All photos of Franklin Field available on Flickr.
A little late getting to this, but my family and I made it back out to Franklin a few weeks ago for this first time "post-pandemic" to catch a Milkmen game at the recently rebranded Franklin Field (formerly Routine Field). This game holds historical significance for me as my son Elliot's first ever baseball game! He mostly slept and ate per usual, but I am looking forward to when he is Molly's age and understands a little bit more what is going on and is into the game (or at least into the hot dogs and ice cream). We had seats about halfway up behind the 3rd base dugout along with my parents for a Saturday night game versus the newly independent Kane County Cougars.From what I could tell, nothing really had changed since our first visit (nor would I expect anything to have changed since it was less than 2 years ago) other than of course the name change. After a legal misunderstanding and naming rights issue, the stadium is now sponsored by the City of Franklin itself. We spent a good amount of time walking around the stadium with the kids and the concessions, beer, and team store were all still as I remembered - lacking in quantity of concessions and number of stands, but a good quality of beer and a great team store and merchandise. So not much to write about on the stadium front unfortunately. Even the team itself did not look drastically different, as to my amazement, Adam Brett Walker is still a Milkman. The outfielder and Milwaukee native is in his 3rd season with the team, and after a couple of solid seasons including an MVP campaign in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, I thought for sure that somebody would have taken a flyer on the 28-year old on a minor league deal. But alas, as of this post he has an OPS of 1.089 with 18 HR and 47 RBI in just 42 games with the Milkmen, meaning he is on pace for a 40-100 season and could chase a Triple Crown. He went 1-4 in the game we were at and has gained 25 points in his batting average since then.
Franklin has an exciting championship-winning team in a fun stadium, in an atmosphere that is certainly more conducive to visiting with a young family than the Brewers, so I definitely anticipate returning here several times a year in the coming years.
See original post from 8/26/19 for rankings - have not changed
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/6/21:
Brewers 51-35, +6.0; 3 @ Mets, 4 v. Reds
Twins 35-48, -13.5; 3 v. White Sox, 4 v. Tigers
2021 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 0
Peter - 5
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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