Ray Crone on his postcard.
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On Story Parkway is about...Attending Braves games with your father. Watching the Brewers first season in Milwaukee in 1970 after Seattle lost their team after one year. This book is about getting drenched in the rain with your future spouse during the Pink Floyd show in 1975 and watching the exploding pig over the stadium. It's about attending a Packer game with your father for the last time. It's about waiting in line for a beer and pretzel and missing the grand slam. All the memories you know and have just recalled are part of this book. Share in the memory of 250 fans, members of the media and players. This book is for all of us.
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Len Kasper of the Cubs and White SoxDwight Bernard from the 1982 Brewers World Series Team.
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Remembering County Stadium: Jim Cryns talks about his new book about the stadiumWhen Milwaukee writer Jim Cryns turned his attention toward a book on the dearly departed County Stadium, he likely underestimated what the response would be. "On Story Parkway: Remembering County Stadium" is already Amazon's top-selling sports book at the time of writing.
OnMilwaukee.com
Milwaukee writer Jim Cryns turned his attention toward a book on the dearly departed County Stadium, he likely underestimated what the response would be. Now that the book is out, “On Story Parkway: Remembering County Stadium,” available only at Amazon at the moment, is the site’s top-selling sports book at the time of writing.
Numbering about 600 pages, you’d think he crammed in everything he could get, in terms of memories from fans, players and others, but no, not everything made the final cut.
Still, there’s A LOT of information and memories, as well as vintage photos – and a foreword by Bud Selig – to help explain why we all loved that place so much. We talk to Cryns – who is also working with former record store owner and concert promoter Alan Dulberger on the latter’s memoir – about how he put together the lengthy love letter to Milwaukee’s beloved ball yard, how the project ballooned and more.
OnMilwaukee: How did you come to write this book?
Jim Cryns: It’s really like anything else I’ve tackled. I’ve been fascinated about how things work, as much or more than their actual function performance. I wrote a book about the making of the film “Bull Durham” and the making of “Airplane!” It must seem obvious by now it’s the background stuff that fascinates me.
When I covered the Brewers and other sports teams in Wisconsin it was always more pleasurable for me to see the periphery. I’d rather sit in the dugout during batting practice, or lean on the batting cage – back in the day when you could do that – and just watch the players get into their groove and routine. With County Stadium, it seemed like a subject in search of an author. To be clear, this project is about the people that made up this facility, specifically the fans. It’s the memories from fans, media members and players that brought this to life. I grew up going to games, rock shows in that place so it seemed obvious to write about it.
What was it about that glorious little shed that we all loved so much?
I think we loved its accessibility, relatability and ability to store our collective memories. As I’ve said for a long while, it was a dump in later years, but it was our dump. I do mean that affectionately. There was nothing aesthetically pleasing about the place, but that’s how the game should be played.
The entertainment for me and others was on the field. We loved it because it allowed us to be us. Whether sitting with a friend drinking a beer during the Pink Floyd show or watching the Braves go into extra innings, that memory is still encased in the park that was there. Kind of like a non-depressing tomb. We tend to think of our history was a little more rosy than it actually was, but in this instance, it was.
Did you always intend for it to be as extensive as it is or is it something that just kept growing?
It was constantly growing. The more people learn of and about this project, it could keep growing. I honestly believe there could be another volume of memories, perhaps a third. I don’t see myself doing that, I’m just relating that the interest, love and experiences are there. I was only as good as the memories I received, and I got a lot. More than 250 in all, and I actually had to limit the submissions. Some people were bummed their memory didn’t make it but I had to draw a line somewhere. I actually went to the mailbox a couple of days ago and got a player memory from former MLB player and Brewer Rick Dempsey. This was a year after I sent him a SASE to get back to me. He must be a busy guy.
It was always a joy to get a memory from someone in the local media who had been there, done that. I’ve never met one person who didn’t like County Stadium. It wasn’t five-star, but it was better than that in many ways. Where else could you get a ‘Two Fisted Slopper” to dump his beer on the back of your head and watch a guy in a big costume go down a slide after a home run?
Why was it important to you to have so many different kinds of voices – media, fans, etc. – in addition to players and the like? What did they bring to the story?
Simply, if I was forced to pick between players, media and fans, my order would be fans, media then players. Players, by nature, are not very articulate and don’t express themselves as well as any reporter or writer requires. When you read the memories included in this book and it belongs to a player, you can rest assured I interviewed them on the telephone.
I received several one-sentence reminisces, and I’m grateful for those. However, the Dwight Bernard memory and the Mark Brouhard memory are big because I was able to prompt them with questions. I’m grateful to every single memory, even if it was a short memory. The fans are this book. When you think about it they should be. Nothing happened there without them. These experiences are seared in their minds. Who else would you rather hear from? Players moved around the league and rock shows toured the country. The fans remained the same. Whether you watched the Pink Floyd pig explode over the center field bleachers or Robin Yount’s 3,000 hit, the fans saw this and related this experience.
Is it a relief to finally be able to say, "here, it's finished" and watch people enjoy it or does it feel like a project that will keep going in some way, as more memories emerge, etc.?
Yes and yes. It’s difficult to work as an editor and look at the same sentence, paragraph and photo a hundred times. That’s not an exaggeration. As a creative guy, I get bored quickly. I’m always on to the next project, sometimes to the detriment of a product that demands more attention. I was an am relieved to have a product and book out there, but at the same time I get the feeling we may not have heard the last of this concept and book. More memories are emerging and people are responding. Sounds like I’m setting up a sequel. Maybe there is room for another, I don’t know. People love to see their name in print. I know I do. I had to select different types of memories to encompass all that went on there. Some fans have expressed they were bummed their memory had to be edited down or omitted, and I feel terrible about that. They took the time to respond, share, but ultimately there is only so much room. However, if someone says the damn thing is 688 pages, why couldn’t you include mine? It’s a valid point.
At the time of writing it's the number one sports book in the country on Amazon. How does that feel?
I’d rather it was a New York Times Best Seller, but I’ll take it. Seriously, you of all people know what it’s like to have your work received. I’ve written more than 1,000 published articles, but a book is different. You run the risk of being insulted, hurt about your work. I never had a problem sending off an article to an editor. Never gave it a second thought and 99.9 percent of the time my piece was published with no editing. A book, screenplay is different. You’re imbuing that project with part of your heart, your real identity. It feels incredible that people are responding, especially to a project like this. I know this sounds corny, but it really is for the
What do you miss most about County Stadium?I miss the days when you could jeer an opposing player, have a few beers with your friends and be a little stupid. You can’t do that anymore. It has all become so sanitized. In the County Stadium days, we’d hit a Friday afternoon and ask friends what they wanted to do that night. “The Brewers are in town.” Great, off to the stadium we went. We’d pick up a 12-pack and sit in the parking lot before the game. I went to Whitefish Bay High School and I distinctly recall hopping on I-43 with much less traffic than you see these days. You could be at the park in 14 minutes with a beer cracked by then. (Legal drinking age was 18.) I’m definitely not a poet, but I still distinctly recall driving down the hill approaching County Stadium with the afternoon sun coming down. You’d walk in and smell the peanuts and popcorn and now you’d arrived. I miss it all.
OnMilwaukee.com
Milwaukee writer Jim Cryns turned his attention toward a book on the dearly departed County Stadium, he likely underestimated what the response would be. Now that the book is out, “On Story Parkway: Remembering County Stadium,” available only at Amazon at the moment, is the site’s top-selling sports book at the time of writing.
Numbering about 600 pages, you’d think he crammed in everything he could get, in terms of memories from fans, players and others, but no, not everything made the final cut.
Still, there’s A LOT of information and memories, as well as vintage photos – and a foreword by Bud Selig – to help explain why we all loved that place so much. We talk to Cryns – who is also working with former record store owner and concert promoter Alan Dulberger on the latter’s memoir – about how he put together the lengthy love letter to Milwaukee’s beloved ball yard, how the project ballooned and more.
OnMilwaukee: How did you come to write this book?
Jim Cryns: It’s really like anything else I’ve tackled. I’ve been fascinated about how things work, as much or more than their actual function performance. I wrote a book about the making of the film “Bull Durham” and the making of “Airplane!” It must seem obvious by now it’s the background stuff that fascinates me.
When I covered the Brewers and other sports teams in Wisconsin it was always more pleasurable for me to see the periphery. I’d rather sit in the dugout during batting practice, or lean on the batting cage – back in the day when you could do that – and just watch the players get into their groove and routine. With County Stadium, it seemed like a subject in search of an author. To be clear, this project is about the people that made up this facility, specifically the fans. It’s the memories from fans, media members and players that brought this to life. I grew up going to games, rock shows in that place so it seemed obvious to write about it.
What was it about that glorious little shed that we all loved so much?
I think we loved its accessibility, relatability and ability to store our collective memories. As I’ve said for a long while, it was a dump in later years, but it was our dump. I do mean that affectionately. There was nothing aesthetically pleasing about the place, but that’s how the game should be played.
The entertainment for me and others was on the field. We loved it because it allowed us to be us. Whether sitting with a friend drinking a beer during the Pink Floyd show or watching the Braves go into extra innings, that memory is still encased in the park that was there. Kind of like a non-depressing tomb. We tend to think of our history was a little more rosy than it actually was, but in this instance, it was.
Did you always intend for it to be as extensive as it is or is it something that just kept growing?
It was constantly growing. The more people learn of and about this project, it could keep growing. I honestly believe there could be another volume of memories, perhaps a third. I don’t see myself doing that, I’m just relating that the interest, love and experiences are there. I was only as good as the memories I received, and I got a lot. More than 250 in all, and I actually had to limit the submissions. Some people were bummed their memory didn’t make it but I had to draw a line somewhere. I actually went to the mailbox a couple of days ago and got a player memory from former MLB player and Brewer Rick Dempsey. This was a year after I sent him a SASE to get back to me. He must be a busy guy.
It was always a joy to get a memory from someone in the local media who had been there, done that. I’ve never met one person who didn’t like County Stadium. It wasn’t five-star, but it was better than that in many ways. Where else could you get a ‘Two Fisted Slopper” to dump his beer on the back of your head and watch a guy in a big costume go down a slide after a home run?
Why was it important to you to have so many different kinds of voices – media, fans, etc. – in addition to players and the like? What did they bring to the story?
Simply, if I was forced to pick between players, media and fans, my order would be fans, media then players. Players, by nature, are not very articulate and don’t express themselves as well as any reporter or writer requires. When you read the memories included in this book and it belongs to a player, you can rest assured I interviewed them on the telephone.
I received several one-sentence reminisces, and I’m grateful for those. However, the Dwight Bernard memory and the Mark Brouhard memory are big because I was able to prompt them with questions. I’m grateful to every single memory, even if it was a short memory. The fans are this book. When you think about it they should be. Nothing happened there without them. These experiences are seared in their minds. Who else would you rather hear from? Players moved around the league and rock shows toured the country. The fans remained the same. Whether you watched the Pink Floyd pig explode over the center field bleachers or Robin Yount’s 3,000 hit, the fans saw this and related this experience.
Is it a relief to finally be able to say, "here, it's finished" and watch people enjoy it or does it feel like a project that will keep going in some way, as more memories emerge, etc.?
Yes and yes. It’s difficult to work as an editor and look at the same sentence, paragraph and photo a hundred times. That’s not an exaggeration. As a creative guy, I get bored quickly. I’m always on to the next project, sometimes to the detriment of a product that demands more attention. I was an am relieved to have a product and book out there, but at the same time I get the feeling we may not have heard the last of this concept and book. More memories are emerging and people are responding. Sounds like I’m setting up a sequel. Maybe there is room for another, I don’t know. People love to see their name in print. I know I do. I had to select different types of memories to encompass all that went on there. Some fans have expressed they were bummed their memory had to be edited down or omitted, and I feel terrible about that. They took the time to respond, share, but ultimately there is only so much room. However, if someone says the damn thing is 688 pages, why couldn’t you include mine? It’s a valid point.
At the time of writing it's the number one sports book in the country on Amazon. How does that feel?
I’d rather it was a New York Times Best Seller, but I’ll take it. Seriously, you of all people know what it’s like to have your work received. I’ve written more than 1,000 published articles, but a book is different. You run the risk of being insulted, hurt about your work. I never had a problem sending off an article to an editor. Never gave it a second thought and 99.9 percent of the time my piece was published with no editing. A book, screenplay is different. You’re imbuing that project with part of your heart, your real identity. It feels incredible that people are responding, especially to a project like this. I know this sounds corny, but it really is for the
What do you miss most about County Stadium?I miss the days when you could jeer an opposing player, have a few beers with your friends and be a little stupid. You can’t do that anymore. It has all become so sanitized. In the County Stadium days, we’d hit a Friday afternoon and ask friends what they wanted to do that night. “The Brewers are in town.” Great, off to the stadium we went. We’d pick up a 12-pack and sit in the parking lot before the game. I went to Whitefish Bay High School and I distinctly recall hopping on I-43 with much less traffic than you see these days. You could be at the park in 14 minutes with a beer cracked by then. (Legal drinking age was 18.) I’m definitely not a poet, but I still distinctly recall driving down the hill approaching County Stadium with the afternoon sun coming down. You’d walk in and smell the peanuts and popcorn and now you’d arrived. I miss it all.
BOOK EXCERPTThose Crazy Days At County StadiumNew book remembers a beloved home for the Brewers, Packers and rock’n’roll
A newly released book about Milwaukee County Stadium, which opened in 1953 and was torn down in 2001, includes 250 memories from fans, members of the media and former players. It’s not just about baseball, it’s about the concerts, football games and WWE events. Here are memories from Jan Harbold and Dennis Kobs.
Jan Harbold. I worked for Midwest Services, so we did the ushering (or usherette-ing!) and security and crowd control and such, not just for baseball games, but for concerts and Packer games, and the occasional odd jobs like responding to post-All Star Game program requests as well. When I first started working at County Stadium, there couldn’t have been more than 10 of us girls working security, and over 300 guys. The girls told me that the older guys would be really nice to me, but that the younger guys wouldn’t give me the time of day. It was true that the older guys took me under their wing, showed me pictures of their grandkids, taught me all the little, “Do you know what that is for?” around County Stadium, and taught me so much more about baseball than I ever knew before.
The first years working there, my job was as an usherette in the lower grandstand and lower box seats. My responsibilities were to help people to their seats, check everyone’s tickets, keep the aisles clear, watch for fights and people trying to sneak into seats, and if a foul ball flew into my section, go to wherever it hit, ask if everyone was okay, and offer to take anyone hurt to first aid. Oh, and did I mention? My uniform was high white fashion boots, a short blue skirt, a white top—and if it wasn’t too hot, a blue cape! My friend and co-worker Sue would start about every workday saying, “Ready boots? Staaaarrt walking!” Daddy’s friend saw me working there once and told him that I seemed to love watching the people as much as I did the game. And it was true. It WAS my job, and I did scan and try to memorize those who were supposed to be there and try to watch for fights before they get out of control, but I did love it
My first Packer game was a Packers / Bears preseason game. I was recuperating from an eye injury and had just gotten the patch off. My doctor told me the only way I could work that game was to wear sunglasses, even though it was going to be a night game. I thought, fine—I really wanted to work the game. Back then the grandstand extended on the third base side, but they hadn’t built the upper deck over it yet. I was assigned to the lower deck section out there on the end. I put up with all the are-you-a movie-star and can-I-have-your-autograph quips as I showed people to their seats—and then the rain started. Rain stops baseball, but not football. Without an upper deck over me, there was nowhere to stand out of the rain. They issued us raincoats, but they were all men’s sizes, and the coats had nothing on the front indicating “Midwest Services.” So there I was, wearing sunglasses at night, in the rain, looking like a drowned rat, with any evidence that I worked there covered up by an oversized raincoat—the guys had these “train conductor” type hats that make it obvious, but not the girls—and I was going up to people looking like that and asking if I could help them!! The puzzled once-overs and “who are YOU?”s and “how are you going to help me?”s from people were priceless, and totally understandable. \
At another concert, people kept coming up to me showing me a seat number written on slips of paper and asking where that seat was. The seat was near a narrowed aisle across from the entry ramp well. Every time, the people would be standing and talking in the aisle, blocking other people from seeing the concert or using the aisle. So every time, I would go up and tell them they had to move on. The person they were visiting got angrier and angrier, and finally threatened to throw me over the railing into the well. Now I was not as naïve as he thought, and I replied, “Listen, you can sell whatever you are selling in the bathrooms, you can sell them in the concourse, but you CANNOT have your customers standing in my aisle.” Talk about a quick change once he knew that I knew what was going on. He wanted me to sit on his lap (no, you are right, I declined), and every time his people came, he went out with them and kept my aisle clear. Now what I didn’t tell him is that I also knew from other concerts (when my job was to patrol the bathrooms, looking for vandals and OD’s, and to report behavior to the police who were easy to find walking the concourse during concerts.)
Dennis Kobs
I was one of the lucky fans to see Pink Floyd during their “Animals” tour at County Stadium. I was on a first-date with a girl. I wanted to do something that involved more than just going to Bradford Beach or a movie. I also learned thereafter the “field pass” was critical to all future County Stadium concerts and events. We had seats along the 3rd base side but on the aisle and only three or four rows up from the field. Before the concert, lots of people were whooshing past us as the aisle, which was a gateway to the field. It was a great concert–until we were all temporarily blinded when the pig exploded!!
My best memory, was the Brewers vs Angels in the ACLS Championship, Game 5. We had seats along the first base side way up under the upper deck. We spent most of the pre-game tailgating and may have had two beers too many. When we got near the gate a Milwaukee policeman on horseback was handing out MPD Brewer cards to kids….we were 21!! We convinced him to give us drunk bastards some cards. He ended up giving each of us a whole pack of 1982 Brewer MPD cards! Once inside, we had a few more beers and somewhere in the seventh inning we were in our seats when the Brewers took the lead. In the eighth inning, the Brewers still led 4-3 and we had migrated to the aisle heading toward the field. We weren’t going to miss the celebration, should it happen. By the ninth inning we were inching closer to the field, positioned about 20 people back. We figured the lone security guard wouldn’t stop all the people in front of us and surely not us! After the last out we rushed the field. By the time I made it to the pitcher’s mound, all the players had cleared the field and it was crazy with fans running all around. I grabbed a hunk of grass near the mound and stuffed it in my pocket. When I was standing up I noticed one of my friends was being grabbed by security and the police. So I quickly got the attention of another friend to go see what the heck he had done.
Apparently, the friend had tackled Bonnie Brewer and had taken her broom and was running around near second base!! My other friend and myself managed to negotiate with the authorities that if we left right away and exited the field, he didn’t have to arrest us. We left in a hurry and headed home. I still have the cards and the grass!! My friend had to give the broom back as part of his release!! I did go to game one of the World Series that year, but it was a 10-0 blowout and we all thought for sure the Brewers would be World Series Champs!! We all know that didn’t happen.
On Story Parkway: Remembering County Stadium, was published this year and can be purchased here.
Author Jim Cryns has worked as a freelance writer in Wisconsin for more than 28 years, including stories for Urban Milwaukee. He worked at WTMJ and WISN radio as a reporter and anchor.
More books By Jim Cryns
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