The Brewers' Goat Had a Name

by Dennis Pajot

In a previous post I gave some history of the Brewer mascot goat, owned by Ralph Cutting and Larry Chappell.

The pennant-winning 1913 Milwaukee Brewers

In at least two recent books the goat was given the name "Woozy". In my research I did not run across this name, or any name for the goat in 1913. But in 1914 the goat had a name — Fatima.

Close-up: pitcher Joe Hovlik and Fatima

I first ran across this name in the Milwaukee Sentinel of April 19, 1914, during the newspaper's description of the previous day's game against the Minneapolis Millers. The article reads:

In spite of the weather it was also a good afternoon for goats. Fatima, Ralph Cutting's nanny, jumped out on the field in the sixth inning, and stopped the game while half the Brewer team chased it around the lot. Fatima has all the sly habits of her sex, and she led the athletes a merry chase. A handsome youth finally inveigled her into the grandstand with a bag of peanuts and the pastime proceeded after the bugs had been given a big laugh. Last night the club physician reported that Fatima was suffering from a stomach ache, the many peanuts having been stuffed into said stomach. She was put on a diet of tin cans and old baseball shirts and was resting easily, and is expected to be back on the job this afternoon.

Milwaukee Sentinel columnist A.J. Schinner even wrote a poem about Fatima this day:

Every ball player must obey
And listen to what he doth say.
For the umpire doth rule the play,
But not Fatima.

Most carefully she browsed and fed,
As if it were a clover bed.
And did she list' to what was said?
Nay, not Fatima.

When, advent'rous, she slipped her anchor,
Her soul was not filled with rancor
Until they tried to catch and spank 'er,
Our own Fatima.

Then she kicked up one great big fuss,
Evading every spurt and rush
For she was a real clever cuse,
Was our Fatima.

Around she flew like a to a bug
Until she spied Cantillon's nug.
And then beneath the stands she dug.
Wise Fatima.

Shinner said the only trouble with Fatima was that she had a New England education and was unable to comprehend the Milwaukee north side diction.

The Sentinel referred to Cutting's goat as Fatima again on numerous occasions. (See May 4, May 8, May 14, June 8, June 9, August 19, 1914.)

In the May 3, 1914, we learn the goat could communicate, although the Milwaukee Journal did not give the goat a name. The goat was meandering around second base after a Brewer win, explaining "Mah-ah-ah-ah". Luckily there was a goatologist at the park and translated what the mascot had said. The mascot had said it tickled his chin whiskers to see the Clarkmen win, but he was sorry that they were not hitting home runs as they used to. [It appears the goatologist was not very good with determining the sex of the mascot!]

In the Milwaukee Journal of June 25, 1914 , we learn the entire life history of the goat, written by none other than herself.

THE TALE OF A GOAT, OR FROM POVERTY TO LAND OF PLENTY.
Written by A. Goat

I have been a goat all my life and I want the fans to know it. My father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Goat, always objected to my earning a livelihood in a sporting capacity, but through the poverty of my parents, I was forced into my present position. As a lad playing about the city dumps with my goat chums, I created an appetite for an outdoor life. My father had a hard time supplying tin cans for our large family, so one day, packing a few nails and some scrap in a sack, I started out to seek my fortune in the world.

I was quietly nibbling a barbed wire fence at a farmer's house on the outskirts of Milwaukee, when one of the farm hands sneaked up and made me a prisoner. My main work here was to keep the yard clear of rubbish and as a reward for my work, I was given every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon off. During my rounds of the yard one day I came upon a mess of fresh beer bottle corks, and, feeling extremely hungry, downed about twelve. For weeks I lay at death's door and every goat specialist in that part of the country had given me up. I lived on nothing but shingle nails for weeks and finally when my strength returned, I was sold to Ralph Cutting, now with the Milwaukee Brewers, and Larry Chappell, now with the Chicago White Sox.

They bought me on a fifty-fifty basis, the front half belonging to Cutting and the rear to Mr. Chappell. I have always been very thankful that they never decided to break up the partnership and each take their share. I was then moved into the Milwaukee ball park, where I have since made my home.

The flood of Monday completely upset me and with my nerves in a shattered condition, I was forced to witness the brawl of Tuesday. I have been given quite an amount of publicity and my parents have learned of my whereabouts and are pleased with my success. My mother's birthday was last week and I sent her a little remembrance in the way of a two pound box of rusty washers.

I am very happy in my present position but some days I find it rather hard picking for food at the ball yard. The fans seem to take a real interest in me and I would appreciate it very much if they would throw the soda and beer bottle corks out on the field so that I can gobble them up.

In conclusion I will say that I have but one worry; no matter what I do or where I go, I simply can't get away from it, I'm always the goat.

The next morning A.J. Schinner published another poem dedicated to Fatima. This one regarding the goat's behavior during of the speech of Mayor Gerhard A. Bading on the occasion of the Brewers' raising the 1913 American Association pennant flag in the outfield of Athletic Park.

Thoughtful she looked across the Timme field with titled head.
She alone did not smile or heed what G.A. Bading said.
What cared she for pennants, plaudits or blare of the brass band?
For Fatima was a goat, and goats do not understand.

And as I watched the Saints rake ye Brewer from stern to stern
And witnessed that old batting eye to Happy Felch return,
I laughed and roared, but she, complacent, never showed her hand,
For Fatima was a goat, and goats do not understand.

Once only did I envy her—that was early in the day—
She did not have to strain to hear what Bading had to say;
She did not have to fidget or sit silent in the stand,
For Fatima was a goat, and goats do not understand.

In the September 28, 1914, edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel a team photo was published. Sitting on the lap of Cy Slapnicka is the goat, named Fatima in the accompanying caption.

Top Row—Griesel, Braun, Smith, Powell, Jim Jones, Lewis, Tom Jones, McGraw, Skechan, Shakelford.
Middle Row—Randell, Dougherty, Felch, Beall, Hovlik, Young, Cutting, Miller.
Bottom Row—Bausch, Hughes, Clark, Barbeau, Berg, Slapnicka and Fatima, Carlson.

More on Fatima, Athletic Park’s Most Famous Goat

by Dennis Pajot

As a follow-up to the articles on the Brewers' mascot goat, Fatima, I would like to supply some information on her last(?) season with the Brewers. And some details on a competitor.

(For the original stories on Fatima at BorchertField.com, please see: "The Heroes and Their Goat" August 23, 2011; "The Brewers' Goat Had a Name" November 4, 2001; and "All Heroes, No Goats", March 6, 2011)

After the 1914 season Brewer pitcher Ralph Cutting decided to retire. The little lefty spitballer, who had been with the Brewers since 1910, winning 64 games in that span, including 21 in 1913, said he would go into the diary business with a brother at his home in Concord, New Hampshire. Cutting had been sick during the 1914 season, and did not feel up to playing baseball any more. He was quoted in the Milwaukee Sentinel: "My salary whip can work twelve months out of twelve milking cows and it has baseball beaten by a mile. There is nothing to worry about except the milk inspector, and the water supply is plentiful."

One early question after Cutting's retirement was what would become of Fatima, Cutting's pet goat and Brewer mascot. Fatima had been purchased in 1913 by Larry Chappell and Ralph Cutting and immediately became the Brewer mascot. After Chappell left the Brewers in July 1913 she became sole property of Cutting. It was now decided the goat would be allowed to roam Athletic Park under the supervision of the groundskeeper. When the 1915 season opened it was reported Fatima, "fatter and sleeker than ever, was on the job, eating beer labels and peanuts with as much gusto as ever".

Eight thousand Milwaukeeans attended a game at Athletic Park against the Cleveland Spiders on May 23, 1915, not so much to see Brewer pitcher Cy Slapnicka on the mound, but to see Mlle. Bridget Pumpernickel, auditioning for the job of the Brewers new mascot. The bear cub had been captured in the wilds near Rhinelander and Brewer president A. F. Timme purchased the animal from Dave Bell "Toodles" Perk, the "Farwell avenue Hagenbeck". Pitcher Tom Dougherty assumed the right to act as nurse to the newcomer and the big right hander showed his bear training ability by teaching the cub how to execute an artistic somersault. It was reported Mlle. Pumpernickel's debut was a huge success. However, manager Harry Clark, a superstitious man, believed that Fatima was the cause of the team's success. So for the time being, at least, Pumpernickel would have to warm the bench.

It was not exactly clear who (what) was the Brewer mascot at this point in the season. But on occasion the bear was still referred to, so she was at least at the park, as was Fatima. During the first game of the Brewers/Saints double header on June 20, 1915, Fatima made her presence known. The Sentinel reported the game had to be halted for a minute or two as Brewer pitcher Red Shackelford chased the "browser" off the base lines. However, only the day before the Sentinel referred to the bear cub as the mascot. The city had undergone another rainstorm that day and Athletic Park was very soggy. The morning newspaper wrote: "At the suggestion of Tom Dougherty, Mme. Pumpernickel the latest Brewer mascot, is to be canned and a finnan haddie installed in her place. There will be plenty of room in Athletic Park for the fish to enjoy himself." We also find that Mille. Pumpernickel was still with the team on the Fourth of July. The Sentinel told it readers she was out in the center garden, and "grows bigger each week."

Pumpernickel was officially released as the Brewer co-mascot on July 30. Brewer President Timme said he had turned the bear cub to Milwaukee's Washington Park Zoo (the current Zoo wouldn't open until 1958). The Sentinel later reported the bear cub—now called Tim by the newspaper—had started to show evidences of an artistic temperament, and President Timme believed there was enough temperament among his regular baseball players.

There was no record of how Fatima felt about this. We only know that Fatima was still living at the ballpark. Earlier in the month it had been reported she was in the stands with one of the ballplayers' wives while the bear cub paraded in front of the stands for the fans between games of a doubleheader.

The last we hear of Fatima this season was on August 24, when it was said she had a seat in the bleachers during the game with Columbus, a win by the way.

In my research of the 1916 season I do not come across Fatima at all, so I assume she was gone from Athletic Park.

Our Brews at the Milwaukee County Historical Society

Now we've come to the real meat of the Milwaukee County Historical Society's recently-closed exhibit "Back Yards to Big Leagues: Milwaukee’s Sports and Recreation History"; the display dedicated to our very own Milwaukee Brewers.

And there it was, on the second level of the museum, right next to the Braves who would displace them at County Stadium.

The display is headlined by a photo of the 1904 Brewers we've discussed before.

Magnificent photo.

The American Association Brewers (1902-1952 were founded after the major league Brewers became the St. Louis Browns following their inaugural 1901 season.

Under that, a posed picture of the 1913 Brews and their goat mascot Fatima, as well as another familiar face.

WHO WAS THE FIRST WOMAN BASEBALL EXECUTIVE IN MILWAUKEE AND HOW DID HER TEAMS DO?

Agnes Malloy Havenor was named the team president after her husband died in 1912. She ran things from an office in the Majestic Building, though she left the on-the-field decisions to manager Hugh Duffy. The two did not get along and Havenor hired third-baseman Harry Clark to be player-manager of the team. The 1913 and 1914 teams won American Association championships and post-season series to claim the minor league championship. In 1914 Havenor married Al Timme who assumed the presidency for the rest of her ownership.

Of course, we can't talk about the Brews without mentioning Al Simmons, the greatest player to come out of the Milwaukee sandlots. The local boy had started his career with his hometown club:

HOW DID THE "DUKE OF MITCHELL STREET END UP IN THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME?

Al Simmons (Aloysius Szymanski) was born in Milwaukee in 1902 and became known as the "Duke of Mitchell Street," the street that was the heart of Milwaukee's Polish Community. There is little argument that Al Simmons was Milwaukee's best baseball player. He played 20 seasons and is one of four Wisconsin natives in the Hall of Fame. Simmons' first Brewer game was on September 3, 1922, and he hit a home run, triple, and single. He split the 1923 season between Milwaukee and Shreveport before Connie Mack paid $35,000 for him to play for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League. Simmons had over 100 RBI each of his first 11 major league seasons. He batted .358 in his nine years with the Athletics before being sold to the White Sox in 1933. His lifetime average is .334. Simmons died in Milwaukee in 1956.

Below the Duke, a collage of photos relating to the 1936 pennant-winning Brewers.

I love this team photo, against the wooden fence. That's longtime trainer Harry E. "Doc" Buckner> at the far right of the picture.

Below the photo, a newspaper ad from the team headlined "71 Years of Good Sportsmanship", thanking Milwaukee fans "for their patronage and encouragement". The picture of the dapper young men in floppy caps is the Cream City baseball club, Milwaukee's first post-Civil War club and the first to declare itself major league. It's interesting that the Brewers were drawing a line between that early team and themselves.

Next to it, a commemorative supplement from the Wisconsin News that chronicled the Brewers' 1936 campaign. I have one of those in my collection, and can't believe that I haven't yet reprinted in on this site.

We then jump to the next championship era in the Brews' history: the 1940s.

HOW MANY NO-HITTERS DID BREWERS PITCHERS THROW DURING THEIR HALF-CENTURY IN THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION?

> Joe Hovlik, a native of Czechoslovakia, threw the first Brewers no-hitter on August 20, 1912.
> Dennis John Gearin, who was only 5'4" and 145 pounds (prompting several nicknames - Denny, Dainty Dinty, and Kewpie) threw a no-hitter at home on August 21, 1926.
> Louis Amerigo "Crip" Polli, born in Baverno, Italy and one of six Italian-born major leaguers, threw a 10-inning no hitter on the road against the St. Paul Saints on September 7, 1935.

> Bert Thiel threw the fourth no-hitter on August 16, 1951 in the customary seven inning second game of a double header with the Toledo Mud Hens.

And of course you knew Sport Shirt Bill would make an appearance.

Bill Veeck purchased the Brewers in 1941 and showed his knack for promotional gimmicks and showmanship. He hired Cubs star Charlie "Jolly Cholly" Grimm to manage the team and they won the American Association penannt in 1943. The Cubs hired Grimm to manage the Cubs in 1944, and he convinced Veeck to hire Casey Stengel - at that point a losing manager - to take over the Brewers. They won the pennant that year going wire-to-wire with a 102-51 record, resurrecting Stengel's career. After the Brewers won the pennant again in 1945, Veeck sold his interest in the team for a $275,000 profit.

That story isn't quite accurate; as Veeck himself would later say, Grimm hired Stengel without his knowledge and over his very strenuous later objections, but Veeck was deployed with the Marines at the time and unable to stop the deal.

Finally, we have two photos from that era. The first is an action shot of Grimm himself at bat, from a May 2, 1943 Milwaukee Journal photo spread of their Waukesha spring training camp, and the second is a team photo that was reproduced in the August 16, 1943 edition of Brewer News. You can barely see Veeck himself in the upper-right corner of the photo.

Hard to distill 51 years of baseball history into a single panel's display, but the curators did so admirably.

This section was a fitting tribute to our Brews, but as we'll see, it wasn't the only one in the exhibit.

All Heroes, No Goats (UPDATED)

This cabinet photo shows the Brewer squad which won the 1913 American Association championship, the first of eight pennants the Brews would bring home to Milwaukee.

The same photo, cropped a little differently, is featured on the cover of Brian Podoll's book The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, 1859-1952.

The goat mascot, sometimes called "Woozy" but propertly named "Fatima" was presented by the club by the Milwaukee Journal in 1912. He lasted with the club at least as long as 1914, by which time he had taken up a summer job cutting the grass at Athletic Park.

I think the image is greatly enhanced by the presence of the fans in the background, and when you can see the wooden slats on the top of the dugout.

Milwaukee Public Library Historical Photograph Collection

Podoll identifies the players this way:

Back row: Hap Felsch, OF(?); Cy Slapnicka, P; Newt Randall, OF; Johnny Hughes, C; Phil Lewis, SS; unknown. Sitting: Ralph Cutting, P; Buster Braun(?), P; Cy Young(?), P; Tom Jones, 1B; Harry "Pep" Clark, manager/3B; Tom Dougherty, P; unknown; Jap Barbeau(?). On ground: Lena Blackburne, IF; Joe Berg(?), IF; Joe Hovlik, P (with goat).

But, as Borchert Field contributor Dennis Pajot reminds me, Rex Hamann and Bob Koehler's wonderful book "The American Association Milwaukee Brewers" identifies them this way:

Standing: Jimmy Block, Rube Nicholson, Newt Randall, Johnny Hughes, Phil Lewis, Doc Watson
Seated: Larry Gilbert, Buster Braun, Cy Slapnicka, Tom Jones, Harry Clark, Tom Dougherty, Joe Berg, Doc Marshall Reclining: Ralph Cutting, Larry Chappelle, Joe Hovlik

Obviously, this warrants further investigation.

1914 Score Card

From the BorchertField.com archives comes this score card, sold at Athletic Park during the 1914 season (only 5¢ — some things never change).

The Brewers didn't miss an opportunity to sell ad space, beginning with the cover.

The inside front cover features a photo of an unidentified Brewer in his team cardigan (and just look at that little glove!):

There's a great deal more of interest on these pages, from the dentist's ad offering gold crowns for three bucks to the veterinarian's horse-drawn "canine ambulance".

Next up, a photo of the 1914 Brewers in their best suits, and stats from the 1913 World Series, starting with the victorious Philadelphia Athletics.

Next up, the Fall Classic stats from the National League representative, the New York Giants, as well as a look ahead to the Brews' Sunday and Holiday games:

The following page holds the entire 1914 home schedule and a guide to calculating batting average, fielding average, standing of clubs and the base running record.

Of course, a score card needs a place to keep score, and here is the line for the visiting Indianapolis Indians.

The center of the score card holds the hometown Brewers lineup:

Harry "Pep" Clark was the Brewers' player/manager. He started in Milwaukee as a third baseman in 1904, adding the managerial duties in 1913. He led the Brewers to their first two pennants, managing the club through the 1916 season. Clark returned for two additional seasons as manager and pinch-hitter in 1922 and 1923, making him a fixture at Athletic Park.

On the other hand, we have left-fielder Happy Felsch, batting fifth. Felsch's stop in the minors was a very brief one. He came to Milwaukee already known for his home runs. Signed near the end of the 1913 season from a local semi-pro team, Felsch played for the Brews in 1914 before being sent to the White Sox. He was an integral part of the South Siders' powerful battery until he got caught up in the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal and found himself out of organized baseball for good.

The following page lists the team's road games under the rather whimsical heading "Milwaukee Abroad". This was long before radio broadcasts of games, so Brewer fans wanting to follow their team's progress on these road trips would have to rely chiefly on newspapers and that uniquely Milwaukee institution, the tavern card.

Almost every page has stats of some kind, including these top American Association batting and fielding averages from 1913.

The score card's publisher, Henry Sperber, is an important (if largely forgotten) figure in the ballpark's history. He worked at Athletic Park year-round. In the winter, the field was flooded and frozen into an ice skating rink, which he managed. During baseball and football seasons, Sperber ran the concessions.

Sperber also ran the Athletic Field bar located under the grandstand behind home plate, dispensing weiss beer and hard liquor to thirsty baseball fans. The bar had two rows of stools and a view of the field so fans could watch all the action without getting up from their whisky.

The inside back cover has a full season schedule for all eight American Association franchises.

And on the back, a pair of beer ads ("Call for Schlitz in brown bottles", "Drink Miller's High Life, sold on the grounds") and our only political ad.

William J. Cary was a longtime public servant in and for Milwaukee. He was an alderman from 1900 through 1904 before becoming Milwaukee County Sheriff for two years. He was elected to Congress in 1906, and served for six terms before losing his final re-election campaign in 1918. Returning to Milwaukee, he served as county clerk of Milwaukee County from 1921 through 1933, passing away two years after leaving that job.

And there you have it, a cover-to-cover look at the 1914 Milwaukee Brewers. They were the reigning American Association champions, having won their first pennant in 1913, and were on their way to repeating. They finished the season 98-68, a solid four games ahead of the Louisville Colonels.

I'd like to spotlight the two Brewer photos, beginning with the complete team:

Sadly, the Brewers' goat mascot Fatima didn't make the studio photo.

The second photo is our unidentified sweater-wearer from the inside front cover.


I think this is Pep Clark himself.

If so, that might explain why the publisher didn't feel the need to identify him, as Clark (then in his eleventh season wearing a Brewer uniform) was well-known to the Athletic Park faithful. Compare that photo with this 1909 photo of Clark at right, in an equally snazzy team sweater. Pity we can't see if the 1914 light-colored version also bears a Brewer logo.

When compared side-by-side, these photos seem to confirm my suspicion that our mystery player is the Brews' skipper.

Pointed chin and nose, strong cheekbones. Looks like the same guy to me.

People Who Made Borchert Field a Special Place, Part III

by Dennis Pajot

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Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of articles about the behind-the-scenes people at Borchert Field, the people essential to the team's operations but whose contributions have gone largely unsung. Earlier installments are here and here.

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Andrew L. Lehrbaummer wrote a story of his remembrances of Borchert Field for the 1981 Milwaukee Sentinel. Andrew lived up the street at 8th and Locust, and as people parked in front of his house he would ask if he could watch the person's car while that he was in the ball park. After the game little Andrew would get a nickel or a dime. The Borchert Field workers usually allowed the neighborhood kids to came into the park around the 7th or 8th inning, and one Sunday when Andrew went in to watch the last innings, guess who he sat next to? The man recognized him and asked "Aren't you the boy who is supposed to be watching my car?"

Lehrbaummer remembered picking up cushions after games and receiving a handful of peanuts for the service. When a little older he helped in the Refreshment Division, bagging Virginia Goobers in the morning and occasionally hawking them during the game. As a senior in high school, Andrew only had morning classes and could make some money at the ball park in the afternoons. Selling Cherry Blossom, Orange Crush, Green River, cream and white soda (and remember these wooden cases contained glass bottles!) for a dime each, the young man would make 30 cents on each case. However, he supplemented his income by selling the empty cases for 50 or 75 cents to the outfield standees.

Lehrbaummer remembered the other types of vendors at Borchert. The scorecard and cushion sellers made the gbest sales prior to the game. Of course, the beer vendors were popular, beer selling for 20 cents a bottle. But the peanut vendors were the envy of the other sellers. Two of these vendors, Lefty Hummer and Jake Backes, carried 115 bags in the large wicker arm baskets. Some items that disappeared to future generations were Angelus marshmallows and One Eleven or Fatima cigarettes. Borchert Field had refreshment stands where 10-cent hot dogs were sold. Andrew told one hot dog story about Otto Borchert. The Brewer owner would come down from the press box, start to talk, and reach around the counter to take a hot dog from the aluminum container just below the counter. Otto would than dunk the hot dog in the community mustard bowl before enjoying it. (From the Milwaukee Sentinel, April 16, 1981)

Lehrbaummer was another of the unsung heroes of Borchert Field. Hopefully, just like the park itself, we will not forget the people who helped make it an unforgettable place.

Two Stories About the Milwaukee Journal's "Brownie"

by Dennis Pajot

Anyone who reads about the Milwaukee Brewers in the first two decades of the 20th Century will know the name "Brownie". Brownie was the Milwaukee Journal sports writer, covering baseball and other sports during this time. Brownie's real name was William Wallace Rowland. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1878, Rowland joined the Journal staff at the age of 12, as an office boy. He was known as "Wallie" around the office, but took the nickname Brownie as a young sports writer. Rowland remained with the Milwaukee Journal for 54 years, working as a reporter, sports editor, staff photographer, Green Sheet editor, city editor, assistant managing editor, automobile editor, and promotion editor. In 1936 he was elected to the board of directors and seven years later was elected a vice-president of the company.

The story that interested me was published upon his death in 1944, by Journal writer Sam Levy.

The first sports editor to accompany a baseball team to spring training and on road trips, Brownie liked to recalled the early days of his reportorial career. His closest friend in those days, more than 30 years ago, was L.M. Nahin, late business manager of the Brewers.

One spring, when the Brewers trained at Cairo, Ill., the Ohio river went on a rampage. The club prepared to break camp and leave the flooded country. That day, Nahin received a telegram from Milwaukee notifying him of the death of Charles Havenor, president of the Brewers. Nahin did not have enough ready funds to move the club from Cairo and he had to hurry back to Milwaukee to make arrangements for Havenor's funeral. He left his friend Brownie in charge of the club.

"Get the players out of here somehow," he told Brownie.

Brownie, too, was low in funds. He took his large diamond ring, which was set in a Brownie setting, and pawned it. And he moved the Brewers out of town.

Brownie trailed two Brewer pennant winning teams, the champions of 1913-14. He loved to reminisce about those days. One of his favorite stories was about his mother. The club left Milwaukee on a long road trip. It lost most of its early games. The players blamed their defeats to the absence of their lucky mascot.

"You're the only one who can get our mascot to join us immediately and bring us luck again," the players told Brownie. The next morning the lucky mascot was back with the Brewers. She was Brownie's mother. She made the rest of the road trip and the boys won the pennant.

I have done extensive research on the Brewers' 1912, 1913 and 1914 seasons, and have put together lengthy manuscripts on these years. Unfortunately, I did not run across these stories, but as we all know things can be missed while researching any subject. Both stories have enough truth to them to be taken with some value.

That it rained heavily in Cairo, Illinois, can be verified from newspaper reports of spring 1912. And certainly club owner Charles Havenor passed away on April 3, 1912, while the Brewers were in Illinois.

But the situation was a little more complicated. It had been raining for some days in Cairo and the Ohio River was rising to flood level.

On April 1 the Brewer regulars traveled to Fulton, Kentucky, to play an exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Heavy rain forced the cancellation of the game before the end.

HERE IS HOW DUFFY'S BOYS LOOKED BEFORE THE FLOODS

Top left, Chapelle at bat. Wingo, St. Louis, catching. Right, Gilhooley at bat. Schalk catching. Middle, Duffy coaching at third. Doc Marshall giving Anderson, Brewers' battery signals. Pitcher Anderson in action. Bottom, Charles scoring first run of game with Cardinals.

(photo by Brownie)

The players remained in Fulton, while Manager Hugh Duffy traveled to Harrisburg, Illinois, to look for grounds.

Duffy now had a problem. His regulars were in Fulton with business manager Louis Nahin, where flooding was getting worse. His back-up players and recruits were in the flooded city of Cairo. Duffy got his second squad out of Cairo, taking them to Danville, Illinois, a town much further north. The next evening the first squad arrived safely in Danville. Louis Nahin took the train home for the important matters back in Milwaukee.

The Brewers practiced and played exhibition games in Danville, before opening the regular season in Toledo. Manager Hugh Duffy was with the team until a day before the season opened, when he traveled to St. Paul to attempt to pick up a player.

The newspaper reports from Brownie back to Milwaukee during this period indicate he was with the team in Fulton and went to Harrisburg. Brownie then went to Danville. However, in one report (on April 3—the day Duffy got his second squad into Danville) Brownie said he had left Danville, but was not clear where he was traveling to.

Thus, the story of Brownie moving the team out of Cairo could be true. He could have pawned his ring to get the back-up players and recruits out of Cairo to Danville. Or when he left Danville he could have traveled to Fulton and helped get the players out of that city, moving them to Danville.

The story regarding Brownie's mother is not that hard to see as the truth. Players were (and still are) rather superstitious, and no doubt would see the luck in having a writer's mother with them if things had been going their way when she was there. The Brewers did have a mascot in these same years of 1913 and 1914, the goat named Fatima. The goat did not travel with the Brewers, so why not Brownie's mother?

When this would have occurred during the 1913 or 1914 seasons, I have not been able to pinpoint. I have gone through my game by game win-loss records for both seasons and can find only one particular streak that would fit this description.

The Brewers left on a road trip, and from July 29 to August 7, 1913 lost seven of the first nine games played. The team then won nine of the next ten games before returning home.

However, there are three other road losing stretches that could fit into the description, depending how one cares to interpret what was written so many years later. Earlier in the 1913 season the Brewers went on a road trip and lost seven of the first nine games, but then had only one game left—which they won—before returning home.

In July 1914 the Brewers lost seven in a row in Columbus and Cleveland. However, this was in the middle of a long road trip in which the club had won already won 8 of 12 games from Kansas City, Louisville and Indianapolis. After the losing streak the Brewers beat Cleveland twice before returning home.

"Brownie" as sports editor in 1914, "his office papered with cartoons and calendars".

In August 1914 the Brewers left town and lost three of five in Columbus, then split four games in Cleveland before losing all four in Indianapolis. The team then bounced back to finish the road trip winning three of four in Louisville.

So, we cannot pinpoint this series. And maybe all the facts are not straight in the flood story. But aren't they good stories, even if the truth cannot be totally proven?

The Heroes and Their Goat

by Dennis Pajot

As with most legends, the truth is hard to track down, and there are varying stories. Thus I present what I know of the "Borchert Field Goat". Of course, when this took place the baseball park at 8th and Chambers was still known as Athletic Park.

The Milwaukee Journal of September 14, 1913, gave the goat's story an origin. At the start of that season, on an off-day, pitcher Ralph Cutting (right) and outfielder Larry Chappell went out and found someone who was looking to get rid of a goat. The two found such a person and bought a goat to bring to the ballpark as a mascot.

According to the newspaper the next day was a Sunday with Columbus in town, and "Mr. Goat" made its first appearance at Athletic Park. The Journal tells us: "Cutting was doing the pitching that day and was going along like a house afire until the ninth inning when with two strikes on Mr. Jones, one of the Senators, he sent one right across the dish and Jones gave it a healthy lout that sent it over the left field wall for a homer and Cutting was forced to suffer a defeat".

My research on the 1913 Brewers shows this game was played on Sunday, May 25. The only off days in Milwaukee previous to this game were May 13 and 14, then May 20 and 21, due to rain outs. Immediately prior to the May 25 game the Brewers played a doubleheader against the Indianapolis Hoosiers on Thursday, May 22, and single games against the Columbus Senators on May 23 and 24. Thus the goat was probably bought by Cutting and Chappell on Tuesday, May 20 or Wednesday, May 21.

The Sunday 2 to 1 loss almost cost "Mr. Goat" his life. The Journal reported

That night an indignation meeting was held and "Sluggie" Walter [a tavern keeper near the ball park] and a number of players wanted to go to the yard and give the goat the proper treatment that a jinx is supposed to get, but some one told them to lay off. The goat came near seeing some of his brothers in the other world so he settled down to be a real mascot and he has been ever since.

In the goat's defense the home run might have been a little tainted. Bill Jones' home run was hit over the fence in the left field corner. James Murray, no doubt the least favorite umpire for Milwaukee fans in the American Association, called it fair and fans attempted to mob the arbiter. Manager Harry "Pep" Clark kept the fans back until Murray got under the stands and out of harm's way. The fans still wanted a piece of the umpire and a squad of police was called to break up the crowd. Manning Vaughan, the Milwaukee Sentinel beat writer, thought Jones' hit a fair ball, but said "it was so close that Murray could have called it either way without hurting his conscience any, presuming, of course, that he has one, which we doubt."

Ralph Cutting later told the Journal: "It's an educated goat. Look at him follow the ground keeper around and help him to take up the bases. That goat knows what they are for, and he is getting so that he knows when Cutting makes a hit, but then that does not keep him worrying much."

The goat roaming in the outfield did cause problems here and there. During a Wisconsin-Illinois League game in June, Cutting's mascot furnished the fans with amusement when several of the Milwaukee Mollys' and Oshkosh Indians' players had a hard time trying to chase the goat off the field. They did not succeed until the eighth inning, when he took up his stand near the top of the centerfield bleachers.

On July 14, 1913, Larry Chappell was traded to the Chicago White Sox. Tongue in cheek (perhaps) the Journal claimed it did not know if Larry sold his interest in the goat. But as he was not hitting well in the American League, he probably wished he had the goat with him.

The Brewers were in contention all year and finished the season with a four game stand in Louisville. Thirty or so fans took a special train to Louisville, even taking the mascot goat with them. A split of the series was enough to give the Brewers their first American Association championship.

The pennant-winning 1913 Milwaukee Brewers

Close-up: pitcher Joe Hovlik and the Brewers' "educated" mascot

Although I have not begun my research on the 1914 season, I can say the goat was still at the ballpark. The following description of a game between the local Schlitz and Traffic Club teams at Athletic Park in July gives us some humor on the mascot situation:

In the last half of the fourth inning, Jensch, pitcher for the Schlitz team, decried what he termed "a goat-like angel," trotting along the roof of the grandstand, perfectly silhouetted against a clear sky. He says he intended to throw an inshoot but the sudden appearance of the Cutting goat jarred him so that he cannot tell what he threw.

At any rate the ball fouled and bounced against the screen in front of the aforesaid Cutting goat, which uttered a loud, belligerent "Ba-Ha-ha-ha." This was followed by a vicious attempt on the part of the goat to butt a hole in the wire screen.

"Get the goat!" was the cry which found hearty response from the spectators, and a general stampede was made for the stairs leading to the roof, and the poor goat was dragged down by the horns.

Billy was put into the grandstand where he was content to consume paper bags, pasteboard boxes and other delectables [sic] left about by the unappreciative.

His next stunt was to saunter across the field and once more change the course of Mr. Dietrich's enthusiasm. [Nick Dietrich was a very vocal fan, apparently well known to Borchert Field baseball fans.] Mr. Dietrich grabbed a bat and, followed by pitcher, catcher and umpire, started after the poor goat and drove him far into center field.

When in the last inning the Traffics put in a sub-pitcher Bill was seen entertaining the left fielder, who had opened the door leading through the back fence and stood with his glove ready for any emergency.

The goat stayed at Athletic Park throughout the 1914 season. On October 3, 1914, the Sentinel wrote of an exhibition game between the Brewers and Detroit Tigers, "while (Detroit manager Hughie) Jennings was busy tearing grass, some fan in the stand yelled for him to leave some of it for Cutting's goat".

The Brewers took the pennant again in 1914, finishing with a record of 98-68. After the end of the season, Ralph Cutting retired to tend to his business affairs. As for the Borchert Field Goat, we don't know. He drops out of the newspapers, and may have retired as well. If so, he earned it; two pennants in two years as the Brewers' mascot and assistant groundskeeper.

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Editor's Note: Dennis has continued to research the Brewers' grass-chewing mascot, and has learned that "Mr. Goat" was actually a Ms., and she had a name: Fatima.