Baseball Place No. 19: The Hank Aaron Home Run Wall; and No. 19A) Milwaukee County Stadium

Which is more important, a record broken or a record set?

Josh Pahigian takes us to Atlanta, where all that remains of Fulton County Stadium is a section of fence and wall marking the spot where Hank Aaron hit Al Downing’s fastball into history.

The exact area where the Hammer passed the Babe is spot No. 19 in the “101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out.

An important place, to be sure. And I wish the Mets had left us with a standing portion of Shea, or even the mound so future generations can stand on Tom Seaver’s hill.

But other than passing through Atlanta on the Interstate, I’ve never been able to get to see in person the spot where 715 flew.

I did, however, get to see the place where Hank hit his final home run, No. 755, which stood for 30 years as the record, and remains today the untainted milestone.

Alternative Place No. 19A) Milwaukee County Stadium.

The big ballpark from the 1950s was home to Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Ted Higuera when Rich, Mark and I arrived in 1989, the day after the infamous visit to Comiskey Park.

But we found a nice tribute to Aaron in the stadium, where on July 20, 1976 Hank took Angel’s hulrer Dick Drago deep, the Hammer’s final blast.

Aaron, of course, began his career with the Milwaukee Braves, moved with the team to Atlanta after the 1966 season, and returned in 1975 as a Brewer for two years.

Our first impression of the stadium was that it had the best-smelling parking lot ever. I didn’t know just how many people fired up their grills to tailgate before a baseball game.


The stadium itself was grey and brick, unspectacular to the eye. But it was comfortable and friendly. It was nothing fancy. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The Brewers let us have all kinds of fun.

But the old yard gave us everything we wanted. Seats were close to the action, the brats with the secret sauce were as good as advertised, and everyone was friendly.

Alas, County Stadium came to an end in 2001 when Miller Park opened next door. But there are still some lasting tributes to the stadium and Aaron.

First, there is a statue of Hank, along with other important Brewers.

Then, on the spot where County once stood, the team built Helfaer Field, a little league ball park. The infield doesn’t match up exactly, as you can find the spot where the County home place once sat along the concourse.

Here’s the best part. Not only is the field scaled down, so are the prices for the brats and soda at least that was the case when we went several years ago.


It seemed like a pretty good way of preserving a part of the historic grounds without turning them into a parking lot. Are you listening, Mets?

Taking a seat in Milwaukee, but probably not Shea

In hindsight, we probably could have been arrested for trespassing. But it wouldn’t have been an adventure without a little risk.

I was bummed when I saw this week that the Mets were asking $869 for a pair of Shea Stadium seats once the season ends. That close to double what other teams have been asking, and light years beyond what I’d be willing to pay.

That means there won’t be an adventure to pick up the chairs like Will and I had in 2000 in Milwaukee.

Stadium seats were a very reasonable $100 if you were able to swing by County Stadium to pick them up. Milwaukee’s only about five hours from Grand Rapids, so Will made a baseball weekend of it and we planned a one-day roadtrip.

The letter from the Brewers said to pick up the chairs at Miller Park, which I thought was odd because the stadium was still under construction. Seemed odd that the team would remove the seats from County Stadium and haul them into the new building just to have fans take them back out.

But I follow instructions, so we pulled up to the team offices at Miller Park, kind of surprised to see only a couple cars in the parking lot.

The door opened, and it was apparent that the offices were not yet fully in use. There was cardboard on the floor to protect the carpets, and only a couple items scattered on desks.

So we started walking around, looking for some kind of sign to point us to the chair distribution point.

“Hello? Hello?” No one responded, so we kept walking and opening doors.

We pulled open on heavy door and discovered we were standing on the concourse of the new stadium, at that point still heavily under construction. Will quickly and smartly grabbed the door before it closed behind us — it would have locked us out.



There were no chairs to be seen, so clearly this was not where we were supposed to be. But after taking our time to get a closer look — and snapping off some photos — we went back inside.

Finally we encountered an employee, who was not happy that we were where we were, but not openly hostile, either. I showed him my letter, and he said the seats were available in the parking lot — way on the other side of the stadium.

And sure enough, there were all the chairs in neat rows and a drive-though lane where if you rolled down your window and showed the letter, an employee would run up and drop the chair in your trunk.


Miller Park rises above County Stadium.

There also were large tents off to the side with items that were both for sale and available through an auction. The Brewers did a nice job of making something available at every price point, so any fan could walk away from something. Far as I know, they’re still selling bricks in the Miller Park gift shop for $10 as they were when I was back two years ago.

After picking up a vial of infield dirt, we headed over to the auction section. Most of the items here were way out of our price range, especially since we’re not Brewers fans.

But the team was allowing everybody to have a good look — and touch — of everything there. We had great fun climbing into Bernie Brewer’s chalet, his outfield perch from which he’d slide into a giant beer stein after a Brewer hit a homer.

And, of course, no visit to Milwaukee is complete without some brats. The Brewers have an elaborate concession stand in the parking lot to cater to all the tail-gaters, and it was open during the seat dispersal. The brats are great, and the Secret Stadium Sauce is essential.

After that, we walked around both stadiums. Miller Park towered over County Stadium, which almost seemed to blend into its neighborhood, at least as much a stadium surrounded by parking lots could. Miller, however, could be seen from the interstate heading into the city, miles away.

I had seen one game at County, back in 1988 on our ballpark tour, and liked the friendly atmosphere and all the tailgating — best-smelling parking lot ever!

And we’ve been to Miller twice since then, including one trip that featured an audience with Bud Selig himself. Of course, it’s not quite as fun without the risk of being branded a trespasser.

The Milwaukee County Stadium chair in its new home, the baseball room.