Impressions of Miller Park
Being only the 2nd city I’ve seen a professional baseball game in, I certainly have to say that my perceptions are not as well educated as many others, but it seemed like a good topic to post on, to compare Miller to Busch.
First off, being the first away game I’ve been to for the Cardinals, it was truly awesome to get a chance to ACTUALLY see them take BP, as opposed to home games, when if you rush in right at the 90 minute mark when the gates open, you might see them walking off the field to let the visitors start BP. Edmonds looked very good during BP, launching about half of the balls he hit past the wall. Ankiel did the same. Pujols sprayed balls around, and I was actually a little amused to see how he starts BP: by bunting the first ball that comes to him. He did this at least two different times that he stepped into the cage.
The real impressive feat of batting practice also was for Pujols. The center field scoreboard is above the wall(obviously) and probably about the same amount of shrubbery as there is grass above the wall. Pujols drilled one BP ball that was probably 75% up the scoreboard, which I would have to guess was probably around a 450 foot home run, if not more.
I almost got two autographs from Cardinals. The Cardinal players who were the friendliest about signing autographs were Yadi Molina and Gary Bennett. Yadi signed about 30 autographs about 5 feet down the rail from me, but I could never get in to get my ball signed. Bennett told a crowd of us he would sign, and did so, but not before I was yelled at(more to come later) by Booker, one of Milwaukee’s “guest relations” people, to back off the railing because this particular walkway was being blocked.
Other random observations: Beer prices seemed about the same. Miller was actually cheaper for their large beer, at $7.25 vs. I believe $8.50 at Busch, but Miller’s large beer was considerably smaller than Busch’s, so I would imagine it’s probably pretty much a break-even situation. Bottles in the stands were $6.25 and were the typical 12 ounce size, although they were, of course, in the plastic bottles that Miller has adopted for sports venues.
They had a lot of the 1982 Brewers team there, signing autographs, and one such table was near where the Cardinals dugout was, which led to my being yelled at unreasonably by Booker. To be brief, basically, the front row was the pathway out for people after getting their autographs from Rollie Fingers and a few other Brewers, and I was able to get down into that row in a way that wasn’t blocking traffic, well before either of the two Cardinals came over to sign. When Yadier came over to sign, everyone crowded around, completely blocking people’s ability to get out of there, and that’s when Booker, the very large Brewers staffer, came over and starting telling us we needed to clear out of that row. At one point, after he said it about 3 times in a short span(and people were voluntarily, although slowly, clearing out), I said, sincerely, that I’d move once I was able to.
Booker’s response: “No, you’ll move now.”
To which I responded something along the lines of “I can’t, there are people all around me. I’m not going to shove someone over.”
For the moment, he seemed satisfied with that until about 15 seconds later, when I was moved over about 4-5 feet and still trying to find an opening among the very slowly moving mass when he yelled “Get moving, Number 5!”(a reference to the Pujols jersey I was wearing).
Eventually, I was able to move, but to say the least, I wasn’t very impressed with the courtesy of Booker. I understand he’s got a job to do, and that’s to get that aisle cleared, but as someone who was trying to be understanding and courteous to him, he didn’t have to be singling me out and yelling at me. To put it best, I’ll quote a bumper sticker that the guy who did maintenance at my old apartment building had on his truck: Booker: “Don’t be a Dick.”
The game itself was great. The seats we had were in section 119, which is nearly behind home plate. Edmonds, Pujols, Eckstein and Rolen, the ones we’ve counted on in years past, all played well. I was a little disappointed we were going to see a Kip Wells pitched game, and moreso after the first inning when all the Crew fans around me were up on their feet for the two home runs, but he really shut them down afterwards.
I do have to say though, with as many deep counts as Kip was going into, it didn’t seem like he was as good as he was beyond that first inning. But I do remember looking up sometime around the 4th or 5th inning and seeing that the Brewers hadn’t gotten a hit since that first inning. Sometimes the eyes can be deceiving.
Another observation that I was a little shocked about is how much that place cleared out late in the game. Being used to seeing games in St. Louis, where there are always a few fans that trickle out, I was thinking it would just be a few, but the seats would be mostly filled still. In our section, a prime section of 119, there were probably only 35% of the people still there by the 9th inning. Attendance for the game was around 37,000, but by the end, I’m guessing it was closer to 10-12,000.
Overall a great time: Suggestions for anyone making a trip to Milwaukee for a game. The Ambassador Inn and Hotel(two hotels, across the street from each other and owned by the same group) have a free shuttle that will take guests anyone in the downtown area, including the Miller Brewery, which we also toured(that’s my other suggestion – three free beers at the end of the tour! It makes paying $7.25 a beer at the park a little more palatable when you’ve already got a light buzz going into the game), and also including Miller Park.
The Park itself is beautiful. It seems much more triangular in the way it’s built compared to what I’m used to, which is of course, the current and the last Busch Stadium. But regardless, it’s a really cool park and other than my man Booker, all the staff and other fans there were very kind.
Late inning highlight: Two kids in the next section over got a nice clap/chant going of: “Bill!” clap clap, clap clap. “Hall!” clap clap, clap clap. They repeated this over and over during the at bat until he laced one into the outfield for a base hit. The two kids, who seemed like probably 14-16 in age, seemed very proud of themselves. I’m the same way, but it’s always amusing when fans take ownership of an athlete’s performance because they(the fan) wore their lucky shirt or found a “lucky spot” on the couch and refused to move until the rally was over, even though they had to pee really bad.
First off, being the first away game I’ve been to for the Cardinals, it was truly awesome to get a chance to ACTUALLY see them take BP, as opposed to home games, when if you rush in right at the 90 minute mark when the gates open, you might see them walking off the field to let the visitors start BP. Edmonds looked very good during BP, launching about half of the balls he hit past the wall. Ankiel did the same. Pujols sprayed balls around, and I was actually a little amused to see how he starts BP: by bunting the first ball that comes to him. He did this at least two different times that he stepped into the cage.
The real impressive feat of batting practice also was for Pujols. The center field scoreboard is above the wall(obviously) and probably about the same amount of shrubbery as there is grass above the wall. Pujols drilled one BP ball that was probably 75% up the scoreboard, which I would have to guess was probably around a 450 foot home run, if not more.
I almost got two autographs from Cardinals. The Cardinal players who were the friendliest about signing autographs were Yadi Molina and Gary Bennett. Yadi signed about 30 autographs about 5 feet down the rail from me, but I could never get in to get my ball signed. Bennett told a crowd of us he would sign, and did so, but not before I was yelled at(more to come later) by Booker, one of Milwaukee’s “guest relations” people, to back off the railing because this particular walkway was being blocked.
Other random observations: Beer prices seemed about the same. Miller was actually cheaper for their large beer, at $7.25 vs. I believe $8.50 at Busch, but Miller’s large beer was considerably smaller than Busch’s, so I would imagine it’s probably pretty much a break-even situation. Bottles in the stands were $6.25 and were the typical 12 ounce size, although they were, of course, in the plastic bottles that Miller has adopted for sports venues.
They had a lot of the 1982 Brewers team there, signing autographs, and one such table was near where the Cardinals dugout was, which led to my being yelled at unreasonably by Booker. To be brief, basically, the front row was the pathway out for people after getting their autographs from Rollie Fingers and a few other Brewers, and I was able to get down into that row in a way that wasn’t blocking traffic, well before either of the two Cardinals came over to sign. When Yadier came over to sign, everyone crowded around, completely blocking people’s ability to get out of there, and that’s when Booker, the very large Brewers staffer, came over and starting telling us we needed to clear out of that row. At one point, after he said it about 3 times in a short span(and people were voluntarily, although slowly, clearing out), I said, sincerely, that I’d move once I was able to.
Booker’s response: “No, you’ll move now.”
To which I responded something along the lines of “I can’t, there are people all around me. I’m not going to shove someone over.”
For the moment, he seemed satisfied with that until about 15 seconds later, when I was moved over about 4-5 feet and still trying to find an opening among the very slowly moving mass when he yelled “Get moving, Number 5!”(a reference to the Pujols jersey I was wearing).
Eventually, I was able to move, but to say the least, I wasn’t very impressed with the courtesy of Booker. I understand he’s got a job to do, and that’s to get that aisle cleared, but as someone who was trying to be understanding and courteous to him, he didn’t have to be singling me out and yelling at me. To put it best, I’ll quote a bumper sticker that the guy who did maintenance at my old apartment building had on his truck: Booker: “Don’t be a Dick.”
The game itself was great. The seats we had were in section 119, which is nearly behind home plate. Edmonds, Pujols, Eckstein and Rolen, the ones we’ve counted on in years past, all played well. I was a little disappointed we were going to see a Kip Wells pitched game, and moreso after the first inning when all the Crew fans around me were up on their feet for the two home runs, but he really shut them down afterwards.
I do have to say though, with as many deep counts as Kip was going into, it didn’t seem like he was as good as he was beyond that first inning. But I do remember looking up sometime around the 4th or 5th inning and seeing that the Brewers hadn’t gotten a hit since that first inning. Sometimes the eyes can be deceiving.
Another observation that I was a little shocked about is how much that place cleared out late in the game. Being used to seeing games in St. Louis, where there are always a few fans that trickle out, I was thinking it would just be a few, but the seats would be mostly filled still. In our section, a prime section of 119, there were probably only 35% of the people still there by the 9th inning. Attendance for the game was around 37,000, but by the end, I’m guessing it was closer to 10-12,000.
Overall a great time: Suggestions for anyone making a trip to Milwaukee for a game. The Ambassador Inn and Hotel(two hotels, across the street from each other and owned by the same group) have a free shuttle that will take guests anyone in the downtown area, including the Miller Brewery, which we also toured(that’s my other suggestion – three free beers at the end of the tour! It makes paying $7.25 a beer at the park a little more palatable when you’ve already got a light buzz going into the game), and also including Miller Park.
The Park itself is beautiful. It seems much more triangular in the way it’s built compared to what I’m used to, which is of course, the current and the last Busch Stadium. But regardless, it’s a really cool park and other than my man Booker, all the staff and other fans there were very kind.
Late inning highlight: Two kids in the next section over got a nice clap/chant going of: “Bill!” clap clap, clap clap. “Hall!” clap clap, clap clap. They repeated this over and over during the at bat until he laced one into the outfield for a base hit. The two kids, who seemed like probably 14-16 in age, seemed very proud of themselves. I’m the same way, but it’s always amusing when fans take ownership of an athlete’s performance because they(the fan) wore their lucky shirt or found a “lucky spot” on the couch and refused to move until the rally was over, even though they had to pee really bad.
Labels: Cardinals, Miller Park, Milwaukee
posted by Matt at 12:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home