8/7/2021
American Family Field
First game since pre pandemic, and it is a stadium that has been in my list for a while. I’ve been to Milwaukee three times previous but haven’t had the chance to knock out the Brew Crew, so now I’m set for the state. I’m out here for age group nationals in triathlon, which is kind of funny because this is how the bucket list started roughly 14 years ago in Kansas City.
So far the weekend has went well. Got my hotel Friday, picked up my bike and went through registration, so I had all of Saturday to get acquainted. Did a short ride in the morning to the stadium and back heading through Marquette University (had to because of Tommy Boy). Then got a ticket for the Van Gogh Experience which was well worth it, then ended the night at the baseball game.
Even though the stadium is only 4 miles from downtown, there is no easy way to get there. I thought about an Uber but it’s $30 each way. I asked the front desk of other options and found out a bunch of the local bars offer a shuttle there and back if you get a drink. So for $4 and a Miller Lite, I was off to the game.
I got to American Family Field, former known as Miller’s field, about 45 minutes prior to first pitch. This allowed me to take pictures of the few statues in front including Bob Uecker and Hank Aaron. Inside I eventually found the Milwaukee Hall of Fame which had some cool items from the early Braves as well as the All American Girl Baseball league (think about the movie A League of Their Own) Milwaukee Chicks. Hit up the Bud Selig experience (short movie on how the Braves moved to Atlanta and when Selig fought for the Seattle Pilots to come to MIL and the new stadium). The kids areas included sprints for time, fastest pitch, and a batting cage. Then of course I had to find the best seat in the house statue of Bob Uecker and take a pic. After venturing around the field taking shots of the mascot slide, retired numbers, and American League penents, I headed to my seat.
Located near right field I had a good seat. Because I was able to buy a reprint of my ticket at the ticket office I didn’t talk much to the people around me (trying to locate one for my collection), which was fine with me because I was tired. I stayed until the middle of the 7th and decided to call it quits. At that time they were tied 2-2, and it seemed as if there would be at least another 1.5-2 hours left. I was really hoping the Brewers would be up by a lot (mainly because I hate the Giants) but it seemed like a combo of pitching duals and the extremely heavy air and humidity knocked down at least 4 potential HR balls.
So knowing the bar shuttle started in the middle of the seventh I made my way to the exit to find a torrential downpour with massive thunder and lightning. That didn’t bode well for me getting to the parking lot without getting soaked and I knew the transition area for the triathlon would be a muddy bog. By the time I got back to the hotel (grabbing some late
night food) the game was still in the 8th and finally ended with a 9-6 win for the bad guys. Overall it was a successful day and I needed to get to bed to hopefully catch some z’s.
night food) the game was still in the 8th and finally ended with a 9-6 win for the bad guys. Overall it was a successful day and I needed to get to bed to hopefully catch some z’s.
Only got 4 hours of sleep, race went well, 24th in my age group out of 87 and 209 out of 1859 total. I’ll take it. We will see if I come back out again next year. May need to see if I can knock out another game as a driving force. 26 of 30 teams done!
