BY ANDREI GRESKAFOXSportsWisconsin.com
Seeing a replica of Miller Park made out of 35,000 LEGOs is a treat in and of itself. The time and imagination required to accomplish such a feat is almost incomprehensible.
Seeing a replica of Miller Park made out of 35,000 LEGOs including a fully functional mechanical roof, well, that's just too good to pass up.
At least that's what Nathan Stalvey, curator at the Louisville Slugger Museum, and the rest of his staff thought when they first saw Tim Kaebisch's LEGO model of Miller Park.
"We had talked about doing a LEGO exhibit a couple of years ago," Stalvey said. "We did some research and then we actually came across an internet video of the Miller Park LEGO model on YouTube. We saw that and we said ‘We have to have this.'"
After getting in contact with the library at the Milwaukee School of Engineering where it was being housed, they were put in contact with its creator Kaebisch, a Milwaukee resident and MSOE graduate in architectural engineering, who was "floored" that the Museum wanted to display his Miller Park replica.
Kaebisch had originally come up with the idea to build the stadium when he attended the groundbreaking of Miller Park on Nov. 8, 1996, he said in an entry on a LEGO builders website last year. He completed his first version in 2001, continuing on with seven more versions until the finalized product was completed in 2008.
Transporting the replica stadium from Milwaukee to Louisville was no easy feat for Stalvey.
"None of the pieces on the structure are glued down, so there was no way we would have enough trust to ship it. Instead I flew up to Milwaukee and rented a minivan to drive it down myself," he said. "The structure was sectional so we took it apart into those pieces. The roof comes off and the stadium is split in two pieces on the base that can slide it together. We ended up loading it up like that. We packed some blankets around it and kept checking it periodically to make sure it didn't slide around. We also put the roof in a separate box to keep all the mechanical components together."
Once in Louisville, the reaction was immediate.
"It was really interesting when we wheeled it in to the museum the first time. We had it uncovered on flatbed dollies during open hours so kids who were already in there were staring and following us trying to see what exactly it was."
The LEGO Miller Park is now part of this summer's main "Big Leagues, Little Bricks" exhibit at the Louisville Slugger Museum housing a variety of baseball-inspired LEGO creations including a portrait of Derek Jeter and a model Wrigley Field. It was open to the public on March 1 and will continue on display through Labor Day.
"We originally anticipated the public reaction would be pretty good, but it has far exceeded our expectations," Stalvey said. "Adults come in and are shocked to see all these great creations, particularly when we turn Miller Park on, which we can do three times a day."
For those fans in Milwaukee unable to go down to Louisville to check out the exhibits, the Louisville Slugger Museum is coming to them. There will be a special exhibit at Miller Park this Memorial Day weekend featuring Hank Aaron's 700th home run bat. Fans will also be able to hold bats used by Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Geoff Jenkins and Rickie Weeks.
