Vintage Brew: Jack Weisenburger

"Sunday May 14, 1950" Revisited
By Paul F. Tenpenny
(Tencentz@aol.com)
Copyright 2008/2016 Tencentzports
Printed with Permission of the Author

Jack Weisenburger's career in baseball was a brief one. He never made it to the "Bigs," but he did play for the American Association Milwaukee Brewers from 1949-1951. In 1950 while playing for Milwaukee, Jack wore uniform #14, significant to me as it was part of my collection. I was curious to learn who he was and at least spell his name correctly.

1950 Program photo of Jack "Weissenburger" (sic)

Baseball Reference sums up his baseball career:

John Weisenburger played part or all of three seasons in AAA.
Weisenburger played for a University of Michigan football team that was ranked first in the nation by the Associated Press by in 1947. He hit .313 and slugged .476 in his pro debut for the 1948 Pawtucket Slaters. He tied for 8th in the New England League with eight triples. In '49, he was with the Denver Bears (.294/?/.475 in 93 G) and Milwaukee Brewers (0 for 2). He was Milwaukee's main third baseman for the 1950 season, hitting .241/.322/.404 with 13 home runs in his only full AAA campaign. Weisenburger split 1951 between Milwaukee (0 for 3) and the Evansville Braves (.277/?/.404 in 60 G). With the '52 Tulsa Oilers, he batted .230/.326/.343 to end his baseball career.

According to the 1950 edition of Who's who in the American Association:

John Edward Weisenburger-Infielder Born at Muskegon, Michigan. Aug.2, 1927. Height 6 feet, 1 inch; weight, 180 pounds. Bats, right; throws, right-handed. Nickname "Jack." Married, Feb.11, 1950, to Sally Carnahan of Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Nationality, German-English descent. Was all-around athlete at Muskegon Heights High School and played four seasons of football and baseball at University of Michigan. Graduated of University of Michigan,1948. Teaches and coaches at Muskegon during the off season. Signed to first professional contract with Pawtucket, R. I., Club of New England League by Marty Purtell, Boston Braves Scout, in 1948. Hobby, all athletics. Calls football favorite spectator sport.

Autographed University of Michigan card
(Author's Collection)

Autographed University of Michigan
1947 National Champions card
(Author's Collection)

Here is a 1950 Scorecard showing Jack at 3rd base wearing home #14 for the Brews.

1950 Milwaukee Brewers Scorecard "Weiss" (sic) 3b #14
(Author's Collection)

I recently came upon a batch of original, albeit yellowed copies of bound Milwaukee Journal newspapers from the 1950's. One of them included an article by sports reporter, Sam Levy, for his "On the First Bounce" column. This is an insightful look at a young player's view of his upcoming season with the Brews.

"On the First Bounce by Sam Levy"
May 14, 1950

Stage Fright Ends

Columbus Ohio-The train carrying the Brewers was streaking along at a high speed.. Most of the boys were playing cards. Sitting alone and reading was Jack Weisenburger, former Michigan Fullback. "Are you over your stage fright?" The reporter asked Weisenburger. "I guess so," He answered with a smile. "I don't feel nervous anymore at bat or in the field. A few base hits can give you some confidence. And I feel at ease at 3rd base. I don't care where I play, but I don't like to be shifted around. Ever since I got into pro ball, I've shuttled between second, short or third, with an occasional start in the outfield. When I was in college I used to tell my coach, Ray Fisher, that I preferred the outfield. He used me in the infield. I guess he knew best. Fisher is a great coach. He's a former big league pitcher; with the Cincy Reds when they won the pennant in 1919."

A few years ago, while a junior at Michigan, Weisenburger played summer ball in the Northern League, a semi pro circuit in Vermont under Fisher's management. "I played under the name of Burger" said Weisenburger, his face beaming. I didn't fool anyone though. Everywhere I played people asked 'when are you going back to play football at Michigan?' I didn't know what they meant. Did I get paid? Well I got expenses, I guess. A fellow has to eat you know."

Faced Robin Roberts
The best pitcher he ever faced in his college days, said Weisenburger was Robin Roberts, currently rated one of the top hurlers in the National League. Roberts who received a $26,000 bonus to sign with the Philly Nationals attended Michigan State while Weisenburger was at Michigan. "Every time he got the chance, Roberts used to spend as much time as he could with Fisher." Weisenburger explained. "Fisher liked Roberts as much as any of his own players and told him quite a lot about pitching. And in the spring, Roberts would beat us without any trouble. Recently I read a magazine story in which Roberts gave Fisher credit for his success as a big league pitcher."

A Lot of Injuries
Three years of college football were less harmful to Weisenburger than his first two seasons in baseball he declared. Last year he missed 50 games with the Denver Western league club because of injuries. In June, 1949, he suffered a fractured ankle and was out for a month. Two weeks after e got back into the line-up he was hit by a pitch and his right thumb was fractured. "I was never hurt much in high school and college football, "added Weisenburger. "Now I would like to get a full season in at 3rd base in Milwaukee.

1951 Brewers: Bert Thiel, Jack Weisenburger, Bill Klaus

23 year old John "Jack" Weisenburger played in 121 games in 1950 for the Milwaukee Brewers. In 386 at bats he had 93 hits for a .241 batting average. He tallied 13 home runs and 43 RBIs.

1950 Jack Weisenburger Brewer Jersey (Front View)
(Author's Collection)

1950 Jack Weisenburger Brewer Jersey (Back View)
(Author's Collection)

Jack Weisenburger and his 1951 Milwaukee Brewer Teammates (3rd from right)

Journal Sentinel: "Milwaukee looks to redo its 1954 flag mashup"

We had a nice little shout-out this weekend from Milwaukee historian John Gurda writing in the Journal Sentinel about the People's Flag of Milwaukee project. In his review of the 1954 Frankenflag project, he mentions my research into Milwaukee's vexillological history:

OPINION

Milwaukee looks to redo its 1954 flag mashup

John Gurda
In My Opinion

What's in a flag? It depends on who's doing the saluting. For some of us, a flag — whether a nation's, a state's or a city's — is one of the accouterments of civilized society, something you're supposed to have, like libraries, stop signs and postage stamps. For the most ardent patriots among us, a flag is nothing less than an outward symbol of their innermost identity. Flags are tattooed onto biceps, carried into battle and draped over caskets. People die for flags.

It's hard to imagine anyone dying — or even tearing a cuticle — for Milwaukee's current city flag. Adopted in 1954, our official banner is, well, clunky. Although it has a certain retro charm, in the same way that orange shag carpeting and Formica countertops appeal to some baby boomers, the flag reads as a visual checklist of items that represented Milwaukee to our grandparents. A gear for industry? Check. A barley stalk for beer? Got it. City Hall for good government? Front and center. Down the list it goes: a church, smokestacks, a boat, County Stadium, the Arena, an Indian chief, a military service flag (yes, a flag on a flag), an oil lamp, and waves on Lake Michigan. If it were any busier, Milwaukee's flag would die of sheer exhaustion.

Small wonder that the campaign for a new Milwaukee flag has generated such enthusiasm. Nearly two years ago, a young graphic designer named Steve Kodis heard a podcast on flags presented by cultural pundit Roman Mars. His interest quickened, Kodis started to investigate. He discovered that Milwaukee's flag was a visual antique and resolved to try, if he could, to bring the city's banner into the 21st century. (How many people knew Milwaukee even had a flag is open to question.) Kodis' motivation was simplicity itself. "I'm proud to be a Milwaukeean," he said. "A great city deserves a great flag."

The young man soon became Milwaukee's own Betsy Ross in blue jeans, but he wasn't toiling alone. Greater Together, a nonprofit group that promotes diversity in Milwaukee's creative community, joined the cause, and word of a design contest began to spread by word-of-mouth and social media. The result was a powerful example of civic engagement. Hundreds of Milwaukeeans, many of them young adults, spent hours crafting what are basically expressions of love for their city. The contest generated more than a thousand flag designs submitted by well over 500 individuals vying for nothing more tangible than bragging rights.

I was one of the volunteer judges charged with choosing five finalists from that mountain of submissions. Our group included three young designers (including Kodis, now 29) and two older history types: myself and our leader, Ted Kaye of Portland, Ore. Kaye was there as a specialist whose title is hard to spell and even harder to pronounce: a vexillologist, or flag expert.

The five of us spent seven hours on a sunny spring Saturday inside the Hanson Dodge ad agency on Buffalo St. The process was orderly and interesting. We began by spreading printouts of the submissions in rows of two across the hardwood floors — a lineup that was ultimately longer than two football fields. The entries had a remarkably consistent color palette — lots of blue for water, plenty of cream for brick — and a strong emphasis on threes, for Milwaukee's three rivers, three pioneer settlements and three founders.

Each judge then picked the designs he or she found most appealing, which narrowed the field to about 120. The next step was to group those choices thematically — gears, waves, stripes, maps, stars, etc. — and pare them down to 50 semifinalists. From that pool, after plenty of spirited but respectful discussion, we picked five designs to be submitted to the public in an online poll. By the time we finished, all of us were convinced that any one of the finalists could creditably represent our city.

(The contest is now closed, but everyone's welcome to the announcement of the winner on June 14 — Flag Day, of course. Details are on the milwaukeeflag.com website.)

I left the Third Ward that Saturday evening with a new respect for the various Milwaukeeans who had tackled the same task in earlier years. Picking a flag design is not easy. The city lacked an official banner for the first 108 years of its existence, and it was not for lack of trying. As documented by Chance Michaels, there were attempts to pick a flag as early as 1897. That effort came to nothing but, generation after generation, the campaign was renewed.

In 1927, for instance, Milwaukee considered a design submitted by "public-spirited citizens" that featured "a field of Alice blue on a double silk background, with the city seal in the center, imprinted in golden orange." Although it was described in the press as "Milwaukee's new civic flag," the design was shunted over to the Police Department and ultimately abandoned.

In 1942, not long after Pearl Harbor, Ald. Fred Meyers declared that Milwaukee needed a banner by the time of its 1946 centennial. "As a great convention city," Meyers opined, "as a city whose factories are making parts for every type of weapon and other materials used by our armed forces, as a city with an outstanding enlistment record in the armed forces....Milwaukee should have an official city flag."

Other concerns took precedence, notably World War II, and it was not until 1950 that Milwaukee looked up and noticed that its flagpole was still empty. Meyers renewed his push, launching a contest that drew more than 150 entries. None proved completely satisfactory. Four years later, Fred Steffan, another alderman, took the odds and ends from the 1950 finalists and created a composite design. That's our current flag, and the Common Council made it official on Sept. 21, 1954.

The decision was greeted with a collective yawn. The Milwaukee Sentinel ignored the story completely, and the Journal gave it all of two sentences in the local section. The afternoon paper did donate copies of the flag to every Milwaukee junior and senior high school, hoping they would "hang in a prominent place and be used as a basis for study of Milwaukee's civic and cultural history."

As the 1954 flag slipped steadily out of date — smokestacks went cold, the Braves left, breweries closed and lake traffic diminished — there were periodic attempts to breathe new life into our civic banner. A 1975 contest almost yielded another study in composites. According to the Milwaukee Journal, that year's entries leaned heavily to "beer steins and beer bottles, the Summerfest smile, the Harbor Bridge, the Mitchell Park Conservatory and the lakefront." The judges recommended that the various elements "be incorporated into a single flag," but cooler heads prevailed. The issue lay dormant until 1991, when yet another attempt proved abortive. A 2001 contest that drew 105 entries ended with a unanimous verdict of "none of the above."

Fifteen years later, the current campaign already has generated more discussion, more publicity and more ideas than all the preceding contests combined. Not surprisingly, it also has prompted a new surge of interest in our old flag. Even though the 1954 banner was largely unknown and unflown, the retro look is cool these days, and the existing flag, I freely acknowledge, is endearingly tacky. In some quarters, the current contest is a hipster plot to strip Milwaukee of a valued icon.

I have no such concerns. The process has been transparent and the spirit of the organizers openhearted throughout. The contest yielded five strong finalists: an "M" star, a lake sunrise, three rivers, a chevron and a six-pointed star. They may seem simple, even generic, at first, but that was the intention. A good flag, all five judges agreed, should in fact be simple — as well as memorable, colorful and specific to its setting. Milwaukee's 1954 banner is essentially a time capsule of artifacts from a dead generation. Led by our younger residents, the city is ripe for a new design that evokes our place rather than describes it, that provides us with inspiration rather than an inventory.

What's in a flag? More than meets the eye. A new banner won't bring back Allis-Chalmers or turn the north side into River Hills, but it can give Milwaukee something valuable nonetheless: a touchstone of identity that all of us can salute.

John Gurda, a Milwaukee historian, writes for the Crossroads section on the first Sunday of each month (www.johngurda.com).

Thanks for the mention, Mr. Gurda (although I hate to sound churlish, but could you include a link next time?). Drop me a line sometime - I'd love to talk Milwaukee history, vexillological, baseball or otherwise.

And thank you, everyone, for indulging me this little detour away from Milwaukee's wonderful diamond past. I promise one more digression, when they announce the winner of the People's Flag contest on the 14th. Until then, there'll be baseball starting on Tuesday, when contributor Paul Tenpenny will bring us a story of former Brewer Jack Weisenburger.

Green Sheet: "Milwaukee Journal held a design contest for a new city flag — in 1897"

Following the unveiling of the five "People's Flag of Milwaukee" finalists, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this piece on the earliest Milwaukee flag competition, one we talked about back in January. And in fairness, they do give credit where due.

GREEN SHEET | OUR BACK PAGES

Milwaukee Journal held a design contest for a new city flag – in 1897

By Chris Foran of the Journal Sentinel

Last weekend, organizers of the "People's Flag of Milwaukee" contest unveiled the five finalist designs for a new city flag.

The finalists – on display at City Hall, along with the other 45 top entries and 15 honorable mentions – can be rated online at milwaukeeflag.com, with the winner to be announced on Flag Day, June 14.

The winner will be pitched to replace the city's official flag, which dates back to 1954, but it's the Common Council's decision.

No offense to the organizers of the "People's Flag" contest, but the old Milwaukee Journal already selected a winning design — nearly 119 years ago.

On Oct. 30, 1897, the Journal announced it was offering cash prizes for the best designs for a new civic flag for Milwaukee.

"The design of such a flag should be emblematic of the city's greatness and of all the features that make it unique among America's most important municipalities," the Journal wrote. "A suggestion of the history of the city, and its resources of art and commerce would also be in order. A civic flag should be dignified and so beautiful in design and harmony of color that it would at once attract the attention and admiration of every beholder."

The Journal offered a cash prize of $15 for the best civic flag design, and $10 for the second-best; deadline for entries was Dec. 1, 1897.

The judges for the contest were three high-profile Milwaukeeans: Mayor William G. Rauschenberger; John Johnston, a prominent banker; and Lydia Ely, a painter credited by some as the organizer of Wisconsin's first art exhibit and the driving force behind the funding and installation of Milwaukee's Civil War monument, "The Victorious Charge," on what is now Wisconsin Ave. across from Milwaukee Public Library's Central Library.

Apparently, the judges initially didn't get what they were looking for: On Dec. 7, 1897, the Journal said the flag design competition would remain open until Jan. 7.

"About 50 designs have been submitted, and the judges appointed for the purpose have carefully examined them. Some of the designs were not accompanied by suitable mottoes, as required, and other competitors made the mistake of thinking that a carnival flag, instead of a city flag, was required," the Journal wrote.

On Jan. 10, 1898, the Journal announced it had a winner. Out of about 150 designs submitted, the judges picked John Amberg's design, which had as its focal point a banner reading "Steady Progress."

John Amberg’s design won first place in The Milwaukee Journal's competition for a new civic flag for Milwaukee. This black-and-white rendering was published in the Jan. 10, 1898, Milwaukee Journal.

"The most striking quality of the Cream City as portrayed by Mr. Amberg is its Steady Progress," the Journal wrote. "He represents this trait by a small branch of an oak tree with a few clustering acorns on it, an emblem of slow but steady and sturdy growth from small beginnings.

"The word 'Milwaukee' appears below the figure and motto, and the whole is placed upon a cream background, with a border of blue."

"The design is simple," Rauschenberger said in the Journal story, "but it is artistic and eminently fitting. The very fact that it is simple will be a factor in having it copied largely and used very generally as a municipal decoration....It is a good plan, and the Journal has shown considerable enterprise as well as rare judgment in proposing and arranging the competition."

The judges' choice for runner-up — and the $10 second-place prize — went to a design by Fred W. Dickens, with the word "Milwaukee" running diagonally in black letters on a red ribbon. The background was cream-colored on the top half, light blue on the bottom.

The runner-up selection in The Journal’s design competition for a civic flag for Milwaukee was by Fred W. Dickens. It boasted the word “Milwaukee” running diagonally in black letters on a red ribbon.

In a story in the Journal on Jan. 11, 1898, Ely explained why some of the submissions didn't pass muster. One design, which represented the city's three rivers forming a "perfect cross," was thought "altogether too ecclesiastical in appearance." A "very elegant" design incorporating a fleur-de-lis — likely a shout-out to city father Solomon Juneau — was rejected as "too 'Frenchy.'"

Still others used hop vines in the design, but Ely said "it was not desired to emphasize this industry above others."

In the end, it didn't matter. There is no record of either winning design being adopted for a flag for the city of Milwaukee.

In a story on Milwaukee's history with official flags, Chance Michaels of BorchertField.com — a terrific "online museum" of the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers that is also a first-rate tracker of Milwaukee history and popular culture — noted that momentum for the Journal-sponsored flag design might have lost steam three months later when Rauschenberger, a Republican, wasn't nominated for re-election and Democrat David S. Rose won the race for mayor.

Michaels, who first reported on the Journal's 1897 design contest in January, also traced the numerous attempts to come up with a city flag — even after the city finally adopted one of its own in 1954.

Agreeing with the need for a new city flag, Michaels even submitted five of his own designs in the new "People's Flag of Milwaukee" contest. Unfortunately, none of his designs made the final cut.

Thanks for the hat-tip, Mr. Foran. Glad you like the blog, and drop me a line if you ever want to talk about Milwaukee's glorious history, be it baseball, flags, or anything else.

MoonlightWraps Strikes Again!

In two previous posts, we've discussed MoonlightWraps, the Etsy shop which sells old program covers as canvas wall hangings. As good as their offerings were before, they've just added a fifth Brewers wrap:

The newest one is based on the Brews' 1948 score card cover.

I love it. Great to see our Brewers getting so much play.

Make sure you check out all their offerings here. If we continue to buy American Association Brewers merchandise, they'll continue to make more.

Flying Milwaukee's Flag, Part V: The Five Finalists

And now, the five finalists in the People's Flag of Milwaukee design competition.

I have to admit that these are a little underwhelming. I could easily replace each of these with several from the list of semifinalists. But let's take a look at the five designs individually.

Three Rivers (Cameron Pothier)

Milwaukee’s three rivers flow from the land into the lake, with a large disc representing the city at the confluence and our brewing history.

This one's pretty good, although I wonder if the green and blue are similar enough hues to blend together at a distance. I would have perhaps used a bright kelly green and darker navy to separate them.

The “M” Star (DeChazier Stokes-Johnson)

Four “M”s connect to form a cream-colored star representing Milwaukee on the blue lake, its Native American roots, unity, and signifying the city’s bright future.

This one is a bit too corporate. Combining four "M"s to create a star is clever, but I'd expect to find this symbol on hotel stationery. It's a logo, not a flag. Color scheme is great, though.

Golden Arrow (Chanya Hughes)

Milwaukee’s past, present, and future, moving in a positive direction, symbolized through its rivers, brewing history, and the lake, with white echoing the art museum.

This is by far the best of the five, and the only one really deserving of inclusion. I like the symbolism and the color scheme, and breaking up the colors with white bars really make them more vibrant.

Sunrise Over the Lake (Robert Lenz)

The sun rising over Lake Michigan symbolizes a new day. The blue bars in its reflections represent the city’s three rivers and founders.

I do like this design, but the colors don't work for me. The overall effect is drab and moody; a more royal blue would improve this one greatly.

Cream City Star (Jon Grider)

The six points of the star symbolize the three original sections of the city and its three rivers and representing Milwaukee as the “Cream City” and the largest in Wisconsin.

This one's just inexcusable. The basic design is sound enough, but the distinctive six-pointed star is a direct lift from Chicago's flag. Milwaukee has enough of a little-brother complex towards its larger neighbor to the south without enshrining that on a copycat flag.

And there you have it. The People's Flag of Milwaukee will be chosen from one of those five. We'll see if anything comes of it, but if anything other than Chanya Hughes's "Golden Arrow" design is the ultimate winner I'm kind of hoping this contest goes the route of the last two attempts to replace Milwaukee's flag. We'll scrap it and start another conversation in twenty years, as has been the city's modus operandi.

Flying Milwaukee's Flag, Part IV: My Semifinalist

I'm honored that one of my submissions was chosen as a semifinalist in the "People's Flag of Milwaukee" design competition.

My design was among those displayed at Milwaukee City Hall last night. Here it is just inside the entrance:

The text underneath reads:

The gear symbolizes Milwaukee's industrial heritage, the gold a symbol of the brewing industry that introduced Milwaukee to the world. It is set against a split field of dark and light blue. Blue is unquestionably Milwaukee's color, used by every sports team as well as local institutions such as the Press Club and Athletic Club, and the city itself in its promotions. The two shades of blue highlight the rivers and the lake, as the heart of Milwaukee's geographic, economic and recreational life. The three triangles are a nod to Milwaukee's past; Milwaukee was founded from three settlements&mdahs;Kilbourn Town west of the Milwaukee River, Juneau Town between the river and the lake, and Walker's Point on the South Side— which joined to become the City of Milwaukee. The pennant shape adds a nautical feeling, wholly appropriate to a Great Place on a Great Lake.

I had pretty good placement, just inside the entrance and one of the first things visitors saw:

As you can see, the event attracted a big crowd.

Milwaukee's mayor, Tom Barrett, spoke before the assembly. Mayor Barrett is reportedly sympathetic to the campaign, although he has not committed to adopting or promoting the eventual winner.

We'll talk about the five finalists soon, but today I just want to bask in my little contribution to the process.

"Buy me some Peanuts and Cracker Jack..."

---

Editor's Note: Paul Tenpenny has a rare treat for you today; a brief home movie shot at Borchert Field!

---

"Buy me some Peanuts and Cracker Jack..."
by Paul Tenpenny
(Tencentz@aol.com)
Copyright 2016 Tencentzports
Printed with permission of the Author

Dates really don’t matter much when it comes to our memories as they last us a lifetime. While not always accurate, we cherish every detail remembered.

When it comes to baseball, we all have those memories of going to a ballgame for the first time. For me it was my father taking me to see the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium. The green grass of the outfield, the manicured infield and the colorful uniforms blended perfectly within this dreamscape of my youth. Add to that the crack of the bat, the cheers of the crowd and you have found paradise for a young fan. Not to mention, the hot dogs, sodas, souvenirs etcetera, all of it etched deeply in my memory.

Whether it was 10 years or 75 years ago…we do lose some of the details. How lucky would it have been to have someone film the experience so we could really relive that day as it happened? A movie camera is now as close as our phones these days and someone can always take pictures or videos to chronicle the minutiae of our lives.

In the pre-war days of 1940. This would have been rare if not impossible. A snapshot or two, maybe, a film, never!

Until Now...

James and Francis Keppeler
11 year old Jim Keppeler and his bespectacled brother, Francis (what a great cap!) were treated to a visit to Borchert Field by their father, Joseph on Sunday May 12, 1940.

The Brewers were hosting the Indianapolis Indians in a double header on this spring day in Milwaukee. Everyone had on their Sunday best, even the kids wore ties as you can see from these pictures. A far cry from our casual days of today.

Joseph Keppeler
Dad looked relaxed, enjoying a smoke while the boys were having the time of their lives.

While the film runs less than a minute (36 seconds to be exact), it shows us a rare glimpse of this Northside neighborhood in the 1940’s, including the peanut vendors on the street.

Inside the ballpark, dad poses for the camera, taking off his fedora, smiling and showing off his deftly combed hair. Fans behind them can be clearly seen passing a program.

What a day it must have been.

The Brewers split the double header that day winning game one 6-5 and losing the second by the score of 6-2. Fans were treated to some spirited hitting by outfielders Hal Peck (3 for 7) and Ted Gullic. (5 for 7)

It was a rough season for the Brews, finishing in last place with a record of 58-90. A detail I am sure is best forgotten.




Special thanks to Jimmy (James) Keppeler for sharing his Grandfather’s (James) memories with us here at Borchertfield.com. Priceless memories.

"What's a Little Fog When It's Opening Day at the Ball Park?"

This photo was printed in the Milwaukee Journal on May 2, 1936, as part of their Opening Day coverage. I deserves a spotlight of its own.

DESPITE fog and some rain a good sized crowd turned out for the first home game of the 1936 Brewer season. Here are some of the dyed in the wool fans going into the grandstand to see the Brewers play Louisville Friday. (Journal Staff Photo)

I don't think I've ever seen a photo of the grandstand entrance before. Behind the patrons, we can see one of the Orchard's distinctive sidewalk ticket kiosks.

I love the houses in the background, reminding us that it truly was a neighborhood ballpark.

This photo is a rare street-level look at Borchert Field. Really gives us a sense of what it was like to attend a game.

Opening Day, 1936

On this day in 1936, the Brewers held their home opener at Borchert Field. Here's how the Milwaukee Sentinel presented it to their readers:

That's Mayor Daniel Hoan throwing out the ceremonial first pitch (for the record, it was "low and wide"), and Philip La Follette beaming as he watches the game. To the right, #28 is Chet Laabs, hitting his fifth homer of the season in his first trip at bat.

The Journal led with a photo of the first batter grounding out to second. That's Milwaukee catcher Bill Brenzel behind the plate.

As the headlines indicate, the Brewers came out on top, defeating the Colonels 7-4.

9,677 fans turned up to Borchert Field to see the Brews open the season. Temporary bleachers had been set up in left and right fields, but they were not used. Balls hit into the empty stands were ground rule doubles.

The Journal described the festivities this way:

Borchert field was draped in bunting and resounded with band music during the flag raising ceremony, in which American Legion color bearers and members of both teams participated. Gov. La Follette and members of his party occupied a box. Tom Hickey, former association president, returning from a sojourn in California, and George Trautman of Columbus, present league head, were among the honored guests.

Almost better than their game coverage is the ads:

WISN had a long history with the Brews. Good to see they were helping Milwaukeeans follow their club.

Forget the Groceries, It's Time for Baseball!

On this day eighty years ago, the Brewers were preparing for their Home Opener at Borchert Field. And the city of Milwaukee turned out, as seen by this grocery store sign.

The Brewers, despite injuries and a batting slump, arrived home Wednesday in fourth place and Milwaukee began to prepare for the opening game Friday. Signs like the one shown above at Herman Militzer's grocery, 4303 W. Vliet St., blossomed out. Some factories also will let as many employees as possible attend the opener. (Journal Staff Photo)

I love it:

"NO DELIVERY OF GROCERIES FRIDAY AFTERNOON - BASEBALL OPENING"

In addition to grocery clerks and factory workers getting time off, Milwaukee school superintendent Milton C. Potter agreed to let high school students out of class early so they could make their way to the Orchard for Opening Day.