County Stadium Model Scoreboard

HISTORY Thursday, April 10, 1980 Despite it being your standard, bitter cold Opening Day at Milwaukee County Stadium — 43 degrees — optimism for the stadium’s primary tenant, the Milwaukee Brewers, was unusually high. After two 90-win seasons under George Bamberger to round out the 70’s, along with a second-place divisional finish in 1979, Brewer fans had reason to believe the 80’s were going to be a big decade for the club.  Over the off-season, the home of the Brewers received a major face lift to help stoke the excitement: A distinctive, brand-new scoreboard that, at the time, was the largest in the world.  It came with controversy. The company that built it, Omega, paid to fly a number of Brewers officials to Saudi Arabia to show them what one of their installs could do, a sales pitch bordering on a bribe. Then there was debate between the Brewers and Milwaukee County in 1979 as to who would pay the $1 million for the new install. Both groups wanted to own the board to get the reve