On This Day - "Girls Selected to Play Here"

After the Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee's morning paper, broke the news of the first three All-American Girls Professional Ball League players assigned to the new Milwaukee Chicks team, the afternoon Milwaukee Journal was able to follow up with the full roster.

On this day seventy-five years ago, on Wednesday, May 24, 1944, the city of Milwaukee was introduced to its new ballclub. Or, at the very least, the women who would wear its uniform.

Girls Selected to Play Here

Three Are Canadians

Journal Staff Correspondence

Peru, Ill. – Girls from seven states and three provinces of Canada make up Milwaukee's first all-girl ball team. They were selected here Tuesday night after a week and a half of spring training in the All-American Girls' Professional Ball league.

The girls are: Pitchers Connie Wisniewski, 22, Detroit, Mich.; Lafern Price, 18, Terre Haute, Ind.; Viola Thompson, 22, Greenville, S.C.; and Josephine Kabick, 22, Detroit. Catchers Emily Stevenson, 18, Chapaign, Ill.; and Dorothy Maguire, 25, Cleveland, Ohio. Outfielders Shirley Schulze, 21, Chicago; Thelma Eisen, 22, Los Angeles, Calif.; Olga Grant, 23, Alberta, Canada; Mary Shostal, 19, Winnipeg, Canada. Infielders Judy Dusanico, 22, Regina, Canada; Vivian Anderson, 23, of 2417 N. 68th st., Milwaukee; Doris Tetzlaff, Watertown, Wis.; ALma Ziegler, 22, Los Angeles, Calif.; Dolores Klosowski, 21, Detroit; and Betty Whiting, 18, Ida, MIch.

Vivian Anderson, the only Milwaukee girl on the team, is a graduate of West Division high school. She has been playing ball about 12 years. She is married to Staff Sergt. Dan Anderson, who is with an army unit on maneuvers in Tennessee. Vivian works for the E. F. Schmidt Co.

The chaperone of the Milwaukee team will be Dorothy HUnter of Winnipeg, Canada, a player with the Racine team last year. Max Carey is manager and Eddie Stumpf general manager.

The girls will leave Peru early Thursday and will play their first game in Milwaukee on Saturday. They will live in private homes while in Milwaukee.

I love the focus on Vivian Anderson, as the only native Milwaukeean on the Opening Day roster. We've looked at her career before; she was scouted out of the very popular West Allis League, where she had met her future husband as a coach.

"Andy", as she was known to her teammates in this league of nicknames, lived with her parents during the season. The curious newspaper convention of the day, where people mentioned in articles are identified by their full address, lets us know what her commute would have been like.

By my reckoning, 2417 N. 68th Street is actually in Wauwatosa. But perhaps that wasn't the case in 1944, or it was a distinction not worth noting. Regardless, it's a straight shot from her house to Borchert Field, fourteen minutes by car today.

I wonder if Vivian ever made that fourteen-minute drive to the Orchard to watch the Brewers play?

So now the initial roster was set. The team was coming together, and Opening Day was right around the corner. The Milwaukee Chicks were about to hatch.

On This Day - Who Will "Wear the Red and Grey of Milwaukee"?

On this day in 1944, Milwaukee Chicks managerMax Carey was working with the players of the All-American Girls Professional Ball League at their Spring Training in Peru, Illinois. Carey, along with the skippers of the other seven clubs, were dividing up six score ballplayers between them. And the Milwaukee Sentinel, or at least a Chicago freelancer cashing a Sentinel paycheck, was there to cover it.

The article is by Margot Patterson, who had been covering Spring Training for the Sentinel.

CAREY 'PICKS' GIRLS FOR LOCAL LINEUP

By MARGOT PATTERSON
Sentinel Staff Correspondent

LA SALLE, Ill., May 21 – Allowing for the fundamental differences of the game, Max Carey, who is to manage the Milwaukee Girls professional team, said today he would challenge any man pro to face the pitchers in the All-American Girls league.

"There isn't one of our pitchers," he declared enthusiastically, "who doesn't pack a few surprises."

Although rained out of the exhibition games which were to be the deciding factors in the final selection of team members. Carey already has his eye on a few of the players whom he was watched in practice.

SCHULZE IS PICKED

For centerfield he has picked Shirley Schulze of Chicago who played last year with the Rheingold industrial team. Miss Schulze, a good looking blonde, has speed and finesse in the field and is a good hitter.

Two Los Angeles girls, Annabelle Lee and Alma Ziegler, look good to Carey for first and second basemen and Betty Whiting of Ida, Mich., a solid all-around player would be his choices for shortstop.

On the mound he would like to have either Audrey Haine of Winnipeg or Connie Wojnewski of Detroit. Haine, who has an amazing delivery, is easily one of the outstanding pitchers in the league.

EQUAL DISTRIBUTION

"For the rest of the team," Carey commented, "I'll have to wait until the games to decide and then choose." The players will be distributed equally to provide a balance of talent to all teams. The final decision will be made by the managers in council with Ken Sells, league president, and Jimmy Hamilton, scout and vice president.

Carey, who is a newcomer to girls' baseball, can barely wait until he knows which of the girls will wear the red and gray of Milwaukee.

"Women," he continued, have taken their place in most of the major sports—swimming and golf, for example. This is the league that will do the same for them in baseball."

I think this might be the first reference in print to the uniforms the Chicks would eventually wear. As anyone who has seen A League of Their Own knows, each team in the AAGPBL would wear identical tunics in a distinctive team color. They wore those same tunics for all games; the league wouldn't introduce different home and road uniforms until 1948. The original teams were Rockford (peach), Racine (gold), Kenosha (green) and South Bend (blue). The tunics were a pale version of the color, while the caps, belts, and socks were a darker shade (red, brown, kelly green and royal blue, respectively.

For the 1944 season, the new kids in the league were also given their own unique shades. For Milwaukee, it was a soft dove gray. A good traditional baseball color, even if one rarely seen on the home team. Even so, it was classic, and fitting for Otis Shepard's classic mid-century design.

You can see the difference between the players' gray tunics and the white flannel uniform worn by Carey himself in this photo:

As for the players that Carey wanted to wear Milwaukee's gray uniforms, the pitcher mis-identified by Ms. Patterson as "Connie Wojnewski" was actually Connie Wisniewski, and Carey was indeed able to land her for the Milwaukee pitching staff. Lucky for him, and very lucky for the fans in Milwaukee; Wisniewski hurled her way to a 23-10 record in her freshman year, and was an integral part of the Chicks' championship.

Wisniewski would go on to win the AAGPBL's inaugural "Player of the Year" award for MVP in 1945, and is pictured here in her Milwaukee grays on the back cover of Whitman's Major League Baseball: Facts and Figures and Official Rules, 1946 edition.

Mother Carey was also able to secure Alma Ziegler for his squad. She went on to a long career with the Chicks, first in Milwaukee and then in Grand Rapids, playing until the league ceased operations following the 1954 season.

Centerfielder Shirley Schulze also made the team but struggled in the AAGPBL, appearing in only fifteen games in one season in the league.

Betty Whiting was a better pickup. She was a utility player for Carey, logging time at first base, the outfield, and catching (though not at short). She too had a long AAGPBL career, playing for seven teams in nine seasons. That journeyman wandering shouldn't be read as poor performance, though; as Patterson notes in her article, the league had a tendency to shuffle good talent as well as bad in an attempt to create parity across the teams. Whiting was one of those, a solid player welcomed wherever she went.

Whiting at Borchert Field

Max wasn't so lucky with his other two targets, though. Both Annabelle Lee and Audrey Haine ended up with the other expansion team in Minneapolis. Ah, well, you can't win 'em all.

Carey wasn't able to get all of his preferred players into "the red and grey of Milwaukee", but he got enough of them to field a great ballclub.

On This Day - "Baseball Gals Are Awaiting Contracts"

This column is part of our "On This Day" review of the Milwaukee Chicks' championship year. Exactly seventy-five years ago, on this day in 1944, that the women of the All-American Girls Professional Ball League, were wrapping up their Spring Training in Peru, Illinois.

And after largely ignoring the league to date, the Milwaukee Sentinel stepped up strong with its coverage.

It may be below the fold, but the Sentinel was at least devoting a nice chunk of its sports pages to the women's league.

There are actually two stories here, both well worth examining.

The first, and longer, piece gives us a rare peek into the human side of the league's spring training.

BASEBALL GALS ARE AWAITING CONTRACTS FOR THE SEASON

By MARGOT PATTERSON
Sentinel Staff Correspondent

PERU, Ill., May 20—There is hijinx in the locker rooms at Washington park, the Peru, Ill., ball field where the All-American Girls Professional Ball league is completing spring training.

NO MAN'S LAND

An almost imperceptible air of suspense hovers over the 130 girls who have sifted in for the final weeding out. Many have their fingers crossed, hoping they will be offered contracts to be signed. Those who have contracts aren't sure to which team they will be assigned.

In the "no man's land" that is the locker room, the players come and go, happy go lucky, giving no indication of their status. In the center of the room a coach-chaperone rubs down a player with a practice lame arm. On the benches sprawl other players, an outfielder who forgot to put sunburn lotion on the backs of her knees, a third baseman who has turned an ankle. Another coach-chaperone, who has just helped button one of the players into a uniform, mends a catching glove.

As they rest between practices, or dress before games, some talk turns to husbands, many of whom are overseas, or the brothers or friends in the armed forces. Once in a while they will query a new girl about her out of season occupation, for new girls arrive continuously. Out of season they follow such fields as school teaching secretarial work, welding, bookkeeping, housekeeping. Some few are students, just out of high school or completing a second year of college.

BIG LEAGUE COACHES

Right now main interest is centered in the practice diamond. They swing bats, warm up, and take instruction from former big leaguers who are teaching them the ropes.

There is no sign of feminine jealousies. On the side lines, at the locker room, back at the hotel in he evening an easy camaraderie reigns. The girls' ages range from 15 up —oh, say, to 24. Their likes and tastes are similar and they gather like campers to listen to one who can play a mouth organ or piano.

Today, when no player knows to which team she will be assigned. all are close friends. Later, after all are assigned to the six teams in the league, they will single out their team mates with intense loyalty.

When teams are selected criticism will become sharper. Now it is impersonal—for all have the American virtue known as good sportsmanship. Later they intend to prove to the spectator public they retain that — along with an intense desire for victory.

Fascinating. I'm not familiar with Margot Patterson, the "Sentinel Special Correspondent", but I'm almost positive that's Margot Patterson Doss, who went on to write a column for the San Francisco Chronicle for thirty years. Ms. Doss had graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, about sixty miles south of Peru, the previous spring, and was working as en editor for Seventeen magazine in Chicago about this time. Seems a likely candidate for the Milwaukee papers to contract for a human-interest story.

And this doesn't read like your typical sports-page filler. Ms. Patterson makes the scene come alive with vibrant and emotional detail usually overlooked by (overwhelmingly-male) sportswriters. Perhaps we can forgive Patterson her small dig at "feminine jealousies", for all the work she does making these women come alive even today, seventy-five years later.

There's a second piece on this page, but that deserves its own entry.

"One of These Days the Sun Will Come Out to Stay", 1944

This beautiful exemplar of Milwaukee Brewers letterhead was sent to a fan in Florida exactly seventy-five years ago, on March 27, 1944.

March 27, 1944

Dear Mr. Esch:

Enclosed please find copy of our roster for your information.

Our team is coming along real well, except that we have been having a miserable time with the weather in spring time training. I am sure, however, one of these days the sun will come out to stay, and we will really bear down and get all lined up.

Looking forward to seeing you real soon and with all good wishes, I am

Yours very truly,

R. M. Schaffer
General Manager

RMS:BV
Enc.

If it looks familiar, it should. Nearly six years ago, we took a look at another example of this letterhead, also from 1944. There's so much to like about it; the Owgust figure in the upper left, the formal name "Milwaukee Baseball Club" across the top and a jaunty "The Brewers" beneath Owgust's feet. Not to mention the old-fashioned addresses: "MILWAUKEE 6" and "TELEPHONE CONCORD 3180", as exotic and foreign to our eyes as a web address would have appeared to Mr. R. M.Schaffer.

That is, of course, Brewers GM Rudie Schaffer. A public accountant by trade, he started doing the Brewers' books as a consultant before being hired full-time in 1935. After Bill Veeck bought the team in 1941, Veeck recognized talent in Schaffer and promoted him to GM just months after taking over the team. That led to a lifelong association with Sport Shirt Bill, as Schaffer left the Brews in 1946 to work for Veeck with the Cleveland Indians. He later followed Veeck to the St Louis Browns in 1951 and Chicago White Sox in 1975. During a period when Veeck did not own a team, Schaffer served as GM for the International League's Toronto Maple Leafs.

The "BV" who typed Rudie's letter refers to Betty Voss. She would go on to be Assistant Secretary for the Brewers, even sometimes signing her own letters.

The weather at Spring Training was "miserable" because for the second year in a row wartime travel restrictions had forced the Brews to relocate their training camp from Ocala, Florida to Waukesha. Anyone who has ever faced March and April in Wisconsin knows what Rudie was talking about; there's a reason they put a roof on Miller Park.

The recipient of the letter is another notable figure. Harold L. Esch was born in Milwaukee in 1922 to a notable local family. His grandfather, Hiram F. Esch, served the city as Foreman for the First Ward and as a Deputy Sheriff in the early 1900s. Before that, Hiram had patented a "fifth wheel" for stabilizing wagons. Harold's other grandfather, John M. Nash, was a businessman and inventor who developed wordworking machinery, which he sold under the company that bore his name.

Harold carried on the family tradition of innovation as one of the pioneers of baseball collecting. He started by collecting autographs at Borchert Field in the 1920s, and when he moved with his parents to Florida in the 30s he started haunting spring training sites. He was famous in the hobby for asking players to add a date to their signature, be it on a photo or a 3x5 card.

Hank Greenberg signed photo "to Harold Esch", March 31, 1942
(photo credit: Goldin Auctions)

Harold was a sportsman himself; he started lawn bowling as a boy in Milwaukee and continued after the move to Florida. He went on to be named "1960's Bowler of the Decade" by the U.S. Lawn Bowling Association. He married the former Vivian Clark, herself a championship lawn bowler.

Harold L. Esch (center) in 1967
(photo credit: Bowls USA)

Esch also served as President of the American Lawn Bowls Association, the manager of the US World Bowls Team, and upon his retirement was named Honorary Life President of the ALBA. For those accomplishments, Esch was a charter member of the USLBA Lawn Bowls Hall of Fame, where he was later joined by his wife. I wonder if they were ever asked to sign and date a 3x5 card?

Harold died in 2010, and his carefully dated autographs have been dispersed throughout the hobby. The roster enclosed to him by Schaffer, sadly, has not survived with this letterhead.

Beaming Smiles "Under the Florida Sun", 1942

In early 1942, three very handsome fellows posed for the camera at Spring Training in Ocala, Florida:

UNDER THE FLORIDA SUN—If the beaming smiles flashed by the trio of Brewers baseball masterminds mean anything, Milwaukee fans can expect a lot of fireworks at Borchert field this summer. Left to right are Coach Mickey Heath, Manager Charlie Grimm, and Coach Red Smith. The Brews play their first exhibition Sunday against Tulsa.

Mickey Heath was starting his second stint with the Brewers. He had come to Milwaukee as a first baseman in 1937, was promoted to player/manager after the firing of Brewer skipper Al Sothoron two years later. Brewers skipper Charlie Grimm brought him back as a part-time coach, and Heath would work his way up to vice president, team pitchman, and radio voice of the Brewers.

The man in the middle needs no introduction. Charlie Grimm, baseball's own "Jolly Cholly", is a giant of the sport. He followed up a twenty-year career at first base with a legendary coaching career. He helmed the Chicago Cubs for fourteen seasons over three separate stints (including as part of their "College of Coaches"). He was also the skipper of the Brewers from 1941 into the first part of 1944, and then again in 1951 before being called up to the parent Boston Braves. Jolly Cholly was in charge of the Braves when they made their triumphant march to Milwaukee.

On the right, Red Smith was himself a Brewers icon, starting as a backup catcher and quickly winning the hearts of Brewer fans (not to mention management). After retiring, he became a coach, then manager, then finishing out as the last General Manager the Brews would have.

I love the uniforms they're wearing. This is the classic late 1930s/early 1940s Brewer look. Thick blue soutache piping, red "M" over the heart. Outstanding.

This photo was published on the Milwaukee Sentinel's sports pages on March 22, 1942.

It was later republished on June 17, 1956, the morning after Charlie Grimm stepped down as manager of the Milwaukee Braves, It was part of a retrospective of Jolly Cholly's baseball career in Milwaukee. But sadly, that edition isn't part of the online Sentinel archives.

We do have a partial caption, glued to the reverse of the wire photo:

in 1942 Jolly Cholly was in Milwaukee as manager of the Brewers having a rollicking time with Coaches Mickey Heath, left, and Red Smith.

Good to see that the Sentinel remembered the Brewers even after Milwaukee went to the big leagues.

"Rookies and Regulars" at Hot Springs, 1933

This interesting team photo was taken as the Brewers were in Spring Training at their Hot Springs, Arkansas camp.

THAT LANGUOROUS SUNSHINE AT HOT SPRINGS. Rookies and regulars snapped on the bench before the start of the daily workout.

This was part of a series of photos taken at the spring training camp by shutterbug Frank Scherschel and published in the Milwaukee Journal on Sunday, April 16, 1933.

The Brewers had just opened the season at Louisville with a series against the Colonels, and were nearly two weeks' away from their April 27th home opener. The Journal gave its readers one last look back on Spring Training with a full-page spread of Scherschel's photos in the back of the paper.

Let's hope some of the other photos surface - there are some great shots here, too good to be lost to bad Xeroxing.

Our photo is interesting for its casual nature. Taken from an angle, as the players are focused on another camera (a professional brought in by the club? A local Hot Springs journalist?).

There's also an interesting mix of uniforms, plain and pinstriped.

The pinstripes could be the Brewers' 1931 road uniforms. I'm reluctant to read too much into colors in these photos, as many factors from exposure to film stock can influence the sepia tones, but it looks as though the caps of those two uniforms might be different. Or it could just be the light.

I'm intrigued by the gentleman standing in the back; at first glance I thought he might be longtime Brewers trainer Harry E. "Doc" Bruckner, who had been with the Brewers since 1920. But that doesn't look like Doc.

Need to do more research.

Young and Polli in Spring Training

This Spring Training wire photo, dated April 2, 1933, shows catcher Russ Young conferring with right-handed pitcher Lou Polli.

Let's look first at the two men.

Russell Charles Young was an institution behind the plate at Borchert Field, with over 800 appearances in a Milwaukee uniform over the course of eleven seasons. He made his professional debut with the 1923 Brewers at the ripe old age of twenty. A two-sport athlete, Young left baseball in 1925 to play one season with his hometown Dayton Triangles of the NFL. He must have decided he had a better future in baseball, because he was back with the Brewers in 1926. In 1931, he had a cup of coffee with the St. Louis Browns, during the brief time the Brewers were owned in part by Philip De Catesby Ball, who also owned the Browns. Young saw action in sixteen games during his time in the majors, but managed only a .118 batting average, and was back with the Brewers the following spring. He flourished in Milwaukee, and bounced back with an excellent season as the Brews' starting backstop. As the picture was taken he was about to have his best season overall; in 1933 he played 113 games as catcher with a .302 batting average and 72 RBI.

Louis Americo Polli has been called "one of the greatest pitchers in minor league history". He was born in Baveno, Italy in 1901, immigrating to America with his family when he was just seven months old. After coming up through the Yankees organization, he came to the Brewers in 1931. Like Young, Polli also spent a short stint with the Browns; his was in 1932, making him the first Italian-born player in Major League Baseball history. He pitched 6²⁄₃ innings over five games in St. Louis, earning an ERA of 5.40. He had more luck that year as a starter in Milwaukee, making appearances in 26 games and earning a record of 14-6. Polli threw a no-hitter against the St. Paul Saints on September 7, 1935, before moving to the International League's Montreal Royals at the end of the season. His career would eventually span twenty-three seasons, all of it in the minors except that one stint with the Browns and a slightly longer nineteen-game run with the New York Giants in 1944. When he died in 2000, he was the oldest living former major league pitcher.

This is one of my favorite Brewer uniforms; about eight years ago I had Ebbets Field Flannels make a reproduction. Very classic; navy details on gray flannel. Pinstripes and piping, rare to see these two elements paired these days but not uncommon in its era.

The photo itself is also interesting for the retouching. Click to enlarge, and you can see the details exaggerated and rough edges smoothed out in those very pre-Photoshop days.

Young's face has been pulled away from the background by a liberal application of white, and dark streaks accentuate the detailing on Polli's uniform.

There are more interesting details in the lower half of the photo:

Look at the suit of armor Young is wearing on his legs. Looks like rivets.

We can also see that Polli's socks have a Northwestern stripe pattern, one thick stripe surrounded by two thinner stripes. It's dangerous to extrapolate colors from old sepia-toned photographs. I presume those are the same socks our Brewers were wearing in 1931: red stripes on a navy background.

All in all, another wonderful look at our Brewers from the early 1930s.

"The Rookies' Dream", 1936

I love this photo, printed in the Milwaukee Journal eighty years ago today.

THE ROOKIES' DREAM of spring baseball training—Lin Storti, Brewer infielder, is a veteran and knows from bitter experience that a pose like this is just a gag. He was photographed near the Milwaukee training camp at Lake Wales, Fla. (Journal Color photo)

Lin Storti was the Brewers' third baseman, settling in after his first complete season at his new position. He was a superb hitter who led the 1934 Brewers with a .330 average and an amazing 35 home runs, nine more than his closest teammate. He slumped a bit in 1935 with 29 home runs. Among the Brews, that was second only to Ted Gullic's 33, and the next-closest Brewer behind those two was Frank Doljack with a mere nine.

Storti's production did not go unnoticed around the league, and the Minneapolis Millers had tried to pry him away from Milwaukee after the 1935 season. The Brewers turned down all offers, even when Minneapolis Manager Donie Bush offered the then-amazing sum of $5,000 for him.

The Brews weren't interested, though, as manager Al Sothoron considered Storti a key to Milwaukee's chances for a pennant in '36.

With all that in his recent past, Lin must have felt pretty good on that Florida day in Spring Training. He could well afford a little gag.

"Filling Up on Oranges", 1936

As the 1936 baseball season approached, eager Milwaukee baseball fans could turn to the Sunday edition of the Milwaukee Journal to see what their Brewers were up to, and to get a peek into Spring Training with a nice color photo.

This picture was published in the Journal eighty years ago yesterday, on Sunday, April 5, 1936. It shows the Brewers having a little fun at their Spring Training camp.

THE MILWAUKEE BREWERS are in Florida this year and they are taking advantage of their opportunities by filling up on oranges. This picture shows a group of regulars with Sam Levy (in civilian clothes), Journal baseball expert, in the Waverly orchard near Lake Wales, where the training camp is situated. The American association season starts next Sunday, with the Brewers meeting Louisville in the Kentucky city. —Journal Color Photo by Frank J. Scherschel

Good to see the boys weren't all taking themselves so seriously.

The Journal's color photo section continues to be an amazing window into Milwaukee Brewers history. Even the photos we can only access through library archives, photocopied and scanned and stripped of their color, carry a unique power. I only hope an original turns up one day.

Spring, 1944: Julio Acosta Tosses One In

This gorgeous 8x10 photo features Julio Acosta, the Brewers' Cuban pitcher, showing off a little follow-through.

Acosta was central to one of president Bill Veeck's best gags; in late August 1943 Veeck secretly bought the left-handed hurler's contract and had Acosta jump out of a cake during an on-field birthday party for manager Charlie Grimm.

So can we date this photograph? In addition to stamps indicating "Milwaukee Journal Library", there is a stamp on the reverse indicates that the picture was filed on Monday, June 12, 1944. At that point, Acosta had been on the team less than a year, so the window is fairly narrow as these things go.

This uniform design predates the Veeck administration; a solid uniform with thick, dark royal blue piping and a red block "M" on the chest. Sport Shirt Bill introduced his own design starting with the 1942 season, his first full season in charge.

The patch on his left sleeve is even more telling; it was introduced to commemorate the "100th birthday of baseball", and was worn by all professional clubs during the 1939 season. The Brewers were no exception; here we can see it on the gray flannel road jersey of then-player/manager Minor "Mickey" Heath:

Look at how long Heath's sleeves are in that picture! In the early 1940s, baseball fashion was changing. Sleeves were shorter, and this jersey had its sleeves crudely chopped off above the blue piping to make them fit the period's preferred style.

So Acosta is wearing a jersey that is at least four years old. It's therefore most likely that the photo was taken at Spring Training in 1944. Even today it's still common for clubs to re-use old uniforms in spring and exhibition games. If that's the case, the location is Waukesha in the outer Milwaukee suburbs. Wartime travel restrictions caused the Brewers to move their Spring Training camp to a closer location.

There's another tantalizing detail, although a bit out-of-focus. There's an unidentified right-handed player wearing a team jacket.

Although it's not clear in this photo, that jacket features a patch of team mascot Owgust, and it is one of my personal Grails. I don't know if any still exist, but we can certainly hope.

In 1943, or at least the nine appearances he made in a Milwaukee uniform, Acosta went 3-1 with an ERA of 3.89. He finished 1944 with the exact same ERA, this time with a 13-10 record from 36 appearances. He bettered all those numbers in 1945, a 15-10 record and 3.44 ERA. Those good times were not to last; in 1946 Acosta struggled in Spring Training and was provisionally sold to the Little Rock Travelers. His struggles continued in Arkansas, and they returned him to Milwaukee in June. Unable to get him back to his old form, the Brewers released him outright that month.

Today in 1944 - the Brewers Take On the Badgers

With the start of the 1944 season just ten days away, the Brewers welcomed the University of Wisconsin's varsity baseball team to Frame Field in Waukesha for an exhibition game.

Everybody knows it's a homer as the ball soars from Jim Pruett's bat toward the Fox river at Waukesha Saturday. The Brewer catcher pounded two balls into the river for round trips as Milwaukee opened its spring exhibition schedule with a 14-4 victory over the University of Wisconsin. The picture shows him hitting the second homer in the seventh innings. Wisconsin's catcher, Al Gassman, and Umpire Hack watch the ball as intently as Pruett as it rides high and far.

Based on the description, it appears that the ballfield might still be in the same place as it was seventy years ago when our Brews used it for Spring Training. Frame Park is on the east bank of the Fox River, but the diamond orientation faces the batter more or less due north, meaning it's still possible to follow Jim Pruett's lead and put a home run in the water.

Today in 1944 - "A Brewer Tradition"

This photo comes from the Milwaukee Journal seventy years ago today, April 7, 1944.

A Brewer tradition is to have a shortstop as the team's lead-off batter. Dick Culler (above), who succeeded Tony York at the position, has been selected as the No. 1 hitter in the Brewer line-up. His predecessors were Eddie Stanky in 1942 and York last year. In 1942 Culler had a hand in beating the Brewers out of the pennant when his bay decided several important games in the final week of play. He was with St. Paul.

New Brewer shortstop Dick Culler spent 1943 with the Chicago White Sox, but when he was unable to unseat their starter Luke Appling. He was classified 1-A by his draft board early in 1944, and there was some concern that he would be unable to report to the Brewers' spring training camp in Waukesha. When camp started, however, Culler reported to manager Charley Grimm. Just days later, he was photographed taking batting practice at Frame Field.

I love the nylon jacket Culler's wearing. Shame his swing is obscuring the Owgust patch.

Today in 1944 - Spring Training Moves Outside

After starting 1944's Spring Training indoors in a barn in Hartfield, the Brewers were eager to get outside.

Journal Staff

Enthusiasm ran high at the Brewers' Waukesha training camp Monday when Manager Charlie Grimm gave the word for outside practice. The players laid hold of the batting cage (above) and ran it out on Frame field at a lively clip to get their first chance of the season at swinging bats. The weather turned cold, however, and outdoor practice had to be called off Tuesday.

Jolly Cholly looks pretty natty in his wool jacket and flat cap. The rest of the Brewers are wearing their old uniforms with the thick piping and block "M" instead of their more modern "Brewers" jerseys introduced in 1942. Wish we had a better look at their jackets with the Owgust chest patch.

The Brewers' spring ballfields were located at Frame Park, on the banks of the Fox River just north of downtown Waukesha.

It's not surprising that cold weather should have driven the Brewers back indoors; a half-century later the Brewers and Milwaukee County would spend an extra $50 million on Miller Park's retractable roof to keep out those chilly April evenings.

Today in 1944 - Opening Spring Training

Seventy years ago today, the Brewers began Spring Training. Wartime travel restrictions forced the club to relocate its spring facilities to Waukesha County, in this case a farm in Hartland:

Journal Staff

Brewers run around the barn instead of taking the traditional run around the ball park which is part of every spring training program. The first baseball players to report to Manager Charley Grimm of the Milwaukee club are shown at the Oakwood Farms, Hartland, Wis., where they began conditioning work Monday. The squad will train inside the big riding academy barn until weather permits outdoor work. Then Grimm will use Frame field at Waukesha.

I believe this site is now known as Knollwood Farm, a riding academy in what is known as "Lake Country":

Pafko With the Brews, 1942

Following the news that Andy Pafko has passed away, BorchertField.com contributor Paul Tenpenny offers us this rare (if obstructed) view of Pafko in a Brewer uniform.

The photo was taken in Ocala, Florida on March 12, 1942. Left to right we have Stan Stencel, Bob Perthel, Pafko and Ted Gullic. Put your arm down, Ted, we can't see Andy's face!

Although the Brewers had ordered new uniforms for 1942, with "Brewers" across the chest for the first time, those are the old versions. Blue piping and caps, white "M" on the cap and red "M" on the chest. They would continue to see scattered service for at least the next two seasons.

As for the men wearing those uniforms, Gullic was a veteran in his tenth and final season at Borchert Field. Stencel had spent the first half of 1941 patrolling left field in the Orchard before finishing the season at the Brewers' top farm club in Madison. Perthel was a local kid, signed by the Brewers off an American Legion team in West Allis. And Pafko, of course, he didn't make the Brewer club that year, but he would be back. When he finally did make it to Milwaukee it wouldn't be to the Orchard but the brand-new County Stadium in a Braves uniform.