All photos of American Family Field available on Flickr.
After 1 year, 9 months, and 4 days (but who's counting) since attending my last baseball game in person, I finally made it to American Family Field this past Sunday! I was offered a free 10th row seat from a friend with very short notice, and after my wife happily and jealously gave me the thumbs up, I jumped at the opportunity. This was amazingly my first Brewer game since we moved within walking distance of the ballpark in September 2019, so it was the first time I got to test a new "secret route" to the ballpark. There is a large cemetery that separates our house from the ballpark which would require going about a half-mile out of the way to walk around it, but I found on Google Maps what looked like only a moderately nefarious route under some power lines and through the cemetery that was more of a beeline walk. After "negotiating" a few fences and gates, it was only a 20 minute walk to the front door, thankfully a lot of which was under shade on the 90+ degree day. The walk made me think of all the times that Erik and I pioneered our "secret route" many years ago, from 56th & Walker to the ballpark through the VA hospital grounds, which is now part of the Hank Aaron Trail, and it made me especially miss my fellow baseball-loving friend.
As for other changes throughout the ballpark, we got there right at first pitch, and it was very hot, so I did not move much from our seat and see a lot of the stadium. From what I did see, most of the major change has occurred in left field. The Brewers added yet another private group area in the outfield, much to my dismay. They took out two of the few public bleacher sections to add the Miller Lite Deck above the Brewers bullpen. I've said this on this blog many times before, but lack of bleachers close to the field and lack of public social space have always been and will forever be my (and Erik's) main beefs with AmFam Field, and the addition of this party deck made both of those even worse. But, I do understand that as a team with their limited financial resources, that they have to squeeze as much money out of attendance as they can, and those party decks are cash cows. Bernie's Chalet got an update and a fresh coat of paint on the slide, and going to the playoffs each of the last 3 years finally necessitated moving the pennants to somewhere with more space (they are now below the press boxes). Lastly, TGIFriday's has finally moved out of the left field restaurant after being the original tenant since the park opened in 2001. It is now called "Restaurant to be Named Later." Don't let the stupid name or the complete lack of aesthetic updating on the inside fool you - I went there for lunch with Megan a few weeks ago and it is 10x better than Friday's ever was.
The old saying in baseball is "as the weather heats up, so do the bats," and that could not be more true for the Brewers right now. Backed by two homeruns and Corbin Burnes' most impressive start of the season - 13 Ks, no runs, and no walks over 7 innings - the Brewers completed the 4-game sweep of the lowly Diamondbacks. It completed a 5-1 homestand and puts them at 13-3 in their last 16 games since trading for Willy Adames on May 21st, propelling them to 1st place in the NL Central as of this post. Pitching continues to carry this team as you could make a strong case that 3/5ths of our rotation deserves both all-star bids and Cy Young votes right now (Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta), not to mention the perennially dominant Josh Hader. We're also well past the point of "small sample size" and will likely have to live with the fact that we are not going to hit much better than the .211 team average we currently have, barring any major trades or Keston Hiura becoming Ted Williams incarnate. I can't remember a Brewers team since I've been an active fan where we have been such a pitching-heavy and hitting-weak team like we've had the past couple of years, and I think that partially speaks to some shady things happening (or supposedly happening) with doctored baseballs - but that's a story for another time.
It felt so good to finally a notch a game under my belt and it really invigorated me for the rest of the season.
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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