Images of Wisconsin: Miller Park

Below are some of the pictures I took while we enjoyed the game at Miller Park in which the Brewers fought a back-and-forth game with the Pittsburgh Pirates, to keep their 2008 playoff hopes alive. As I noted a few days ago, the building, the food, the fans, and the general atmosphere is quite simply superior to what you can experience at a California ballpark like Dodger Stadium.

The retired numbers are of Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Bob Uecker. On the opposite side, but too blurry to publish, were the retired numbers of Hank Aaron, Rollie Fingers, and the honorary number of Jackie Robinson. Robinson was never a Brewer or a Milwaukee Brave, but I really like that every ballpark in the country honors him by posting his Dodger number 42.

In this mix of pictures are the electronic banner sign advertising Piggly Wiggly supermarkets with possibly the cheesiest slogan I've ever seen: "Shop the pig." Also you can see an action photo of the sausage race between the hot dog, bratwurst, Italian sausage, Polish sausage, and chroizo. The night we were there, chorizo won by a significant margin. The sausages run from third base to first base. Not pictured is the two-story display stand for the Brewers' mascot, "Bernie Brewer," who seems to be a cousin of the Pittsburgh Steeler's "Steely McBeam."

Finally, also included in the mix is middle-reliever Eric Gagne at work. Gagne won a Cy Young award as a Los Angeles Dodger a few years ago and gave the the Dodgers a legitimate shot at the playoffs. Judging by his performance as a middle reliever for Milwaukee, he's lost a little bit of zing to his pitch but has kept his trademark lengthy pre-pitch psych-out ritual of rubbing the ball over about twenty places on his body before winding up to deliver the pitch.