Originally published on May 14, 2023
By Zane Miller
On Thursday, September 28th, 2000, the
Cincinnati Reds defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 8-1 in what was to be the final MLB
game, as well as the final public event in general, held at Milwaukee County
Stadium which had been the home stadium of the Brewers since coming to
Milwaukee in 1970.
While Milwaukee County Stadium is most well-known as
the home venue for the Brewers, its origins begin even further back. Opening on
April 6th, 1953, it hosted the Milwaukee Braves in their first
season since relocating from Boston. While the Braves had largely struggled throughout
their time in the Bay State (excluding their World Series title in 1914), they
immediately started to improve after the move, with the team never having a
single losing record during their 13 seasons in Milwaukee. The pinnacle of this
consistent run would be seen in 1957, as the Braves took down the New York
Yankees in seven games for their second World Series championship in franchise
history, with Milwaukee County Stadium hosting games three through five. The
following year, the stadium saw more World Series action as the Braves and
Yankees met in the World Series again, with the series again going seven games.
However, this time the Braves would not be so fortunate, instead coming up
short on their home field to allow New York to capture its 18th series
title.
Despite the tenure in Milwaukee being an overwhelming
success for the Braves, the team would leave for Atlanta after the 1965
campaign following an ownership change and a new stadium being built. Following
the Braves’ 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 22nd,
Milwaukee County Stadium would not see another baseball game for the next couple
of years, and would be forced to wait for another full-time tenant to come
along. Enter the Seattle Pilots.
The Pilots, who still hold a legacy as one of the most
disastrous expansion teams in the history of professional sports, were
desperate to move out of the Emerald City following their one and only season in
1969, in large part due to their home of Sick’s Stadium being woefully
unprepared to host an MLB franchise. With Milwaukee County Stadium being
relatively new and ready to take on the demands of a major league team, the
Pilots were sold to officially become the Milwaukee Brewers for 1970. This
decision locked in the stadium for baseball use for another three decades.
The Brewers struggled out of the gate, as they were
unable to secure a winning record until 1978 and did not reach the postseason
until 1981, where they fell in the first round to the Yankees. However, 1982
would be the Brewers’ best season at Milwaukee County Stadium, tying a then-franchise
record 95 wins, before earning their first postseason victory over the
California (now Los Angeles) Angels to advance to the World Series against the
St. Louis Cardinals. However, despite the Brewers winning two of their three
games in Milwaukee, it wouldn’t be enough as the Cardinals took their ninth
championship in seven games. Following this peak, the team would never make the
playoffs again for the rest of their time at the stadium, with their final
winning season coming in 1992. On November 9th, 1996, the
construction process began for what would be the Brewers’ new home stadium in Miller
Park (now American Family Field) beginning in 2001. With no other primary
tenants as the Green Bay Packers ceased their annual three-game homestand after
1994, the future of Milwaukee County Stadium was in serious doubt.
The 2000 campaign saw the Brewers continue their trend
of mediocrity, coming into their September 28th matchup against the
Reds with a 72-86 record with only four games remaining in the season. Meanwhile,
Cincinnati was having a better year at 82-76, though they were also already out
of postseason contention with the Cardinals having already locked up the National
League Central title with 93 wins.
The Brewers entered the matchup looking to finish off
a series sweep, as they beat the Reds 7-4 and 10-6 in the first two games of
the series, and called upon starting pitcher Jeff D’Amico to take on the task. Despite
his team already being knocked out of the postseason battle, there was still a
lot on the line for D’Amico for his final start of the year. He was in the
running for the National League ERA title with a 2.42 ERA, however, the catch
is that he had to pitch at least 162 innings to officially qualify for the
award. This was a problem for D’Amico, as he had only pitched 156 and a third
innings to that point in the season, and any hiccups against a fairly solid
Reds lineup could cost him an early exit.
The Reds, on the other hand, sent starting pitcher
Elmer Dessens to the mound. Dessens was a new acquisition to the team, as he had
spent the first three seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, before
leaving the MLB entirely for 1999 and joining the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon
Professional Baseball in Japan. However, he returned to the league with the
Reds for the 2000 season and had a respectable record of 10-5 going into his
final start, though his 4.49 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 136 and a third innings
left a lot to be desired. However, Dessens was determined to close out the year
on a high note.
In the first inning, after Reds outfielder Alex Ochoa
took advantage of having runners on the corners to knock in the first run of
the afternoon on an RBI single, Dessens struck out Marquis Grissom and Mark
Loretta in what would be a one-two-three inning, giving Cincinnati the early
1-0 advantage through one frame. Not to be outdone, shortstop Juan Castro doubled
the Reds lead in the next inning with a solo home run in the second before a
third inning RBI single from first baseman Sean Casey made it a 3-0 ballgame,
though this wouldn’t be the biggest hit that Casey would have on the day.
After Dessens continued to be nearly unhittable with
another one-two-three inning in the fourth, the Reds embarked on a fifth inning
rally which saw center fielder Michael Tucker reach with a walk, promptly
followed up with a single from left fielder Dmitri Young to put runners on the
corners once again. This set up Casey with another RBI opportunity, though he
would do much more than that with a three-run home run to right field, putting
the Reds up 6-0. This would go on to be the final home run ever hit at Milwaukee
County Stadium.
Although Milwaukee would avoid the shutout in the
sixth inning, as a triple by catcher Raul Casanova set up pinch hitter Luis
Lopez for an RBI groundout, the Reds put the game out of reach for good in the
seventh as Ochoa got his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly, while
Castro did the same on an RBI single for an 8-1 advantage. With that, the only question
remaining would be if Dessens would be able to go the distance and become the
final pitcher to take the mound at Milwaukee County Stadium, which he made a
strong case for in the eighth by getting his sixth one-two-three inning of the
afternoon. While Everett Stull would go down in the history books as the final
Brewers pitcher to pitch at the stadium, setting the Reds down in order in the
ninth, Dessens would indeed score the complete game win after getting flyouts
from Tyler Houston and Lou Collier, before a groundout from Loretta sealed the
Reds’ 8-1 victory.
Dessens ended the year with his best record of 11-5
after getting what would be his first of two complete game victories in his
career, with the second being a complete game shutout against the Florida
Marlins on July 28th, 2001. Though he left the Reds after the 2002
season, Dessens remained in MLB with multiple different teams before his 2010
retirement. While D’Amico went six innings in the game to make his ERA title
bid official, his six earned runs bumped his final ERA to 2.66, which would not
be enough to surpass Kevin Brown of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who ultimately had
an ERA of 2.54 in 230 innings pitched to claim the NL title, with D'Amico
placing himself third in the final results.
Before Miller Park’s official opening on April 6th,
2001, Milwaukee County Stadium was demolished on February 21st of
that year. As American Family Field remains the home stadium of the Brewers as
of this writing, Milwaukee County Stadium is still remembered today with a
marker where the original home plate once stood, in recognition of the 30-year
history as the team’s primary venue.
Link to stats database: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL200009280.shtml
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