Today In Brewer History: County Stadium's Last Packers Game

Milwaukee County Stadium is best remembered, of course, as the longtime home of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves before them. You may have forgotten, however, that as recently as 18 years ago today the ballpark also hosted regular season NFL games. The last of 126 NFL games at the old park was played on this day in 1994.

The game was a big one for the Packers as Brett Favre went 29-for-44 passing and threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns, then rushed for another to provide the final score in a 21-17 Green Bay win over the Falcons. The win improved the Packers to 8-7 on the season and kept hopes alive for just their third playoff appearance in 22 years.

The next season expansions at Lambeau Field allowed the Packers to play all eight of their regular season home games in Green Bay, and the NFL hasn't been back to Milwaukee since. That's probably for the best, as County Stadium wasn't built for football. From the stadium's Wikipedia page:

The playing surface was just barely large enough to fit a football field. The football field itself ran parallel with the first base line. The south end zone spilled onto the warning track in right field, while the north end zone spilled onto foul territory on the third-base side. Both teams occupied the east sideline on the outfield side, separated by a piece of tape. At its height, it seated less than 56,000 for football--just over the NFL's minimum seating capacity--and many seats had obstructed views or were far from the field.

With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• 2012 Brevard County Manatee Taylor Jungmann, who turns 23.
• Milwaukee native Joe Randa, who turns 43. Randa played 12 major league seasons between 1995-2006 as a member of the Royals and four other teams.
• 1981-84 Brewer Roy Howell, who turns 59.
• Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Opening Day right fielder Steve Hovley, who turns 68.
• Zoilo Versalles, 1999 inductee into the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame, who would have turned 73.
• Rice Lake native and Madison alum Clay Perry, who would have turned 131. Perry was a member of the 1908 Tigers.

Finally, today is the third anniversary of the Brewers signing Kameron Loe to a minor league deal in 2009. We covered that event in this space last year.