10/20/2026
The Milwaukee Brewers are going to the World Series! I know you're probably thinking...what's does this have to do with The Blackhawk? This took me back to my youth, back to the great times that my Dad and I had together. Running a small family business is alot like marriage, they both take sacrifice, neither marriage or being in business is easy. My Mother Shirley made the sacrifice so my Dad and I could go to the Brewer games during my youth. I remember when our sons Noah and Jonah were young, my wife Tena would "hold down the fort" as I like to say. I and the boys would always take a day the last week of August, when it was slower and we'd go to Noah's Ark Waterpark for the day. Back to Brewer baseball, my Dad would take me to 6-8 games every year. We never planned way in advance because planning revolved around the family business. I have many fond memories of visiting County Stadium, Home of the Milwaukee Brewers. My Dad and I attended one of the last games, back in September, 2000. One year, the Brewers opened the season early and both my parents and I went to the game, I was in my late teens, it was early April and The Blackhawk wasn't open yet for the season. I was so happy to be at the game with my parents and watching my Mom experience County Stadium for the first time! I remember, we all froze our a off!! However, the best memories came from my youth. Making our way to the Will Call so my Dad could purchase the best tickets still available. One time, this meant walking by the Chicago White Sox fans tailgating. They had a paper mache prop, and I remember my Dad laughing, saying.."These White Sox fans are crazy!" There was the game when the Brewers played the Detroit Tigers, it was either 1982 or 83? The PA announcer said that Tiger 1st baseman Enos Cabell was at bat. Some drunks behind us shouted "Enos the P #!/%", lol. One time, my Dad got us seats in the Mezzanine area. These were great seats! We had a small metal floating table in front of our seats. I had a place to set my extra large Pepsi and Dad a place to set his b**r along with the giant bag of salted peanuts in the shell that we shared. I would always bring my baseball glove to every game, with hopes of catching a foul ball. One time, when my Dad was buying tickets, I heard him tell the ticket agent, "give us two seats that give my son the best chance of catching a foul ball". Sure enough, we were in the nose bleed seats of right field. No one was around us for batting practice, and we NEVER missed batting practice. The late great Charlie Moore, was warming up in right field and as he was coming in from batting practice, he lauched me the practice baseball into the upper deck. I quickly retrieved it as it carmmed off the nearby empty seats and I noticed other kids running my way. I was stoked! Although it wasn't an actual game ball, the fact that Charlie Moore threw it my way was all I could think about the rest of the night. It was usually always when the games were done because it seemed we always went to night games, that when the game was over, I was fortunate to get a Brewers souvenir, with the promise that I'd work it off within the next week. We would then walk back to the car, a red 1978 Pontiac Bonneville. I remember it well, because it had a huge back seat. My Dad would get us back to the car, get me in and make sure the doors were locked and he'd go net working for 20-30 minutes, or longer. My Dad always had a stack of business cards in his wallet and he'd hand them to anyone he met. After all, there was no internet then, all advertising was either print or word of mouth. Soon, he'd return, drive us home and many times he'd wake me up as I would sleep the entire way home, in the back seat as i would sprawl out in the back seat. There was one game that my Dad and I went to that my Dad seemed more focused on something else, instead of attending the Brewer game. We exited off the interstate, I believe it was exit 294, heading towards Sussex, Wisconsin. I asked my Dad..."where are we going?". My Dad said something like, your Mother rented a room to a guest and I have to check on it. Soon, I noticed traffic was slowing, time was passing, I was growing impatient. My Dad parked the Pontiac Bonneville in front of the Sussex Police Department. I asked him something like, why are we stopping at the police station? I remember saying "we're going to miss batting practice!" My Dad, highly mad now, replied with, "your Mother rented a room to this S !f a B/ #!% and his check bounced and I am going to try and collect for him!!!" 😳🤔😡 🥶🥜🍺⚾️😂
