Milwaukee County Stadium Rebuilt in Whitefish Bay

Much to the consternation of my wife, I collect stuff. Among other items that I collect (some would say "hoard") are various mementos from sports stadia...or is that stadiums?  In any case, my garage is beginning to look a little bit like Borchert Field circa 1953.

Among the items are bricks from various ballparks, a pair of turnstiles and a pair of seats from three different stadiums - two each from old Comiskey Park, Milwaukee County Stadium and Chicago's International Amphitheatre. The somewhat historic chairs are doing a fine job leaning against the garage's interior walls, but i imagine there are probably better uses for them. 

Right now, the sea green seats that witnessed Babe Ruth's home run in baseball's 1st All-Star Game in 1933 on the south side of Chicago now gander at the dent in the rear quarter panel of my Honda Civic. The forest green wooden seats from County Stadium likely sat empty as only 10,154 fans watched Hank Aaron blast home run number 755 off Dick Drago in 1976. There was twice as good a chance they were being used for Harvey Haddix's agony of perfection on Milwaukee's west side on May 26, 1959. Now they sit empty as chipmunks race around their legs. And then there are the bright red seats that spent the better part of the 20th century adjacent to Chicago's Union Stock Yards. Among other historic events, they saw Evel Knieval literally Jump the Shark and listened to Mayor Richard J. Daley shout at Senator Abraham Ribicoff at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Now all those chairs listen to are gold finches singing in the trees of Whitefish Bay.

The turnstiles are from Milwaukee County Stadium and Soldier Field. Both are Pereys - the Cadillac of turnstiles! The turnstiles represent the first job in my 30-plus year career in professional sports – ticket taker for the Milwaukee Brewers. 

I suppose I could repurpose the memorabilia for a practical use. Perhaps the bricks could serve as pavers in the backyard patio. The stadium chairs could be set up as patio furniture. And guests could enter and exit the back yard through the turnstiles when visiting – with a paid ticket of course.

I better not go to the lengths of Larry Luebbers, though. When the Cincinnati Reds moved from Crosley Field to Riverfront Stadium in 1970, Larry went to the wrecking crew's auction with the intention of purchasing two of Crosley's seats. Larry, a real estate agent and ham salesman, got a little carried away and bought much of the stadium. Larry, perhaps serving as inspiration for Ray Kinsella, rebuilt Crosley Field in his back yard, which fortunately was a 200-acre farm. 

A Field of Dreams in my tiny Whitefish Bay lot might be a little tight. It would make for a reachable home run, but I'm not so sure the neighbors would be thrilled with the whole "If you build it, they will come" thing...maybe I'll just keep the memories in the garage for now.