392 ft
True R.C. - 382 ft (unposted)
Shallow R.C. - 362 ft
Right Field - 315 ft

Destruction

A few weeks after the final game on September 28, 2000, demolition began on Milwaukee County Stadium. Newly built Miller Park now overshadowed the smaller stadium, and the cost to keep it up was too high. County Stadium was demolished, and in its place, a little league field, Helfaer Field, was built.

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