Borchert Field

Borchert Field was a

The playing field's approximate elevation was 690 feet (210 m) above sea level.

Baseball

Originally known as Athletic Park, the park opened for baseball in May, 1888.^[7] During winter, it was flooded and served as an ice hockey rink. The ballfield replaced the Wright Street Grounds. (Podoll, p. 46)

The ballpark operated as the home of the

The ballfield was also sublet to the

Athletic Park / Brewer Field was officially renamed Borchert Field at the start of the 1928 season in honor of previous owner Otto Borchert,[2]^[10] who had died the previous year at a baseball dinner that was being broadcast live on the radio (Podoll, p. 218). During the 1920s, the ballpark had been unofficially dubbed "Borchert's Orchard" by the media (Podoll, p. 189).

Borchert Field was also home to the

The left and right field corners were so steep and close to the field that the only observers who could see the entire field were the players themselves, and the fans in the center field bleachers. After Lou Perini bought the Brewers, he had home plate and the infield moved about 20 feet (6.1 m) toward center field.^[12] This allowed for placing bullpens in the left and right field corners, each team's pen on the opposite side of the field from their dugout so the coaching staff could watch them. It also had the effect of allowing fans to see more fair territory than they could previously.

Bill Veeck

One of the more colorful times for the stadium occurred during the early 1940s when Bill Veeck owned the team. The "PT Barnum of Baseball" brought an element of whimsy and marketing to the park, including fan giveaways of livestock, butter and vegetables, and staging morning games for third-shift wartime workers. According to his own autobiography, Veeck – As in Wreck, he claimed to have installed a screen to make the right field target a little more difficult for left-handed pull hitters of the opposing team. The screen was on wheels, so any given day it might be in place or not, depending on the batting strength of the opposing team.

There was no rule against that activity as such, so he got away with it, until one day when he took it to an extreme, rolling it out when the opponents batted, and reeling it back when the Brewers batted. Veeck reported that the league passed a rule against it the very next day. It has been speculated that the story was made up by Veeck; research by two members of the Society for American Baseball Research revealed no evidence of either a movable fence or any gear (pulleys, etc.) required for it to work.^[13] As early as 1944, newspapers were reporting on the story of the screens, though specifics have been elusive.

In that same book Veeck wrote: "Borchert Field, an architectural monstrosity, was so constructed that the fans on the first-base side of the grandstand couldn't see the right fielder, which seemed perfectly fair in that the fans on the third-base side couldn't see the left fielder. 'Listen,' I told them. 'This way you'll have to come back twice to see the whole team.'" Veeck's comments referred to the exceptionally high corners, which could theoretically hide the closest outfielder from a given spectator's view at times.

Football

The Milwaukee Badgers were in the National Football League (NFL) from 1922 to 1926, and played their home games at Borchert Field.^[14]

Borchert also hosted the first Green Bay Packers game held in Milwaukee,^[15] a 10–7 loss to the New York Giants on October 1, 1933.^[16][17] The Packers played games in Milwaukee at State Fair Park (1934–1951), Marquette Stadium (1952), and County Stadium (1953–1994).^[17][18]

Later years

The ballpark suffered weather damage on June 15, 1944. During a game with Columbus, a windstorm pulled off the roof on the right side of the stands, sending debris flying and damaging some houses on 7th Street. The game was immediately stopped, ending in a tie. There were some serious injuries reported, but no known fatalities. That portion of the stands remained uncovered for the remaining years of the park's existence.

The final game at the ballpark came on September 21, 1952, a Brewers loss to the Kansas City Blues in the American Association playoffs.

Borchert Field was too small to accommodate

After the stands were demolished, the field remained for some ten years as a recreational area. Later, the former site of the ballpark (and the entire block) became fully occupied by Interstate 43, Milwaukee's major north-south freeway, just north of exit 74 (Locust Street). Many of the houses on 7th and 8th streets facing the park still exist, now facing the highway, for which 7th and 8th are effectively frontage roads.

Dimensions

In 1947 home plate was moved approximately twenty feet north, farther away from the backstop and reducing the distance to center field.^[12]

Sources

• The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, by Brian A. Podoll, McFarland, 2003.
• Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson, McFarland, 1989.
• Green Cathedrals by Phillip Lowry, Walker Books and
  SABR
  , 2006.
• The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball, by Dennis Pajot, McFarland, 2009.

See also

• List of baseball parks in Milwaukee

References