Althouse: "Milwaukee hides along the lake, not far from Chicago and closer all the time, hoping like hell no one notices it and decides that every bad thing about rapidly growing cities has to come to Milwaukee now too."

April 15, 2015

"Milwaukee hides along the lake, not far from Chicago and closer all the time, hoping like hell no one notices it and decides that every bad thing about rapidly growing cities has to come to Milwaukee now too."

"Colorado Springs has that big mountain with the Air Force base in it, so you could maybe take over that place and make it a super villain lair. I also had a waitress tell me a really funny dirty joke there one time. But on the whole I’d rather be in Milwaukee."

From "A highly subjective and judgmental ranking of major league and Triple-A cities."

19 comments:

MadisonMan said...: I'm not sure what this article is getting at -- they're suggesting moving the St Louis team to Memphis, or just making St Louis triple-A and Memphis Major League?

I've been to a game in Memphis, and the stadium there, right downtown, is very pleasant. Never been to a game in St Louis. Memphis is not a dying town like St. Louis.

I like the food in Memphis a lot better than the food in St Louis.

The food in Milwaukee is far superior to anything you'll get in Colorado Springs. Besides, long-term, Colorado will be too dry to support much of anything, especially with all the irrigation that will go on to support Marijuana cultivation.; 4/15/15, 7:56 AM
MadisonMan said...: The notion that Milwaukee is rapidly growing is false isn't it? Milwaukee had ~700K residents in the 1950s as I recall, and it's under 500K today. Metro probably not shrinking, but rapid growth?; 4/15/15, 8:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I think the idea is just to compare the 2 cities just because they are linked by a major league team and its triple-A team. A player might move between the 2 cities, so that's the relevant point of view. Getting sent down is bad, but in some cases it's worse than others, and sometimes you get a better locations.; 4/15/15, 8:03 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "Seattle to Tacoma: I’ll make my first trek to Seattle this summer when I do that Amtrak thing. I’m hoping it’s cool. But this is a Neutral, right...?"

Don't let research get in your way.

I am Laslo.; 4/15/15, 8:27 AM
mccullough said...: Milwaukee is fun in the summer. I'd also be rather be in Syracuse in the summer than D.C. And I'd rather be in Salt Lake City in the summer than Anaheim.; 4/15/15, 8:29 AM
MadisonMan said...: Aah -- so if you're going from triple A to the Majors, you go from Colorado Springs to Milwaukee. Gotcha.

That's a big upgrade!

And Memphis to St. louis? Eeww.

(Not much of a baseball fan); 4/15/15, 8:36 AM
CWJ said...: By virtue of where he live, the author hits upon something I noticed while traveling a lot over my career. In deed Althouse might partially be drawn to this article because of it.

Midsize cities that are both the state capital and the seat of the state's primary university offer amenities far beyond what is typical for their size, and are very fun and satisfying places in which to live. The well compensated white collar economy provides an outsized, reliable demand, while the large student population supply youth and energy.

The quintessential examples are Columbus. Madison, and Austin. The glaring exception is Lansing/East Lansing.; 4/15/15, 8:43 AM
Curious George said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/15/15, 8:44 AM
Curious George said...: "MadisonMan said...
The notion that Milwaukee is rapidly growing is false isn't it?"

That notion is of your own design...he didn't say Milwaukee is rapidly growing, he said it had wants to avoid all the problems of rapidly growing cities (like Chicago, which is encroaching.)But too late, it's already does. High taxes, high crime. Shit public school system. And a permanent Democrat government to make sure things just get worse.; 4/15/15, 9:04 AM
MadisonMan said...: I agree that Columbus is a very nice city.; 4/15/15, 10:07 AM
mccullough said...: The University of Michigan is in Ann Arbor and is the primary university.; 4/15/15, 10:11 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: My God, triple-A? As if there aren't enough empty seats at major league games. Baseball sucks!; 4/15/15, 10:29 AM
CWJ said...: McCullough,

You're partially correct as far as you go. And I don't think UofM elitists would disagree with your Ann Arbor first partiality. Yes, UofM has the snob appeal the MSU lacks. But the two universities are nearly identical in size. Indeed MSU used to be substantially larger. They simply excel in different academic areas.

But you've hit on one aspect of why Lansing/East Lansing is an exception: namely the lack of one dominant campus with the state capital adjacent to the less "cultured" of the two campuses. Also, state capital or not, Lansing's blue collar auto industry component made a far larger proportion of the local economy. Finally, adjacent though they may be, Lansing and East Lansing are separate cities each running in their own circles so to speak.; 4/15/15, 10:56 AM
cubanbob said...: mccullough said...
The University of Michigan is in Ann Arbor and is the primary university.

4/15/15, 10:11 AM"

Thinking about Detroit you may have hit the solution on the head so to speak. Move the state capital and the the primary university to Detroit. That would be an interesting experiment in urban renewal.; 4/15/15, 10:58 AM
JSD said...: My nephew played minor league ball from 2001-07. I traveled around in a motor home with his dad and watched him play for a few weeks. It was a great trip. AAA teams and cities are always changing. While the AAA cities treat you nice, there is no comparison between AAA and the major leagues.

He played three seasons with the Buffalo Bisons. Buffalo’s best days are long gone, but the park is relatively new and is surrounded by some of the greatest architecture of the 19th and 20th century. Hard to believe, but at one time Buffalo was an economic giant. The buildings are all that remains of the glory days, but they are beautiful.

He also played in Portland Oregon, which had a nice old park. Most parks smell of popcorn and hot dogs, but this park smells of weed wafting through the air. In typical Portlandia fashion, the city renovated the park for MLS Soccer and gave baseball the boot.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre actually has a cool stadium built into the side of a mountain. We saw a ball game in the afternoon and Dave Matthews played there that night. It’s not as bad as the author makes it seem.

The author makes a big deal of how nice Columbus is today. They have a brand new park and affiliation with Cleveland. It wasn’t always like that. Columbus used to be the Yankee affiliate and had the worst AAA park in the International League. It was really hard to believe that the gold standard Yankees had such shitty AAA facilities.; 4/15/15, 11:11 AM
JSD said...: I’m always happy when baseball starts. Winter is over, the Red Sox are playing and all is right with the world. Football is much better suited for the ADHD world of today, but I grew up on baseball. I thought I always thought I understood the game, until my nephew started playing professionally. Baseball is more complex and nuanced than I ever imagined. Players reach their peak later than any other sport because it takes so long to learn the game.

Leo Durocher has the best quote, “Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand” Although these days, I don’t think many are going to church either.; 4/15/15, 12:12 PM
SteveR said...: So this guy has been to some places and knows about some others. And he's got a keyboard and an internet connection. End result: a stupid article.; 4/15/15, 12:37 PM
LarryK said...: SteveR, you got that right - lots of uninformed speculation here. Stupidity fills the many, many gaps in his knowledge.

And sorry, Memphis residents - your city has put out some great music over the years, but it's a pit. St. Louis pizza is also one of the wonders of the world. Not saying StL is the world's most glamorous place, but people who live there tend to like it. Memphis, not so much.; 4/15/15, 1:09 PM
cold pizza said...: I don't know. There's something about coming out of the tunnel at Cheyenne Mountain to the upper parking lot, when all the clouds are below you, and it looks like a sea of marshmallow stretching east to the Kansas border. It was my secret villain lair for about a year or so back when NORAD had a real mission.

There's also plenty of great restaurants if you know where to look for them. Not counting the bowling alley on Petersen AFB. -CP; 4/15/15, 4:08 PM