My favorite professional baseball team is the Detroit Tigers. My mother was a huge fan and watched or listened to every Tigers’ game, and the radio broadcast was the soundtrack of my summers in the 1970s and 80s. The Tigers in 2025 have the best record in Major League Baseball (MLB), and we were looking to go to a game during our visit to the USA. Unfortunately, Michigan is a big state, and Comerica Park, where the Tigers play, is an 8-hour drive from Caspian. The Milwaukee Brewers (4 hours) and Minnesota Twins (5 hours) are actually closer to my hometown than Detroit (8 hours). When I saw the glamorous Los Angeles Dodgers playing the Milwaukee Brewers this week, I decided to see the final game of a 3-game series yesterday. It was an afternoon game, so we could drive down in the morning and return in the evening.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are “glamorous” because their principal owner, Mark Walter, is a very wealthy man (estimated $12 billion in personal wealth). The team is part of the Guggenheim Partners portfolio, a global financial firm controlling $335 billion in investments. The Dodgers have the MLB’s highest annual payroll at $338 million. The average MLB payroll is $171 million. Being able to spend twice as much as the other teams gets you players like Shohei Otani ($70 million/year) and yesterday’s pitcher, Tyler Glasnow ($33 million/year). The Milwaukee Brewers, as a small-market team, have a payroll of $115 million.
We had a great family day at the American Family Field stadium in Milwaukee. The Brewers came from behind to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and win it in the 10th inning 3-2 on Venezuelan centerfielder Jackson Chourio’s single.
The main attraction in the game was to see Shohei Otani. He didn’t have a particularly good game with 2 strikeouts, two walks, and a fly out to center field in his 5 plate appearances. His size (6 feet 4 inches tall) and speed on the bases were impressive! We got to see a close game and some outstanding, athletic plays by world-class athletes. American professional sports really know how to provide a comfortable and entertaining fan experience. There was free WiFi, bars, restaurants, food stalls, shops, etc., on the concourses around the stadium. Our seats were in the sun so the girls spent much of the game walking around the stadium and enjoying the atmosphere of the game. Oliver, Owen, and I focused on the game.
I remembered during the game the last time I attended a Milwaukee Brewers game, exactly 40 years ago this summer. In 1985, my godfather, Bill Leonoff, who was working for the local radio station, WIKB, aired Brewers games on the radio then, and so he took me up into the press box for a two games against the then-Oakland Athletics. I remember getting all the free food I wanted, and it was cool to receive the media packet of statistics for both teams.
Overall, it was a great experience. My one complaint is the cost of attending a game. We paid $30 per ticket (5x=$150) plus $40 for parking, $12 beers, and a tank of gas to drive there ($60). A day at the ball park costs between $300 and $400 for a family of five. That is OK for a one-off experience, but I don’t see how people can afford to attend a lot of games. The attendance was over 33,000 people for a Wednesday afternoon game, so it has not hit the point of being too expensive, obviously. It would be nice if everyone involved in MLB would take less money to provide a more affordable experience for fans. I don’t think this will happen, though.
Bill's Blog 