Miller Park, Milwaukee WI

cam · Post by **cam** » Fri May 04, 2007 6:54 pm

Just back from the USA today, spent about 2 weeks in Milwaukee and made sure I went down to the local Baseball stadium - Miller Park. A very impressive stadium, holds 42,000, has a very unique retractable roof and other unique features. Opened in mid-2001 with a retro-look.

I went their on 2 occassions, the first was on a Sunday where we went to get dinner at TGI Friday's which is located within the stadium and overlooks the field. Here's Miller Park from the outside:

Also, what you can see in the inset in the above photo is where the original stadium once stood. It has been converted into a mini field. The home base marks the exact spot.

This is taken from TGI's and shows behind the home base and the centre-point of the huge roof.

The following night I went to my first Baseball game. The Milwaukee Brewers (currently on top of the ladder) versus St Louis. Here's a photo pre-game which shows the huge roof. It's made up of 7 sections, 5 of which slide in to cover the field.

Picture of the field. Love the LCD advertising on the right-side. Crowd wasn't huge, a bit over 20,000. And see the left-side in the middle, these pannel's open up to let air into the stadium.

The fence on the left-field contains a large LCD screen which dispays scores from other games amongst other things. Above this is TGI Friday's, and all the rowdy fans seem to sit in the seats above. The glassed-in area above that is the '300 Club'.

Fireworks signalling another Brewers win!

Was actually quite an entertaining night. Plenty of beers, music and promotions between the innings, etc..

For those who don't know, Miller is a major beer in the USA and is brewed just across the freeway from the stadium, also hence the name of the team. Find out more about the stadium here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Park

britishspud · Post by **britishspud** » Fri May 04, 2007 7:13 pm

is that a yellow slide over in left field?????

cam · Post by **cam** » Fri May 04, 2007 7:18 pm

Yes it certainly is!! Yet another unique feature of this stadium. Everytime the Brewers hit a home run, as well as fireworks, a mascot slides down the slide then waves a flag and acts like a tool.

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Sat May 05, 2007 1:01 am

So are you a Milwaukee fan in the baseball now?

Nice photos, looks like a top baseball facility.

Choppies · Post by **Choppies** » Sat May 05, 2007 1:16 am

Very nice stadium I must say.
Im also recently back from the States about a month back and spent 24 hours in Milwaukee and it is a place I would love to visit again.
Has that little town in a city feel to it.

hot_dogma · Post by **hot_dogma** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:18 pm

Do they close the TGI Friday's when a game is in progress or does it remain open and they put a surcharge on meals?

IanRitchie · Post by **IanRitchie** » Sat May 05, 2007 1:41 pm

Great photos

Was it raining or do they always close the roof during games?

cam · Post by **cam** » Sun May 06, 2007 12:51 pm

The TGI's remains open. There's no surcharge, they just have a 45 minute time limit to eat your food and f*** off! There was the possibility of rain that night, although it didn't start coming down until after the game when a huge thunderstorm hit. If it's a nice day with no possibility of rain or being too cold, they leave it open. When it's shut, they can increase the indoor temperature by 30.

Yes Milwaukee is a very nice town. Very strange.. there are highrises (not massive, but still big), but only 900,000 live there. You can walk through downtown and it's like a ghost town at times. Apparantly it comes to life during summer though.

IanRitchie · Post by **IanRitchie** » Sun May 06, 2007 1:01 pm

It feels like there is so much wasted space in there, but thats really the nature of the beast with baseball grounds that need four walls to hold the roof up where it isn't necessary to have stands all around

HoldenV8 · Post by **HoldenV8** » Sun May 06, 2007 11:16 pm

The thing with Milwaukee is that it really did need a stadium with a roof even though baseball is a summer sport in the USA. Milwaukee's climate is fickle meaning that having the sliding roof like it does, Miller Park will hardly ever, if ever, have a rained out game.

A technical marvel and damn it Cam, you're one lucky bastard

Still, She's nothing on Dodger Stadium

Jeffles · Post by **Jeffles** » Mon May 07, 2007 10:10 am

Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting there in the late 16th century. I think one of the most interesting things about Milwaukee is that it's the only American city to elect three Socialist mayors.

cam wrote:Yes Milwaukee is a very nice town. Very strange.. there are highrises (not massive, but still big), but only 900,000 live there. You can walk through downtown and it's like a ghost town at times. Apparantly it comes to life during summer though.

Sounds like Adelaide - yet you seemed to like Milwaukee.

Timbo · Post by **Timbo** » Tue May 08, 2007 6:11 pm

When you consider they play 100 odd games per season, it's remarkable that they can sustain 42,000 seater stadiums, let alone average over 20k!

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Tue May 08, 2007 11:45 pm

Timbo wrote:When you consider they play 100 odd games per season, it's remarkable that they can sustain 42,000 seater stadiums, let alone average over 20k!

Equally remarkable is the price of tickets at that venue