Miller Park great, unfulfilling at same time
From its contentious battle over financing to the tragic construction accident to its squeaky roof, Miller Park has been the House that Controversy Built.
To some people it stands as a monument to political power plays, as the state Legislature finagled $310 million in public funding to make the stadium happen.
Others grumble that it wasn't built downtown, triggering urban redevelopment like new parks have done in Baltimore, Denver, San Francisco and numerous other cities.
But if attendance figures can be taken as an informal referendum, baseball fans around Milwaukee and Wisconsin have embraced Miller Park as their summer home. Or at least come to accept it as the price that must be paid to fund a successful franchise these days.
Last week's column discussed the relative merits of ballparks around the country. I ranked San Francisco's AT&T Park as my favorite, followed by Pittsburgh's PNC Park. Miller Park made my top five among the 19 current parks I've attended, but it's admittedly a borderline call.
On the other hand, my local ballpark expert, Bill Kessler of Madison, has little use for Miller Park, ranking it among the bottom five among new parks (built in the last 20 years) after attending all 30 parks currently in use.
Nationally, Miller Park's reviews can be classified as "fair." Five years ago, ESPN.com's Page 2 visited all 30 parks and ranked them based on scores in 20 categories. Miller Park ranked 18th, tied with Houston's Minute Maid Park. When the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis opened in 2006, ESPN.com elevated the Cardinals' home from 20th to ninth, knocking Miller Park down a peg.
My co-worker and fellow ballpark aficionado, Jason McMahon, has visited 39 big-league ballparks, including all that are in use today except the new Nationals Stadium in Washington, D.C. He also slots Miller Park in 19th place overall. (Although only a copy editor would hold against a stadium the fact that Juan Nieves' name was misspelled in some long-ago removed attraction.)
While I may like Miller Park more than some people, I do share many of their misgivings. Having attended hundreds of games as a partial season ticket holder since its opening in 2001, I have a bad case of mixed feelings about the place. Kind of like the old Miller Lite "Tastes Great, Less Filling" debate.
Tastes Great: The roof. Miller Park's signature feature, the giant clam shell retractable roof added about $50 million to the stadium's $400 million cost. In my book it's worth every million it cost. With climate change yet to reach Milwaukee -- at least in April and May -- the roof makes spring baseball tolerable. No more shivering, no more rain delays. For a market that needs to draw from a wide area, the roof guarantees that a trip to Milwaukee will not be wasted by bad weather.
Less Filling: The roof. There's a considerable tradeoff in designing a stadium to support that 12,000-ton roof. The biggest side effect is that even when the roof is open, it feels half-closed. There's a cloistered feeling, with stark shadows, and the outfield support structure blocks much of the view of the outside world. Of course, there really isn't much to see outside the park, so that's no great loss.
Tastes Great: The location. The fact that there's nothing noteworthy around the park is what allows for its most noteworthy tradition -- tailgating. A 55-year tradition since County Stadium opened, tailgating is synonymous with Milwaukee baseball. In the lean years it provided the main motivation for many to even bother going to a game. In these heady days of sold-out games, the jammed parking lots turn every game into a festival. It's almost like an 81-game Packer season. While it all seems like too much work for me, I still love the walk from our usual parking spot up on Wisconsin Avenue, watching the festivities from a safe distance.
Less Filling: The location. San Francisco has McCovey Cove. Pittsburgh has the skyline and the yellow Roberto Clemente Bridge. Wrigley Field offers views of sailboats on Lake Michigan beyond the rooftop bleachers. Miller Park has a partially obscured view of freeways and the Masterson Co. warehouse. Not particularly inspiring.
While it's time for the downtown stadium advocates to get over the stadium's location, it would be easier to justify the use of public money for Miller Park if it had been part of a larger development. Someday, there may be a boulevard of restaurants, bars and hotels in the adjacent Menomonee Valley, transforming the entire area into an attractive destination. But by then they'll probably be building the successor to Miller Park.
Beyond that, my gripes with Miller Park are mostly small quibbles.
Less Filling: The scoreboard and video screen, while light years advanced from the prehistoric County Stadium scoreboard, is largely wasted on silly stuff designed to entertain fringe fans and slip in some commercials. That's fine, but it would be nice if time could be found to show highlights from around the league for those who actually care about how the Cubs and Cardinals are doing. The out-of-town scoreboard has been greatly improved, but still falls short of the boards in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, among others.
Tastes Great: Can't beat a brat at the ballpark, unless it's an Italian sausage. (Minor quibble No. 1, the buns seem to be getting wimpier; No. 2, dice the onions.)
Another Tastes Great: The luxury boxes -- the real reason why every team needed a new stadium -- are unobtrusively tucked into the first and third levels. That's in contrast to some stadiums (most notably Cleveland) where the luxury boxes dominate. And while prices have been creeping up over the years, it's still possible to get a decent seat at a moderate price. For instance, our seats in section 217 in front of the press box cost $36 (before season ticket discount). A comparable seat at San Francisco costs $68. That's why we sat in the upper deck there.
dpunzel@madison.com
Michelle Stocker/The Capital Times
The clam shell-style retractable roof is Miller Park's distinguishing characteristic, and its most-often criticized feature.
