The field was situated about one mile northwest of downtown Milwaukee in the eastern part of a block bounded by West North Avenue on the north, North 16th Street on the east, North 18th Street on the west and West Lloyd Street on the south. The field faced due north, so Lloyd Street ran directly behind home plate and the grandstand.
History
The first occupants of the Lloyd Street Grounds were the Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League, which opened the park in 1895 after leaving Athletic Park, the eventual Borchert Field. The Western League renamed itself the American League in 1900, but was still officially a minor league. In 1901 the American declared itself a major league, retaining Milwaukee as one of its charter members.The first major league game at Lloyd Street came on and the last major league game there was played on . For 1902, the Brewers announced they were moving to St. Louis to become the St. Louis Browns, where they remained until , when the Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Orioles.
A new Western League formed in 1902, with the Milwaukee Creams as a charter member. This club played for two years in competition with the new Milwaukee Brewers of the newly-formed American Association, which had re-opened the park eventually known as Borchert Field.
The city was too small to support two minor league clubs, and the Western entry folded after 1903. The Western League continued on until 1937, maintaining a close relationship with the American Association, trading franchises back and forth on occasion, and playing post-season series from time to time. But 1903 was the end of the Western's Milwaukee experiment, and of the Lloyd Street ballpark as a professional venue.
Majors
When the National League contracted by four teams, it opened the door for a second Major League. Ban Johnson, who was the President of the minor Western League, decided to step up his league to the top level, changing its name to the American League. He placed teams in cities that the National League had just shunned, and other teams were placed in already existing National League cities to create a rivalry.With all this moving around, only two cities survived from the Western League: Detroit, which would soon experience a boom thanks to the burgeoning automotive industry; and Milwaukee, which was years away from being a major-league sized city. Almost from the start of the season plans were underway to relocate the Brewers; this resulted in the club finishing dead last with a 48-89 record. The Brewers would move on to St. Louis the following season, and become the Browns.
Milwaukee would be a successful minor league city for years, before, getting another Major League team in , when the NL's Braves moved from Boston. After the Braves left Milwaukee without a team again in , the Milwaukee Brewers were re-incarnated in . Ironically the Pilots moved from Seattle after just one season, as had the original Brewers 68 years earlier.
References
- Lloyd Street Grounds
- Michael Benson, Baseball Parks of North America, McFarland, 1989.
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Last updated on Tuesday July 15, 2008 at 18:04:34 PDT (GMT -0700)
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