Milwaukee Brewers Baseball at Miller Park

Official Review by Paul Swaney, Stadium Journey Co-Founder

Milwaukee is without doubt a great sports town. For over 40 years, the Milwaukee Brewers have been the central team in what should be considered as a baseball town first and foremost.

Now in its second decade as the home stadium of the Brewers, Miller Park remains a beautiful facility with plenty of unique features. Miller Park should be on every baseball fan's must-see list.

Food & Beverage    5

Milwaukee has a culinary tradition that is just made for baseball. It's a beer town. It's an encased meat town. It's a pretzel and mustard town. If you don't find something you like at Miller Park, then you either didn't try very hard, or just plain don't like ballpark food.

In a park known for its sausage race, you would be remiss not to try a hot dog, bratwurst, Italian sausage, or Polish sausage. Pick your favorite, and you really can't go wrong. Vegetarian dogs are also available. The most you'll spend is $4.50. New in 2011 is Dusseldorf brown mustard offered at each condiment stand. It's a nice addition to go with onions, and sauerkraut.

There are other Wisconsin-themed options like the fish fry ($9.50), and my personal favorite, fried cheese curds ($4.50). Miller Park also has a wonderful soft pretzel stand where you can have it dipped in melted butter before being covered in garlic sesame seeds, kosher salt, parmesan, or cinnamon and sugar. It's a huge pretzel, and meant to be eaten by two or more people. Probably the best soft pretzel I've had at a game.

If you want to go off the grid a bit, you can also find baked potatoes, brisket sliders, grilled cheese sandwiches, veggie deli wrap, or burritos.

Beer is predictably provided by Miller. A MGD, High Life, or Miller Lite will go for $5.50 or $7.75. Leinenkugel is also a popular Wisconsin beer, with several varieties going for $7 each. Pepsi provides the sodas with a small costing $4.25 and a souvenir size at $6.25 (a little pricey for a souvenir cup in my opinion).

Atmosphere    4

The energy certainly starts in the parking lot. Nowhere in Major League Baseball is there better tailgating than at Miller Park. Lots open up 3 hours before game time, and you'll be amazed by the number of people set up in the parking lot. The smell alone helps to set the mood.

Once you get to the gate, but before you step inside, meander for a while along the Walk of Fame. You'll find a home plate shaped marker for each player, coach, or officials from both the Milwaukee Braves and the Brewers. There are also great statues of Robin Yount, Hank Aaron, Paul Molitor, and Bud Selig "?? great for a photo opportunity or as a spot to meet up with fellow fans.

There's a bit of an amusement park feel once you finally get inside the stadium. This is definitely a good thing if you have young kids with you. If so, head down towards the right field side of the concourse, on any level to find games like a miniature version of Bernie's slide, race to first base against the cut out of a Brewers player (Corey Hart during my visit), sausage race powered by pedals, pitching speed zone, and many others.

The famous sausage race takes place in the middle of the 6th inning, so be sure to be in your seat for that one. In the middle of the 7th, you'll get God Bless America, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and Roll Out the Barrel. Each song gets the crowd progressively more pumped up.

As far as comfort, the lower sections could use just a little more leg room than what is provided, but they do have cup holders at each seat. In the upper deck there aren't any cup holders, but the leg room seems a little roomier.

Neighborhood    3

Immediately in the vicinity of the park, there aren't a lot of options, at least not within walking distance. There are several bars/restaurants that offer shuttle service beginning an hour before game time. One such example is Saz's State House, where I visited to try their Sunday brunch. They have a really amazing spread, opening at 10am on Sundays. It's a little bit expensive at $17.50 a head, but the food is solid, and they have 12 beers on tap. You can skip the bloody mary however as it is pretty average.

Downtown Milwaukee also has several great places, and I can specifically recommend Mader's or the Old German Beer Hall. Either is a wonderful place to sample some authentic German food.

Fans    5

I attended my first ever Cubs/Brewers game at Miller Park, and it really is becoming an intense rivalry. There isn't the history of Red Sox/Yankees, Dodgers/Giants, or Cubs/Cardinals, but the geographic proximity makes it very easy to quickly elevate this to one of the best rivalries in baseball.

As far as the Brewers fans are concerned, they seemed to be a hard-drinking, baseball-loving crew. I heard plenty of intelligent and optimistic conversations about the past, present and future of the club. Mixed in with that was a good deal of trash talk with the opposing team's fans. It really is a fun group, and their presence definitely adds to the overall experience.

Access    4

Parking lots are named after famous Brewers/Braves, and there's plenty of it. The general parking lots start at $8 for weekday games, rise to $10 on weekends, and go for a less reasonable $15 for Cubs or Cardinals games. Load up the car with cooler and grill, and get there early to get your money's worth.

The concourses throughout the stadium are very wide and easy to navigate. There are 57 restrooms inside Miller Park, and lines did not seem to be a problem at any point during the game.

There is some pretty significant construction occurring on I-94 during the 2011 season, but even so, I found it pretty easy to get out of the lot and on my way.

Return on Investment    4

There are 11 different pricing options for tickets throughout the ballpark, ranging from $8-$100. Even that top price is quite reasonable for a great seat between the dugouts. Regardless of where you sit, you should expect to have a good view of the action and won't feel like you overpaid. Food is also pretty reasonable, as is parking for the most part. Overall, it feels like everything is just about the right price.

Extras    4

The first bonus point I'll award is for Bernie the Brewer and his wonderful tradition of sliding down the slide after a home run.

I also like how seamlessly they embrace the history of the Milwaukee Braves and the Brewers inside and outside the stadium.

This stadium does a great job of appealing equally to kids and adults. It would be easy to make this a family trip or a bachelor party, and have a lot of fun for either occasion.

Finally, an extra point for Helfaer Field, just outside the main gate of Miller Park. It's a little league/softball field with all of the amenities, built on the site of old County Stadium. It's an expensive rental, but could be a great way to spend some time before the game, playing a little ball yourself.

Final Thoughts

I like Miller Park a little bit more each time that I visit. It seems to have everything you would want, plus a few extras that you don't find at most MLB parks.

I\'ve only been to 3 major league parks, but the other two are wrigley and the cell. I\'ve lived in

I've only been to 3 major league parks, but the other two are wrigley and the cell. I've lived in Chicagoland all my life and I'm not a sox or cubs fan. I'm a huge Mariners fan. But anyways, miller park blows me away with the tailgating, price of parking, and the price of tickets. Also, there selection and quality of food is far better than the cell and wrigley. I do plan on going to all the ballparks eventually. The sausage race is amazing to witness because everyone gets into the race. There's not a bad seat in the house. I would say the only negative about miller park is that even when the roof is open it still feels like they are playing in a dome. Polish sausage is so good!

by Goblue1523 | Aug 04, 2010 05:37 PM

Living in the Chicago area and being a Sox fan,whenever I want to see pitchers hit I take the drive up to Milwaukee.Parking is easy and tickets are reasonable.Some of the seats in the field bleachers have poor sight lines.My only negative experience there was on a college night.Twenty-somethings out tailgating for hours you could see what that leads to.Other than that really enjoy Miller Park

by mattyb | Jan 22, 2011 03:18 AM

Miller Park Concessions

If you're looking for reviews on Miller Park concessions, make sure you check out our blog, John and Cait...Plus 9 at http://brewers.mlblogs.com. Enjoy!

by johnandcait | Sep 08, 2011 11:00 AM

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