Shanty is home for Brewers baseball fans

Gary Porter
Tony Wedl of Jefferson takes a peek at the new day Thursday from his tent in front of Miller Park, where he is waiting for home opener tickets to go on sale Saturday. Wedl set up camp about 10 a.m. Wednesday. About 20 tents were lined up at about 7 a.m. Thursday.
Published on: 2/26/2009

In a sea of 20 or so tents outside the north side of Miller Park, the shanty put together by Eric Smith, Jim Wall, Rigo Reyes and somebody called Trav the roofer is pretty impressive.

It stands about 10 feet high and is about 10 feet wide. It has a frame made of 2X4s and its walls are high-grade cardboard. It won't withstand an ice storm, but it will do for now.

Since about 1 a.m. Thursday morning, it's been home for these baseball fans from Waukesha.

"We want opening day tickets," Wall said. "We were going to come Wednesday and set up, but we decided to do it last night."

The Milwaukee Brewers' Arctic Tailgate party begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, but Wall and his pals wanted to be extra sure they had a shot at the home opener on Friday, April 10, against the Chicago Cubs.

The Brewers normally allot a very limited number of tickets on the first day of single-game sales for the home opener. They are limited because so many season-ticket packages are sold that include that game.

Last Friday, a separate group of Brewers fans started to set up and camp out for the chance to be first in line. But the Brewers quietly sent the group home.

On Wednesday of this week, some fans started setting up tents again, and the party began.

Did we say party? Except for the boys inside the big cardboard box, everyone else was sleeping Thursday morning. The only sound you could hear were traffic helicopters overhead and the din of rush hour traffic on nearby I-94.

The foursome, it must be reported, were enjoying a meal of beer for breakfast. Playing cards were on the table, there was some food nearby, and the small propane heater was producing 15,000 BTUs' worth of warmth.

"Since we're here, we hope to get Saturday tickets against the Cubs, too," Reyes said.

Wall said it took the group about an hour and a half to set up the shanty. "We will take it down Friday night in time for Saturday," he said.

The rest of the tent city had the look of a campground. Small tents, big tents, with coolers, electric and gas generators, cases of beer and Schnapps outside and, of course, grills for the occasional brat or hot dog.

With Saturday's single-game ticket sale only two days, the Brewers' tent city is likely to get bigger and perhaps a little rowdier.

But on a cool Thursday morning, it looked pretty peaceful.