There is no previous written record of people moving to Milwaukee for the climate. You inquire about the place with any of us who are Cream City residents, and we will say to you in all candor: "Milwaukee? It's a great place to bring up kids. But the weather really isn't that good."

But now Milwaukee has become a bailout site for baseball in bad weather. The Cleveland Indians, snowed out in their own lakeside home, are playing an entire home series in Milwaukee against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. That's right. The visiting team from sunny Southern California has to go to Milwaukee to get these road games in.

Milwaukeeans find the irony in this. Then again, we find the irony in many things, including the sausage races.

But here we were, thought of us an outpost where the winters were obviously too long and the cold settled in much too close to the marrow. Now with global warming, the winters are somewhat milder than they used to be, but frankly, the summers are becoming a little too hot. But then we become, for baseball teams that cannot find a place to play, sort of like the inscription on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your snow-covered ballplayers yearning to play nine."

The climate in Milwaukee still isn't exactly San Diego. I would be in Milwaukee as we speak, but I can't get there, because it's snowing too hard in Milwaukee. In mid-April.

But we have a ballpark with a retractable roof. The way things look now, that roof is not going to be retracting any time soon. But it's there at Miller Park and it is keeping the Indians and the Angels in the game and off the streets.

Those of us southeastern Wisconsin taxpayers, who paid for this ballpark, who are still paying for this ballpark and who apparently will be paying for this ballpark for some time to come, do not ask for thanks. This round is on us, but that's just who we are: self-effacing, generous, hospitable, down-to-earth, and most of all, modest Midwestern types. Come on over to our place and play three. It's our treat.

But a word might be spoken here on behalf of one specific Milwaukee native, Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball. When he was president of the Milwaukee Brewers, he spent a good part of his adult life fighting against some entrenched and belligerent political forces to get this park built. It was Selig's belief that only the building of this ballpark would save baseball over the long term for Milwaukee. He was right. But who knew at the time that this ballpark with its retractable roof would also save baseball in Cleveland and Los Angeles/Anaheim?

I hope it was widely observed that, on about five seconds' notice, 19,031 people showed up for the Tuesday night Indians/Angels game. The expected crowd was roughly the 31. The other 19,000 were Wisconsin citizens and baseball fans, showing their true affection for the game. The Chicago Tribune, not known as a pro-Wisconsin publication, described this crowd as "incredibly large."

Milwaukee remains a good baseball town. It was a great baseball town when the Braves were there, the first National League franchise to draw more than 2 million fans in a single season. Some of us are still ticked off about the Atlanta thing. But this turnout for two out-of-town teams was a remarkable public display of baseball loyalty.

It is true that both the Angels and the Indians are regarded as likely winning teams this season. The Brewers have not had a winning season since 1992, even though we built this expensive, retractable-roofed facility for them. There is still bitterness about this in some local quarters. But more than 2.3 million people showed up to see the Brewers not win again in 2006, so the bitterness seems to be outnumbered by the patience and the devotion.

Anyway, the message remains: If your weather is so bad that you can't play baseball, you can always come to Milwaukee. The welcome mat is always out. Our home is your home. Our retractable roof is your retractable roof. We planned ahead, so your baseball would be covered.