5. Miller Park
Miller Park opened in 2001, which means that it was practically brand spanking new when I went there as the second stop on the initial ballpark tour in 2004.
To be perfectly honest, I don't recall too much about the game itself. Wayne, tigerlily_blue, Mike and I had drive up from Chicago that morning and met up with my college friend Harold. He'd taken us to the Miller Brewing Tour prior to the game and we were well lubricated when we arrived at the park. I can see from the box score that it was a close game, and I remember Mike booing Scott Rolen (Phillies fans have LONG memories), but that's about all I recall.
The park though, that I remember. Instead of the hot dog race found in most parks, Milwaukee went with many kinds of sausage racing, with a brat, a polish, an Italian and a regular hot dog. In addition to the classic Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch, Milwaukee kicks in a verse of Roll out the Barrel. Bernie Brewer has a large slide in the outfield, although alas he does not dive into a beer mug after home runs as he did in the past.
As nice as all of these things are, the park itself would be a pretty standard mallpark except for one major difference: it has the coolest roof in Major League Baseball. Miller Park has a dome, which comes in handy in Wisconsin early and late in the season. Like every new park with a dome, the roof is retractable, but unlike most retractable roofs which simply slide off one side of the park, this one folds up like a fan. There are also numerous windows, which allow the grass to get enough sunlight even when the dome is closed. The day we were there the roof was closed, but after the game they opened it up with close up video footage of the mechanical bits on the scoreboard. I couldn't find a video of that, but this does give an idea of how the roof works.
How cool is the roof? At one point someone started a Twitter account (now abandoned) in its voice.
In any event, this day was the one and only time I've been in Milwaukee. Miller Park is quite nice, and if I happen to find an excuse to visit the city again I'll surely go again. If it was my hometown park, I'd probably champion it highly; in a lot of ways it is better than the Jake, but not so much better than I'm going to give it the edge after a sole visit.
Park Rankings
RankParkTeamFirst Visit# Visits
1 Wrigley FieldChicago CubsApril 23, 20042
2 Jacobs FieldCleveland IndiansApril 17, 199963
3Miller ParkMilwaukee BrewersApril 24, 20041
4 Cinergy FieldCincinnati RedsAugust 8, 19984
5 The MetrodomeMinnesota TwinsJune 22, 19923
To be perfectly honest, I don't recall too much about the game itself. Wayne, tigerlily_blue, Mike and I had drive up from Chicago that morning and met up with my college friend Harold. He'd taken us to the Miller Brewing Tour prior to the game and we were well lubricated when we arrived at the park. I can see from the box score that it was a close game, and I remember Mike booing Scott Rolen (Phillies fans have LONG memories), but that's about all I recall.
The park though, that I remember. Instead of the hot dog race found in most parks, Milwaukee went with many kinds of sausage racing, with a brat, a polish, an Italian and a regular hot dog. In addition to the classic Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch, Milwaukee kicks in a verse of Roll out the Barrel. Bernie Brewer has a large slide in the outfield, although alas he does not dive into a beer mug after home runs as he did in the past.
As nice as all of these things are, the park itself would be a pretty standard mallpark except for one major difference: it has the coolest roof in Major League Baseball. Miller Park has a dome, which comes in handy in Wisconsin early and late in the season. Like every new park with a dome, the roof is retractable, but unlike most retractable roofs which simply slide off one side of the park, this one folds up like a fan. There are also numerous windows, which allow the grass to get enough sunlight even when the dome is closed. The day we were there the roof was closed, but after the game they opened it up with close up video footage of the mechanical bits on the scoreboard. I couldn't find a video of that, but this does give an idea of how the roof works.
Click to viewHow cool is the roof? At one point someone started a Twitter account (now abandoned) in its voice.
In any event, this day was the one and only time I've been in Milwaukee. Miller Park is quite nice, and if I happen to find an excuse to visit the city again I'll surely go again. If it was my hometown park, I'd probably champion it highly; in a lot of ways it is better than the Jake, but not so much better than I'm going to give it the edge after a sole visit.
Park Rankings
RankParkTeamFirst Visit# Visits
1 Wrigley FieldChicago CubsApril 23, 20042
2 Jacobs FieldCleveland IndiansApril 17, 199963
3Miller ParkMilwaukee BrewersApril 24, 20041
4 Cinergy FieldCincinnati RedsAugust 8, 19984
5 The MetrodomeMinnesota TwinsJune 22, 19923