Borchert Field

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Stories from Milwaukee’s Legendary Ballpark

Bob Buege

Experience the sports heroes, the memorable moments, and the remarkable feats that took place at this classic, and oft-forgotten, ballpark.

392 pages, 5.5 x 8.5, 72 b&w photos
Paperback: $26.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-788-4
Ebook: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-789-1
Publication Date: 4/21/2017

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Description

Nestled in a neighborhood on Milwaukee’s near north side, Borchert Field was a major sports venue for 64 years. In this old wooden stadium, residents and visitors had a close-up view of sports history, along with rodeos, thrill shows, and even eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. In Borchert Field, baseball historian Bob Buege introduces the famous and fascinating athletes who dazzled audiences in Milwaukee’s venerable ballpark. All the legendary baseball figures—the Bambino, Satchel Paige, Ty Cobb, Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Wille Mays—played there. Olympic heroes Jim Thorpe, Babe Didrikson, and Jesse Owens displayed their amazing talents in Borchert. Knute Rockne’s Fighting Irish competed there, and Curly Lambeau’s Green Bay Packers took the field 10 times. Buege tells stories of other monumental moments at Borchert as well, including a presidential visit, the arrival of television broadcasting, the 1922 national balloon race, and an appearance by bandleader Cab Calloway.

Though Borchert Field (originally called Athletic Park) is long gone, every page of this book takes readers back to the sights, sounds, and spectacle of its heyday. Someone lucky enough to have lived on Milwaukee’s near north side between 1888 and 1952 could experience the world without ever leaving the neighborhood. Now people from all over can learn about the remarkable people and events that graced the grounds at Borchert Field.

Author Bio

Bob Buege

Bob Buege is the author of The Milwaukee Braves: A Baseball Eulogy and Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime. He is president of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association, director of the Wisconsin Old Time Ballplayers Association, and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. Buege lives in Greenfield, Wisconsin.

Bob Buege does a magnificent job in recreating the baseball environment as it used to be, long before domed stadiums and luxury suites. For those of us who grew up in Milwaukee during those heady days, Borchert Field was our field of dreams.

Allan H. (Bud) Selig

Commissioner Emeritus of Major League Baseball

“Borchert Field is long gone, but Bob Buege has brought the rickety old stadium vividly back to life. Mantle, Mays, Durocher, Stengel, Thorpe, Nevers—so many of the great names of American sports visited this modest little place and weave through the storyline of this fascinating book.”

—David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi

“Shoehorned into a single block on Milwaukee’s north side, Borchert Field meant baseball—and a great deal more—to generations of Cream City residents. Story by story, even inning by inning, baseball guru Bob Buege brings Borchert back with a scholar’s attention to detail and a true fan’s contagious love of the game.”

—John Gurda, historian and author of Cream City Chronicles and Brewtown Tales