Borchert Field

Borchert Field

1911 colorized postcard of Athletic Park exterior
Milwaukee Location in the United States Milwaukee Location in Wisconsin
Former names	Athletic Park (1888–1927)
Address	3000 N. 8th Street
Location	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Coordinates	43.074°N 87.9205°W / 43.074; -87.9205
Owner	The Borchert Family
Capacity	13,000 (1952)
Field size	Left Field – 267 ft (81 m) Left-Center – 435 ft (133 m) Center Field – 392 ft (119 m) Right-Center – 435 ft (133 m) Right Field – 268 ft (82 m)
Surface	Natural grass
Construction
Opened	1888 (1888)
Closed	1952 (1952)
Demolished	1953
Tenants
Milwaukee Brewers/Creams (WL) (1888–1894) Milwaukee Brewers (AA) (1891) Milwaukee Brewers (AA) (1902–1952) Milwaukee Badgers (NFL) (1922–1926) Milwaukee Bears (NNL) (1923) Milwaukee Chicks (AAGPL) (1944) Green Bay Packers (NFL) (1933)

Borchert Field, known at various times as Athletic Park and Borchert's Orchard, was a baseball park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The home field for several professional baseball clubs from 1888 through 1952, it also hosted two football teams: the Milwaukee Badgers from 1922 to 1926 and the Green Bay Packers in 1933. The stadium became obsolete after the construction of County Stadium in 1953 and was demolished later that year. After serving as a recreational area for a decade, Interstate 43 was built on top of it.

The park was built on a rectangular block bounded by North 7th, North 8th, West Chambers, and West Burleigh Streets. Home plate was at the south end (Chambers), with the outfield bounded by the outer fence, making fair territory home-plate-shaped, with short fields in left and right and very deep power alleys, a configuration used by a number of ballparks of the era that were constrained by a narrow block.

Construction

Maps from 1894 (top) and 1910 (bottom) showing the configuration of Borchert Park within the city of Milwaukee. Note the addition of stands in the outfield and the changes to the grandstand, as well as the new homes constructed in the vicinity.

Borchert Park, known when it opened as Athletic Park, was constructed in 1888 at a cost of $40,000. The site was located in a residential area, situated on a rectangular block bounded by four streets. The shape of the property created unique conditions in the outfield: the fences in field and right field were located only 266 feet from home plate, while dead center was 395 feet. However, the fences in left-center and right-center were 435 feet from home plate, creating deep "power alleys". The park was dedicated on May 19, 1888, with a game between clubs from Milwaukee and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The ballfield replaced the Wright Street Grounds.(Podoll, p. 46) Although designed as a baseball stadium, the park was also used as an ice hockey rink,, as well as hosting rodeos, wrestling, and civic assemblies.

Baseball

The ballpark operated as the home of the Milwaukee Creams of the Western League, later renamed the Brewers. The Creams/Brewers played there through the 1894 season. The ballfield was also sublet to the Milwaukee Brewers club of the major league American Association for the latter part of the 1891 season, replacing the disbanded Cincinnati Kelly's Killers. After the major league American Association merged into the National League in 1892, the Milwaukee franchise was discontinued.

An independent minor league named the American Association formed in 1902, including a new Milwaukee Brewers club. Meanwhile, another new minor league club, the Creams, began play in a new version of the Western League. The Creams retained the lease on the Lloyd Street property, so the Brewers re-opened their 1887–1894 ballpark, initially calling it Brewer Field, although the name Athletic Park endured until around 1920. Otto Borchert, son of Milwaukee brewing pioneer Frederick Borchert, purchased the field in 1920. The park thereafter became known as Borchert Field. Its original seating capacity was 4,800 (Pajot; 2009), but was later expanded to 10,000.

Because Milwaukee was too small to support two ballclubs, the Western League entry folded after 1903. The AA Brewers played for 51 seasons before being displaced by the major league Milwaukee Braves.

Athletic Park / Brewer Field was officially renamed Borchert Field at the start of the 1928 season in honor of previous owner Otto Borchert, 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).

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.

Lights and other obstructions

Experimental night games had been staged at Borchert from time to time, using portable lighting. The trend, especially in the minor leagues, was toward night games. Permanent lights were installed at Borchert in 1935, with the first Brewers night game being held on June 6. All of the light standards were mounted on the playing field, including a set of double poles near each corner, limiting the view of the field from some box seats.

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. 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. 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.

Other teams

Borchert Field was also home to the Milwaukee Bears of the Negro National League in 1923. After a 12–41 record in league play during its inaugural season, the team disbanded. Although based out of Borchert, they ended up playing only nine games there, with most of their games being on the road. Borchert hosted Games 3 and 4 of the 1937 Negro American League Championship Series, which matched the Kansas City Monarchs against the Chicago American Giants (the Monarchs won both games and the Series).

The Milwaukee Chicks of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League also played their only season at Borchert Field, in 1944. The Chicks rallied during the second half of the season, going 40–19, and won the championship series against the Kenosha Comets. Borchert Field was unavailable during the series, so all seven games were played in Kenosha, Wisconsin. However, high tickets prices, poor attendance, and competition with the Milwaukee Brewers led the team to move to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1945.

Football

Milwaukee Badgers

The Milwaukee Badgers entered the National Football League (NFL) in 1922 and played at Borchert Field until 1926, when the team folded. During their five years in the NFL, the Badgers suffered from poor management, with their ownership group originally located in Chicago. Even though the Badgers had big-name players throughout their history, including Fritz Pollard, Duke Slater, Paul Robeson, Bo McMillan, Jim Conzelman, Johnny "Blood" McNally, Red Dunn, and LaVern Dilweg, they were never able to translate that to success on the field; they only achieved a winning record once, going 7–2–3 in 1923. The Badgers also were punished for playing four high schoolers in a league game; they incurred a $500 fine and were forced to sell the team. The Badgers were readmitted to the league under new ownership before the start of the 1926 season, but after a 2–7 record the team was withdrawn from the NFL.

Green Bay Packers

Borchert Field hosted the first NFL game for the Green Bay Packers in Milwaukee. The Packers had played, and won, seven games in Milwaukee since 1921, but none of them were league games. In September 1933, Packers leadership announced that an October 1 game against the New York Giants, originally scheduled to be played in Green Bay, Wisconsin, would be moved to Milwaukee. Lee Joannes, the president of the Packers at the time, made the announcement, noting support from the NFL for the move. Joannes noted that for many years prior, fans in the southern Wisconsin area had pushed for a game to be played in Milwaukee. Noting their strong support in the region, the Packers expected to fill Borchert Field, which had been chosen for the game, with 12,000 to 14,000 fans.

The decision was not popular in Green Bay, but the game ended up drawing the largest crowd that season for a Packers game. About 13,000 fans ended up attending the game, although the Packers lost 10–7 to the Giants. Post-game analysis from the Green Bay Press-Gazette blamed the Packers' own mistakes and the Giants' strong defensive performance for the upset loss. The game though initiated a 62-season presence for the Packers in Milwaukee. They would continue playing a few games a year there until 1994, first at Wisconsin State Fair Park (1934–1951), then Marquette Stadium (1952), and last at Milwaukee County Stadium (1953–1994).

Later years

Milwaukee County Stadium, shown here in 1960, replaced Borchert Field as the city's premier baseball facility.

By the 1950s, Borchert Field was in disrepair and too small to accommodate Major League Baseball. Milwaukee civic leaders, seeking a major league franchise, built Milwaukee County Stadium to replace Borchert Field. It was intended that the minor league Brewers would play in Milwaukee County Stadium in the 1953 season, but early that year their parent club, the Boston Braves, relocated to Milwaukee, so the final season of baseball at Borchert Field also turned out to be the last season of Brewers minor league baseball. The minor league franchise remained the Braves' top affiliate, moving to Toledo, Ohio, after the Mud Hens had moved the previous year, and were renamed the Toledo Glass Sox where they won the American Association pennant that same year.

In December 1952, with Milwaukee County Stadium expected to be open for the 1953 season, Borchert Field was demolished. The demolition occurred with little public attention, with the wood from the grandstands piled up for members of the public to take for free for kindling. The city had purchased the property in 1952; during the demolition, there were proposals to use the site for a playground, homes, a school, or a highway. The field remained for some ten years as a recreational park. In 1963, the former site of the ballpark (and the entire block) became fully occupied by Interstate 43, Milwaukee's major north-south freeway. Most of the homes that lined 7th and 8th streets facing the ballpark remained, now facing the highway, for which 7th and 8th are effectively frontage roads.

Sources

• The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, by Brian A. Podoll, McFarland, 2003.
• The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball, by Dennis Pajot, McFarland, 2009.

See also

• List of baseball parks in Milwaukee
• List of Green Bay Packers stadiums