Happy Holidays from Borchert Field!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Thank you again for reading, and for bearing with us in this rather trying 2017. Now that the Journal Sentinel archive is back online, we're looking forward to a very productive New Year.

Milwaukee Magazine: "The Story Behind This 1953 Brewers Ticket"

Milwaukee Magazine has a great look at an artifact from a Brewers game that was never played.

A ticket to what would have been the first game ever played at Milwaukee County Stadium, had the Braves not moved west from Boston. (Private collection); Photo by Tyler Yomantas

THE STORY BEHIND THIS 1953 BREWERS TICKET

MATTHEW PRIGGE
NOVEMBER 1, 2017

LAST UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 3, 2017

County Stadium helped to make Milwaukee Big League in 1953, but it nearly opened with a minor league tenant.

The Brewers had been Milwaukee’s home team for over a half-century when the Boston Braves relocated to the city, bringing Major League Baseball to Wisconsin for the first time since 1901. Those Brewers were minor leaguers, members of the American Association, and played their home games at Borchert Field on the city’s north side.

By 1950, with a number of east coast Major League clubs struggling, Milwaukee – which always gave the Brewers ample support – was seen as a potential destination for a team in need of a new hometown. That fall, ground was broken on Milwaukee County Stadium, a publicly-financed modern ballpark that, it was hoped, would lure a Major League baseball team and (just maybe) the NFL’s Packers out of Green Bay.

In the meantime, the new stadium secured a tenant in the minor league Brewers. After a number of construction delays, an opening date of July 24, 1952 was announced. The Brewers would have the privilege of playing in the minor’s most luxurious park until a Major League tenant was secured. Unfortunately, more delays pushed the opener back to April, 1953 and it now seemed that a big league team could be secured for the ballpark’s debut.

While the city chased the St. Louis Browns, who were in dire need of a new hometown, the Brewers prepared for an opener at the new stadium. Printed materials from the end of the 1952 season boasted of the new park even though the stadium’s backers were aghast at the idea of the park opening as the home of the Brewers. Over the winter, the Boston Braves, who owned the Brewers, opposed a Browns move to Milwaukee on the grounds that Milwaukee was too valuable a territory to surrender without a comparable market to which his Brewers could move.

Of course, no city could offer a brand new stadium for a minor league team, and the Braves’ objections were mostly to delay any action until they could orchestrate their own shift to Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Brewers were forced to act as if they would actually open the season at County Stadium. Arrangements were made and tickets were printed but, just weeks before the season was set to open, the Braves move was approved and the Brewers were sent packing, relocated to Toledo to operate as the Mudhens.

This ticket, one of a few known of its kind, could have been exchanged for a ticket to the Braves opener at County Stadium (with an extra 75 cents to make up the difference in price) and would have allowed the bearer to see a great game in which the brand-new Milwaukee Braves topped the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on a walk-off homer by Bill Bruton.

Outstanding.

I'd love to learn more about how this exemplar came to be framed, with its typewritten caption:

"1953 MILWAUKEE BREWERS TICKET FOR GAME NEVER PLAYED AS BOSTON BRAVES MOVED INTO MILWAUKEE THAT YEAR"

Milwaukee Brewers Grounds Crew Jacket (New and Improved!)

Ebbets Field Flannels is introducing a new line of Grounds Crew Jackets, replacing the versions they've had in production since 2009.

Their Borchert Field version includes a special treat for Milwaukee Brewer fans: an Owgust patch!

MILWAUKEE BREWERS GROUNDS CREW JACKET

$125.00 $99.00

American Association

History: The American Association Brewers started play in 1903, with the colorfully-named Jiggs Donahue leading the league in hitting. The club maintained a rabid fan base for half a century, until they were supplanted by the Boston Braves, who became the first MLB franchise in modern history to relocate. The Brewers name was revived in 1970 when the bankrupt Seattle Pilots moved to the Cream City.

ITEM: MILWJ

PRODUCT DETAILS

• Lightweight cotton blend water resistant fabric
• Heavy duty brass zipper
• Slash pockets in front
• Felt chest emblem & felt letters on back
• Pencil pocket on left sleeve
• Cellphone pocket inner-left chest
• Made in the USA

Please allow 3 - 4 weeks for production

Can't wait to see this.

Vote Now in the Brewers' "YOUniform" Contest!

The Brewers have been running a "YOUniform contest", where fans were encouraged to send in submissions for a one-off batting practice jersey and cap. The winning design will be worn in a Spring Training game.

The semi-finalists have been announced, and I'm pleased to say that two of the three incorporate the "Beer Barrel Man", Owgust's descendant.

Let's look at all three.

The first entry (in no particular order) is from Ron Verrecchio of Catonsville, MD:

The next set was designed by Ben Peters of Richfield, MN:

And finally comes this design from Nicholas Fout of Madison:

I have to admit, I'm very much partial to Ben's design. Looks a little like something I worked up for the Brewers not that long ago. And if that's the winning design, I will definitely buy the cap.

The fans have been given a vote as one of eight judges (the others to include reliever John Axford and General Manager Doug Melvin). The fan vote is now open, and will remain open until Tuesday, January 22 at 10a.m. Central time.

You can vote once per day, so vote early, vote often!

His Place in Brewers History

Milwaukee Brewers PR Manager John H. Steinmiller tweeted out this photo of a new mural added to Miller Park:

Located in the concourse behind the right field corner, it showcases logos (although not necessarily primary logos) of the big-league club throughout its history.

I'm glad to see the Beer Barrel Man, with his long connection to the original Brewers, recognized by the Brewers in any context.

Until we get a real memorial to the Brews, secondary tributes like this one will have to do.

Owgust on Ice

I don't know how I missed this at the time, but the Beer Barrel Man, the major league Brewers' version of our own Owgust, was featured on a Milwaukee Admirals stadium giveaway last winter.

This resin ornament, standing about 4½ inches tall, was given to the first 2,500 fans who entered the Bradley Center for the Admirals/Grand Rapids Griffins game on Friday, December 9.

Unlike the Brewers' 2009 bobblehead giveaway, which used my updated BBM concept rendering, this features the classic 1970s version. White barrel, white sleeves and all. Appropriate for hockey.

The Brewers are a major sponsor of the Admirals, and some important figures within the baseball team's organization are part of the Admirals' ownership group, so there's a natural tie-in between the two franchises.

I love that the BBM is on skates and carrying a hockey stick; it continues the long tradition of Owgust playing different positions on the diamond. He can hit, pitch, catch and play the field; why not try his hand at hockey?

Who knows? Perhaps the next time the Admirals have a special throwback event, we could try convincing them to wear a BBM patch rather than the ball-in-glove they usually sport.

Jolly Cholly as a Beer Barrel Man, 1951

I have several 1951 progams in my collection, all with this unusual Beer Barrel Man on the cover:

It wasn't until very recently that I realized that the picture was actually of manager Charlie Grimm. The original image comes from this 1941 wire photo:

GRIMM TAKES OVER AS MANAGER OF BREWERS

Milwaukee, Wis.: Charley Grimm, former manager of the Chicago Cubs, coaching back of first-base in night game between Minneapolis and Milwaukee Brewers, after he had taken over job as manager of the Brewers. The Brewers lost the game, 8-4, the first since William Veeck and Grimm joined the Brewers with several of the Cub players.

(collection of Paul Tenpenny)

The two uses of this image, wire photo and program cover, reflect Jolly Cholly's two periods at the helm of the Brewers.

His first managerial stint, started in 1941, lasted through the beginning of the 1944 season, when he was hired away by the Chicago Cubs. While Grimm was in Chicago, the Brewers were sold and resold, ending up in the hands of the Boston Braves in late 1946 (a move which spelled the end of the Brewers' long run as an independent ballclub).

Grimm was fired by the Cubbies in 1949, and the Braves hired Grimm to manage the top rung of their farm system ladder... the Milwaukee Brewers. To celebrate his return to Borchert Field, the Brewers dug out an old wire photo of the skipper from his previous stay in town, dressed him up in Owgust's beer barrel, and put him on the program cover.

Hats off to the Beer Barrel Man

The Beer Barrel Man gets another issue, this time on an unstructured cap by '47 Brand (which used to be known as Twins Enterprise and Twins 47, and is still the best cap manufacturer out there).

A version of this cap was released last year, but without the white keyline around the logo, causing the bat's speed lines to be lost against the background; this embroidery is a clear improvement.

Even the little logo tag on the back is period-appropriate, in this case a gold 1970s block "M".

This is now my absolute favorite cap: perfect headwear for a run through the postseason.

So far as I know, this cap is currently available only at Miller Park. Hopefully it will be available online soon for those of us not fortunate enough to visit the ballpark on a regular basis.

True Blue

This photo was published in the Milwaukee Journal on Sunday, February 1, 1942:

Mickey Heath Tries On the New Brewer Uniform

The new baseball uniforms for the Brewers arrived last week and Mickey Heath (left), back with the club as coach, tried on the home suit. He and Rudy Schaffer, club secretary, are holding up a shirt of the road uniform. Home uniforms are of white jersey and the road suits are dark blue. At present the most important date on the Brewers' calendar is the one shown in the picture—Apr. 16, opening day.

This marked a sea change for the Brewers, the first time their working-man nickname was featured on the jerseys.

There's more to notice in the photo. I'm particularly fond of the socks - three red rings on navy. And in the background, over Mickey's shoulder, you can see a framed photo of the 1926 Brewer club, famous for its 21-game winning streak.

Then there's the jacket lying at Mickey's feet. A solid-color satin dugout jacket, with thin white stripes at the collar and cuffs, and this gorgeous patch on the chest:

To my knowledge, this jacket (and a wool late-season version with tan leather sleeves) was the first and only appearance of Owgust, the beer barrel man, on the club's gear.

But an all-navy blue road uniform? I had never heard of the Brews wearing such a thing. Stunning.

The uniforms appear to have inspired some taunting from opponents. The Milwaukee Journal reported that Minneapolis Millers coach Roy Kolp found some small joy while watching the Brewers steamroller his club in both halves of a double-header 8-3 and 10-3:

The Brewers continued to wear the blues regardless of the ribbing, as seen in this Toledo Blade clipping from September 14, 1942, as the Mud Hens were on their way to knocking the second-place Brewers out of the American Association playoffs. The Brewers in the field are easily distinguishable by their navy union suits, even in this blurry photo:

The blue experiment was short-lived, however. By 1943, the Brewers had returned to wearing traditional gray flannels on the road, as seen in this photo from Nicollet Park in Minneapolis:

And, of course, we have our own exemplar of a 1943 road jersey from Paul Tenpenny's collection:

I can't help but wonder, though. The complete absence of blue on those 1943 gray road uniforms has long puzzled me. Blue defined the Brews for their entire existence, except for this one blip. Red lettering with white outlines, just like Heath's 1942 blue roads.

Is it possible that a cost-conscious ballclub simply removed the wordmarks, trim and numbers from the blue uniforms and sewed them on the new road grays? It would explain the lack of one of the Brewers' signature colors.

Although Veeck's road uniform experiment was short-lived in Milwaukee, Sport Shirt Bill would return to the all-navy road uniform in 1976, introducing one as part of his 1976-81 retro-style White Sox uniforms, most famous for the short-lived Bermuda shorts option. Once again, Milwaukee was the incubator for many of the gags which Veeck would take to the majors.

The Beer Barrel Man Returns. Again. Sort Of.

The Brewers have unveiled a new logo for the upcoming season, marking the 40th anniversary of their arrival in Milwaukee:

This logo will also be featured as a sleeve patch on all jerseys (including the long-rumored, not to mention long-overdue, road alternate which proudly reads "Milwaukee" across the chest).

If the background looks familiar, it should - the distinctive shading across the barrel is borrowed from the 1970 recoloring of the Brews' classic swinging-for-the-fences Beer Barrel Man logo.

Wonderful to see the BBM get some more of his due, even obliquely. Now if we can just get him on the sleeves....

It's No Diego Rivera, But It'll Do

I have some rather mixed feelings towards Miller Park, but one of the things I absolutely love about the place is its respect for many areas of Milwaukee baseball history. In addition to the current Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves, there are shrines to lesser lights such as the Milwaukee Bears and Chicks, Milwaukee's brief experiements with the Negro National League and All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, respectively.

The Brews aren't so honored (yet, if I have anything to say about it), but they are immortalized alongside the Braves and the current ballclub in a series of murals around Miller Park.

There, between beermaking images, is a scene from Borchert Field.

Okay. That's the good. The bad is that, even allowing for artistic license, the Brews never wore anything like that in the Awkward Confines of the Orchard. That's the gray road uniform.

The cap shown there is from 1947-1952, the period in which the Boston Braves owned the team (and which would be subsequently adopted by the National League franchise when they moved west to the Cream City). The jersey, not so much.

We've talked a little about the Braves-era Brewers uniforms before. At home, the Brewers wore a script "Brewers". In 1947, the Brews were still wearing their classic wordmark, with its distinctive "B".

By 1952, the Brewers' last year of existence, their uniforms had evolved to almost a perfect match of those of the Braves:

The piping is now definitely red/navy/red. Note the style of "B" and the Greek "e" on the script, which originated in the Boston Braves wordmark (even the "w" is just two Braves' "v"s run together).

As an aside, and in the same anacronistic theme, I noticed an interesting detail on the mural honoring the 1970 Brewers, entitled "BACK IN THE BIG LEAGUES".

There on the scoreboard, right below Milt Mason (the original Bernie Brewer) in his perch, is a recolored Beer Barrel Man:

Not exactly true to the period, but very cool. Further justification for putting him on the team's sleeve. As if we needed any more.

A Pleasant Surprise

Following up on my previous post about Beer Barrel Man merchandise, he made another appearance at Miller Park this year, one which had previously flown under the radar.

On May 30th, 2009, the Brewers held a stadium promotion featuring a certain swinging batter:

This went unnoticed, because the page on the Brewers' site said only:

Cooler Bag

Receive a cooler bag.
First 15,000 Fans
(21 and older)
Presented by Miller High Life

Who knows what other retro goodies lie undeclared on the remaining 2009 schedule?

Mystery Merchandise Revealed

As I detailed in a previous post, Milwaukee Brewers spokesman Tyler Barnes had mentioned in a Journal Sentinel article back in March that the Beer Barrel Man merchandise was on the way:

The Barrel Man was used less after the 1978 season. Bernie Brewer gets top billing now, but Barrel Man still lurks at Miller Park.

"We have a good amount of Barrel Man products on order, and it should be in very soon," said Brewers spokesman Tyler Barnes. They include shirts, caps and plush Barrel Man toys.

I hadn't heard about them actually hitting Miller Park shelves until today.

Visiting my family in Milwaukee, I went to a game with my brother and stepfather. Aside from an outstanding 6-3 victory over the Mets, I found these in the Hot Corner team store:

It's an interesting assortment. Looking left to right, starting with the gold t-shirt:

This "Welcome Brewers" logo, while made to look as though from the 1970 inaugural season, was actually created in the 1990s by MLB Properties for inclusion in the Cooperstown Collection line.

MLB worked up a whole bunch of throwback logos for the various clubs. The same logo appears on the shot and pint glasses.

I like the 1970s Beer Barrel Man cap, even if I'm not wild about the gold bill. And the stuffed Men are pretty cute.


The second cap is definitely the same c. 1970 water transfer Flex-Cote decal we've seen before.

The blue t-shirt is a women's cut, and it features a variant of the Beer Barrel Man which was featured on the cover of the team's 1975 Media Guide (hence the uniform number).


For what it's worth, the caps seem to be the only items currently available in the Brewers' online shop. But that can change - I know the gold t-shirt was up there earlier in the season.

So, on the whole, my reaction? Something of a mixed bag. I wish there was more focus on the Beer Barrel Man himself, aside from the "Welcome Brewers" dressing. But I'm so glad the Brewers are finally recognizing this long-neglected chapter in their history (and Milwaukee baseball history in general), I don't really mind.

Now it's our turn. If you're also glad that he's getting a shout out in the land of the Ball and Glove, let the Brewers know. Perhaps even buy an item or two. That might be the only way we can get the National League outfit to recognize the legacy of the American Association Brewers in any form.

Paging Mr. Attanasio....

Response to my idea of adding the Beer Barrel Man to the current Brewers uniform has been overwhelmingly positive.

At the risk of turning this into a National League Brewers blog, I'd like to post another uniform concept for the big league club. Caveat: I've never been a very big fan of the current Brewers' scheme - it's too sterile, too ad-agency-design, and is completely divorced from the city's long baseball tradition. I'd love to see them overhaul their look.

Here's my proposal to give the current bearers of the name the unique and modern look they deserve, while at the same time honoring the whole of Milwaukee's baseball history, including (and especially) the American Association Brewers.

The details, in no particular order:

Sleeve patch
For me, it all starts with bringing back the one, the original, the Beer Barrel Man. Symbol of Milwaukee baseball since at least 1901. Time he finally made the sleeves.

Wordmarks
The script font on the home jersey is Saloonkeeper, based on the script used by Leinenkugel's. It's surprisingly similar to the script used by the Brewers in the 1940s. The road wordmark is based on a 1930s Pabst Blue Ribbon label - I'm terribly fond of that one.

Colors
The color scheme utilizes the blue and gold influenced by the current colors (the only thing I really flat-out love about the current scheme). I've moved the home uniform to a light cream to reflect Milwaukee's nickname as The Cream City, as well as the various historical baseball teams known as the "Creams" and "Cream Citys".

Accent Striping
I included the shoulder piping not only because it has an historical precedent, but would also create a pattern currently unique in the majors. Another way to instantly identify the team. The Brewers used a similar thick piping from 1996-1999, and it looked great.

Number font
The numbers are what I call a simple square block. Again, they could be as easily identifiable as the San Francisco Giants' numbers are, without either drawing too much attention or sacrificing legibility. FWIW, I'm basing these on a number font worn by the Packers in the 1940s.

The cap logo
Well, I've always wanted to use a bottlecap in a Brewers concept. And the block "M" on the bottlecap clearly references the Milwaukee Braves and the American Association club.... okay, maybe I'm officially overthinking this one.

So there you go. Heavily influenced by the past while being (I hope) distinctive and modern enough to work today.

Join the Movement

Based on my conversations with Paul Tenpenny, I'm more convinced than ever that the time is right to lobby the Brewers for a small uniform change, honoring Milwaukee's baseball heritage (as well as the National League team's past in particular):

And just for good measure we can put this wrong to right:

Come on, Mr. Attanasio. It's time.

UPDATE 04/13/09: Paul suggested that this might be a more realistic goal:
Even that would be a step in the right direction. The deadline for 2010 season changes is May 31st of this year, so we need to spread the word soon. Time to step up to the plate:

UPDATE 2/17/10:
Well, we're partway there....