Baseball Travel: Alumni Coliseum, Butte

Butte Copper Kings / Alumni Coliseum

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Rating

Specifics

Address/Directions: 2920 N. Sherman Av., Madison. Alumni Coliseum is located on the Montana Tech campus, close to the World Museum of Mining. Directions to both entities can be found on the I-90 freeway. For those who want explicit directions: from I-90 (either westbound or eastbound) take the northbound Montana Street exit and head northward toward uptown Butte. When you reach Park Street, hang a left (west) to the Montana Tech campus. Drive past the statue of Copper King Marcus Daly by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (amazingly enough) and look to the left, where you'll see Alumni Coliseum.
Phone: 406-723-8206.
Web: www.copperkings.com
Online ticket sales? No.
Online broadcasts? Yes.
Capacity: 1,500
Year Built: 1962.
Dimensions: 340L, 450C, 355R.
Last Visited: July 14, 1999.
League/class: Pioneer League, Advanced Rookie.
Affiliation: Anaheim Angels.

Description

Alumni Coliseum is barely a step above a neighborhood playground. Seating only 1,500 (and this seems to be an optimistic estimate) and lacking any seats with backs (including the more expensive reserved seats), Alumni Coliseum is perhaps the worst stadium in minor-league baseball rivalled only by the rather shabby conditions up the freeway at Missoula's Lindborg-Cregg Field.

Part of the problem with Alumni Coliseum is its weird and awkward configuration. The grandstand sits across from the Montana Tech football grandstand, so the view toward left field consists of a football stadium and other Montana Tech buildings. The outfield is actually the football playing surface. From the grandstand seats, you're looking toward the southeast (as opposed to the standard northeast view), which means that anything on the third-base side is a sun field during an afternoon game. Most of the seats are under a roof, though the ends of the grandstand are not. It is a football stadium awkwardly configured for baseball.

There's been some debate about the future of the Copper Kings: the team drew barely over 26,000 fans in 1998 (even with the celebrity ownership of Bill Murray and Mike Veeck), averaging almost 700 fans per game. Murray and Veeck must have seen what was coming, because they bailed out of the Copper King situation earlier this year and sold to a group of investors that includes some local ownership. In 1999, attendance is actually down from that dismal 1998 average, as minor-league mainstays like the Famous San Diego Chicken failed to draw more than 1,000 fans to a game. As a result, there's talk that the Copper Kings will be abandoning Butte after the 2000 season unless attendance picks up or a new stadium is planned.

And, indeed, there is talk of a new stadium, as Butte city government decides what to do with mining-company money devoted to public improvements. In nearby Anaconda, a heavy polluted area has been transformed into a stunning Jack Nicklaus golf course, and Butte could do worse than to emulate that success with a noteworthy public works project that includes a new stadium.

In the meantime, it's easy to see why the locals don't get too excited about the Copper Kings. Alumni Coliseum is a run-down and inhospitable place to watch a ballgame. There are rumors that the Pioneer League is looking at a shift to the south into Utah and Colorado, so don't be surprised if the Copper Kings bail out should a new stadium fail to pass in Butte.

Concession Highlights

The concession offerings aren't particularly noteworthy: mediocre and expensive ($1.75) hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, peanuts, et al. The beer selections are similarly limited (Miller, Miller Lite, Miller MGD, and Bayern, a Montana microbrew), although you can buy beer by the yard and keep the plastic yard glass, cord and all.

Smoking

I didn't test the smoking restrictions, but other Montana stadiums hew to a smoke-free policy.

For the Kids

As you might expect in any ballpark once graced with the presence of Mike Veeck, there's a children's play area; in this case, a couple of McDonald's outdoor play areas. One of them, the McBurglar play area, is well-known in legal circles as being a launching pad for successful lawsuits, as more than one child has suffered serious injuries after either being caught in or falling out of this shrine to poor design. Bottom line: don't let your kids run around unsupervised in the playground area.

Parking

Parking is free in the adjacent lot and in Montana Tech lots across street. With 700 fans a game, you don't need to worry much about a crowded parking lot.

Before/After the Game

Between the discovery of copper and 1970, Butte was widely regarded as being the wildest place in the Wild West, where frontier justice ruled and where only the strong survived. The many copper mines in the area -- most of which can been seen scattered throughout the city -- contributed to the lawlessness, as miners worked for low wages and were constantly at the whim of the mine owners. There probably wasn't an area in the United States where the vast gulf between the haves (the three Copper Kings, their families, and the upper management of the mines) and the have-nots (the miners, mostly of Eastern European and Italian descent) was so visible.

Today, Butte is still a rough town of sorts, but not nearly as rough as it was before the mines closed down in the 1970s. Spending some time in town, you can't help but be struck by the schizophrenic approach the town takes toward its history. On the one hand, there's newfound recognition of the miners and ethnic groups and the important role they played in the town's development. The Granite Mountain Mine Memorial honors the 168 miners killed in a 1917 mine fire, the Mah Wah Society (17 W. Mercury St.) building honors the Asian influence in Butte, mostly among those who worked on railway construction.

On the other hand, there's the constant glorification of the Copper Kings and their opulent lifestyles. To see the logical conclusion of this glorification, take a self-guided tour of the Berkeley Pit, the largest truck-operated open-pit copper mine in the United States, and one of the most serious hazardous waste sites in the world. The pit -- which is now partially filled with water and leaching hazardous waste into the region -- is an awesome and depressing reminder of the utter greed behind the mining industry. An entire section of Butte -- the poor Italian section, of course -- was bulldozed to make room for this environmental mess.

When the mines closed and the mining companies abandoned the area, Butte fell into an economic tailspin that still lingers in the area. As a result, uptown Butte feels like it did in 1960 or so. There are few new signs or stores in the downtown area. While not exactly a ghost town, there is the sense of abandonment that comes with the cessation of time in a given area, which makes a gander through uptown Butte worth your while.

In that vein, a trip to the World Museum of Mining is recommended. Built around the abandoned Orphan Girl mine, with the mine headframe still intact, the museum features an 1890s mine camp with the appropriate machinery, as well as a recreated village (Hell-Roarin' Gulch) that purports to show how miners lived. The main attraction is the building housing the elevator works, which has been turned into a historical exhibit of the town and tries to honestly show how life was for both the miners and the owners.

If you want a look at the other end of the economic spectrum, visit the Copper King Mansion (219 W. Granite St.), the former home of Copper King William A. Clark. It's now run as a bed-and-breakfast, though open for tours.

As you might expect from such an unchanged environment, ethnic foods -- in the case of Butte, pasties (PAST-ees) can be found in abundance. Two dining experiences reflect the era: Gamers (15 W. Park St.), an uptown soda fountain that's looks relatively unchanged since its beginnings at the turn of the century, and Joe's Pasty Shop (1640 Grand), which combines pasties with a bar and gambling. The last remains of Old Finn Town can be found at the Helsinki Bar & Grill (402 E. Broadway), where you can combine a sauna with a cocktail and dinner.

Falling under the "too-weird-to-pass-up" category: the Dumas Brothel Museum (45 E. Mercury St.), celebrating America's longest-running house of prostitution. Complete with gift shop and photography studio,

For your jolt of caffeine in the morning, check out the Blue Venus Coffee Lounge (124 S. Main) or Columbian Garden Espresso (27 N. Main).

Finally, for a unique dining experience, check out Pork Chop John's (8 W. Mercury and 2400 Harrison Av.), where the delicacy of choice is the original pork chop sandwich.

Where to Stay

The Harrison Avenue exit (#127) from I-90 is the gateway to a cluster of hotels, ranging in price from the War Bonnet Inn (2100 Cornell Av.) and the Comfort Inn to the relatively upscale Ramada Copper King (4655 Harrison Av., 406/494-6666). A more unique choice would be the Finlen Hotel in uptown Butte. Towering over uptown Butte, the Finlen was once the hotel of choice for those desiring swanky, upscale surroundings. As Butte fell into decline, so did the Hotel Finlen, and it was converted into senior apartments. Today, some rooms have been converted back into hotel spaces, and the lobby is undergoing a renovation. Similarly reminiscent of the past in uptown Butte is the Capri Motel (220 W. Wyoming St.).

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