Athletic Park (Milwaukee)

Borchert Field

The Orchard
Looking north at Borchert Field
Former names	Athletic Park (1888–1927)
Location	3000 N. 8th Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Coordinates	43°04′26″N 87°55′14″W / 43.074°N 87.9205°W / 43.074; -87.9205Coordinates: 43°04′26″N 87°55′14″W / 43.074°N 87.9205°W / 43.074; -87.9205
Owner	The Borchert Family
Capacity	13,000 (1952)
Field size	Left Field – 267 ft (81 m) Left-Center – 435 ft (133 m) Center Field – 392 ft (119 m) Right-Center – 435 ft (133 m) Right Field – 268 ft (82 m)
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1888, 129 years ago
Closed	1952, 65 years ago
Demolished	1953
Tenants
Milwaukee Creams (WL) (1888–1894) Milwaukee Brewers (AA) (1891) Milwaukee Brewers (AA) (1902–1952) Milwaukee Badgers (NFL) (1922–1926) Milwaukee Bears (NNL) (1923) Milwaukee Chicks (AAGPL) (1944) Green Bay Packers (NFL) (1933)

Borchert Field was a baseball park in the United States in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the home field for several professional baseball clubs for most of the years from 1888 through 1952. It was made obsolete by the new County Stadium in 1953 and was demolished later that year. The site is now covered by Interstate 43.

The park was built on a rectangular block bounded by North 7th, 8th, Chambers, and Burleigh Streets. Home plate was positioned at the south end (Chambers) with the outfield bounded by the outer fence, making fair territory itself home-plate shaped, with short fields in left and right and very deep power alleys. This was a design used by a number of ballparks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when they were confined to a block that was too narrow to allow the foul lines to parallel the streets. The best-known example of this "bathtub" design is likely the Polo Grounds in New York City, home of the New York Giants through 1957.

Originally known as Athletic Park, the park opened for baseball 129 years ago in May 1888. During winter, it was flooded and served as an ice hockey rink. The ballfield replaced the Wright Street Grounds. (Podoll, p. 46)

The ballpark operated as the home of the Milwaukee Creams of the Western League, later renamed the Brewers. The Creams/Brewers played there through the 1894 season.

The ballfield was also sublet to the Milwaukee Brewers club of the major league American Association for the last part of the 1891 season, replacing the disbanded Cincinnati Kelly's Killers. 1891 was the last year of the AA as a major league. The AA merged into the National League for 1892, and the Milwaukee franchise was dropped.