Throw Back Thursday: Milwaukee County Stadium

While the Chicago Cubs have always played at Wrigley Field, such is not the case for the Brewers. Most people who come to Reviewing the Brew are old enough that they probably attended a game or two at old Milwaukee County Stadium, home field of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1970 until its final season in 2000.

Milwaukee County Stadium was originally built for the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers to replace their outdated and crumbling Borchert Field. The city of Milwaukee also hoped that the building of Milwaukee County Stadium would draw the interest of a big league team. The St. Louis Browns wanted to relocate to Milwaukee by that move was blocked by the Boston Braves (who the Minor League Brewers were affiliated with). In the end, the Boston Braves relocated to Milwaukee thus becoming the Milwaukee Braves playing their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium from 1653-1965 before they’d move to Atlanta seek a larger market.

There wouldn’t be any serious baseball at Milwaukee County Stadium until the return of the Brewers in 1970, although the Chicago White Sox played 11 games there from ’68-’69. Bud Selig bringing the Seattle Pilots out of bankruptcy brought MLB baseball back to Milwaukee and it would be the home of the Brewers until Miller Park in 2000.

Baseball wasn’t the only thing that happened at Milwaukee County Stadium, from ’53-’94 the Packers played anywhere from two-four home games each year at Milwaukee County Stadium with rival Minnesota Vikings being the most frequent team they played (a total of 15 times). As well playoff football found itself at Milwaukee County Stadium when the Packers won the ’67 Western Conference Championship beating the L.A. Rams 28-7. The UW-Milwaukee football team also played their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium from ’68-’71.

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Most notably Milwaukee County Stadium was used to film the movie Major League, where Bob Uecker played the sports announcer role, in a movie that has become a baseball cult classic. Other uses of Milwaukee County Stadium include being used as a concert venue, religious services, used as a location for the television series Coach, and there were even professional wrestling events held there.