I’m still surprised that I haven’t heard of this sooner.
For the 32nd year, the Milwaukee Brewers hosted their Annual Clubhouse Sale yesterday and today from 8am to 7pm. 100 lucky John & Cait … Plus Nine readers were invited to check the place out on Thursday night.
I missed out on that, but did get over to Miller Park today at about 11 in the morning. The clubhouse sale is just that – an opportunity for fans to see Miller Park from a brand new perspective, and stock up on some cheap memorabilia just before the holidays.
The main draw for myself, my brother, and his girlfriend was to see the clubhouse. After entering through the Friday’s restaurant entrance (where we stopped for lunch afterwards), we took the elevator down and followed our directions to the visitor’s clubhouse on the third base side.
Understandably, the team showers, weight room, etc were all off limits. Despite this being the visitors clubhouse and the offseason, there were still shampoos and shaving cream bottles and such stacked in the bathroom. The hallway leading to the main clubhouse area was lined with black and white photos – some old Milwaukee Braves, a lot of New York Yankees, and even a picture of Ernie Banks and Willie Mays standing together at Wrigley Field.
The clubhouse was set up pretty much how you see it on television. Nice wooden lockers line the outside with some bigs TVs in the middle. For the sale, each locker was filled with discount t-shirts on the hanger and caps up top, as you can see in the photograph of me above. Old Nyjer Morgan, Manny Parra, and Shaun Marcum t-shirts were on sale for five dollars. That’s a great price, especially from the team itself.
There was a bit of game used memorabilia as well. The glass cases of bats, hats, and batting helmets you see in the Team Stores were moved down to the clubhouse for the sale. There was another barrel of bats, mostly from Carlos Gomez. Game used baseballs and unmarked hats were twenty bucks. A huge banner, presumably like the ones you see outside of Miller Park, caught my eye: Craig Counsell. Upon hearing the price though ($250), I settled for a hat instead. Since every 25th customer got a free used champagne bottle, I couldn’t walk out empty handed.
I’m very pleased with the game used hat I bought. My phone isn’t working, so I can’t take pictures of it right now, but it was cheap ($20), it’s really dirty on the brim with chalk or rosin or something, and it bears the number “55″ on the bottom of the brim. The number for the MLB Authenticator doesn’t work just yet, so I don’t know whose hat it is. But I didn’t see any numbers I recognize in the pile, so I went with the dirtiest one. Once I get my phone working, I’ll take a few pictures and see if anyone can identify it.
In the end, I applaud the Brewers on a great idea. Inviting fans into the clubhouse is a great way to get rid of this merchandise. The prices are pretty good. It’s free to attend, and a great experience. As my brother said, if the Chicago Cubs ever did anything like this, we’d drop what we’re doing and go down in a heartbeat. It’s really that cool.
