Milwaukee, Wisconsin : The city where a moving story happened
- Makio Mukai
- Jun 27
- 4 min read
Wisconsin is a state in the Midwestern United States. It is famous for its large German population and for its beer production. The largest city is Milwaukee.
The name Milwaukee used to be quite well known in Japan because when I was a boy (I'm 78 now, so it was a long time ago!), a beer company often played a song on TV commercials that repeated the phrase "München, Sapporo, Milwaukee," listing the three areas where beer is produced. This song is rarely heard these days, so Milwaukee may not be well known among young people in Japan.
The home stadium of the Milwaukee Brewers, a major league baseball team based in Milwaukee, was County Stadium for over 30 years, but moved to a newly constructed stadium in 2001. The stadium has a retractable roof, Miller Park (the name of which has changed to American Family Field in 2021).
I make it a rule to visit any major league baseball stadium at least once, so I thought I should go to Miller Park someday. I didn't have a chance to go there for a while, but finally I was able to go in the summer of 2009.
Miller Park was a very impressive stadium. Around the stadium, there were bronze statues of men who played for the Milwaukee Brewers and left their mark on the history of major league baseball. Robin Yount, who played for the Milwaukee Brewers for 20 years, retired in 1993, and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Hank Aaron, a great player with 755 home runs in his career, played for the Braves, who were based in Milwaukee, and played for Atlanta after the Braves moved to Atlanta, Georgia, but returned to Milwaukee for his final two years as a player and was a member of the Milwaukee Brewers.
By the way, Milwaukee is very passionate about baseball. The residents love baseball and are passionate about supporting their local team. So they waited for a major league team to come to their hometown, but it didn't happen for a while. Finally, in 1953, a major league team came. The Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee and became the Milwaukee Braves. Their home stadium was the brand new County Stadium. However, in 1965, the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and became the Atlanta Braves. Once again, Milwaukee was left without a major league team. Five years later, in 1970, the Milwaukee Brewers, which still exists today, were born. Their home stadium was once again County Stadium.
In 2001, with the completion and opening of Miller Park, the new home stadium of the Milwaukee Brewers, the nearby County Stadium was demolished. Most of the stadium site is now the parking lot for Miller Park, but the site of the former infield is now converted into Helfaer Field for Little League baseball.
I gazed upon Helfaer Field, the site of County Stadium, with emotion, because it was the place where Milwaukee baseball fans once performed a wonderful "deed." I learned about this "deed" because it was introduced in the masterpiece novel, "Shoeless Joe" by W.P. Kinsella. It is the original novel on which the American film "Field of Dreams" was based, but this "deed" is not mentioned at all in the film. It is not that I criticize the film or feel disappointed about it for that. The novel contains several episodes that have nothing to do with the story development, and the introduction of this "deed" is one of them, and it would be difficult to incorporate into a film, so it was only natural that it would be omitted.
So let me introduce this "deed" by quoting it from the novel.
“ I am reminded of the story about the baseball fans of Milwaukee, and what they did on a warm fall afternoon, the day after it was announced that Milwaukee was to have a major-league team the next season. According to the story, 10,000 people went to County Stadium that afternoon and sat in the seats and smiled out at the empty playing field ― sat in silence, in awe, in wonder, in anticipation, in joy ― just knowing that soon the field would come alive with the chatter of infielders, bright as bird chirps.”
It's a wonderful and moving story. And it's also a touching story that the site of this story is being turned into a Little League baseball field for children.
I gazed at Helfaer Field, the site of County Stadium, for a while before taking a photo. I thought I would ask a passerby to take a photo of me standing in front of Helfaer Field. But no one came. After about 30 minutes, one person finally showed up. It was a middle-aged, white woman. When I asked her to take a photo, she gladly accepted.
After taking the photo, the white woman asked me,
"Are you Japanese?"
"Yes, I am. I'm on a road trip in the United States, and I'm very interested in Major League Baseball, so I came here."
"Did you come all the way here just to see this field?"
I briefly explained the reason for my visit to the site of County Stadium. The white woman stared at me and said,
"That's a really amazing story. I'm embarrassed that I, a local resident, didn't know about it. Are you going to visit other places related to MLB?"
"Yes, I plan to."
"I'm sure you'll visit some amazing places like this. Enjoy your road trip!"
I muttered to myself, "I wonder if there are any other places as moving and wonderful as this one. Even if there are, they'd be extremely rare."
( If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)