During the Brewers’ years at County Stadium, the old ballpark changed a bit. The upper grandstands were expanded, the scoreboard was replaced, the bleachers were rebuilt, Bernie Brewer’s chalet was added, removed and then added again. But there were proposals floated over the years for much more dramatic changes that never came into being (I’ve covered a few of these in this space before). Let’s take a look back at few of them…
Put a Dome on It!
Brewers baseball would have been an indoor affair if this idea had come to fruition.
The first proposal to add a domed roof to County Stadium actually dates back to the years just after the Braves left for Atlanta, the idea apparently being that a drastic overhaul of the park was needed if a major league team was to be lured back. In 1976, the idea reemerged when County Supervisor Clinton Rose proposed that the county fund a feasibility study for adding a roof to the stadium. Bill Anderson, the stadium’s manager, thought the idea had merit. The pair even spoke with architect David Geiger, who was responsible for the Pontiac Silverdome. The estimated cost was between $7 and $10 million, but both the Brewers and Packers were open to the idea. Even the Marquette Warriors basketball team was intrigued by the possibility of playing games in front of 50,000 people. Head coach Al McGuire had no doubts his squad could be a big enough draw for a topped-off County Stadium. “We could fill a bigger spot,” he told the Journal with a sly grin. Still, the Rose proposal gained no traction and the idea went to the back burner until 1979 when another county supervisor, John St. John, revived the concept. His estimates for the cost ran as high as $60 million. The St. John proposal got even less support than Rose’s, although one part of his plan—a hologram scoreboard that would “show an instant replay in space in the middle of the stadium”—remains an intriguing concept.
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Let’s Go to the Hank!
Focus On Sport Getty Images
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Long before naming rights were an essential part of the sport, there was a movement to rename County Stadium for its most famous home player.
In 1981, a pair of county supervisors proposed changing the name of the park to Henry Aaron Stadium to honor the recently minted Hall of Famer Henry Aaron. Paying tribute to one of the city’s most accomplished hometown heroes seemed like a home run of an idea, but the public reaction to the plan was surprisingly chilly. “Not everyone is a Henry Aaron fan,” wrote one person to the Milwaukee Sentinel protesting the switch. Another called him a “complainer” who was ungrateful and undeserving of such an honor. Yet another wrote, “Who is Henry Aaron? He took nickels, dimes and dollars from kids and fans and never returned a cent to the City of Milwaukee.” The proposal—which acts today as proof that letters to the editor could be just as stupid and uniformed as the worst internet comments section—was eventually rejected by the county parks commission.
Baseball Under the Bubble!
An ambitious plan for preserving County Stadium.
By 1994, the writing was on the wall for County Stadium. With the drive for a new park in full swing, few were fighting to save the old park. But one who was—Shorewood architect Charles Harper—felt that to save the park, it needed to be encapsulated. His proposal involved building a parking structure around the stadium that would support an enormous “geodome” with moving panels. The parking ring would also include a team hall of fame, picnic areas and skyboxes while the rehabbed stadium could exist comfortably under the glass. Harper had been working on the idea since 1988 and cited the relatively low cost—he said it could be done for $120 million—as its primary benefit to the state and its taxpayers.
