Milwaukee Brewers History

When the majority owners of the Milwaukee Braves decided to move the franchise to Atlanta, minority owner Bud Selig formed a group called “Teams Inc”, an organization devoted to keep the Braves in Milwaukee. The Braves were suppose to move in 1964, but Selig was successfully blocked the plan to relocate. However, the Braves majority owners moved the baseball club with the permission from the AL owners in 1965.

Selig heavily pursued a franchise for Milwaukee, attending owners meetings hoping to secure a franchise. He changed his company’s name to “Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club Inc.” The name Brewers was chosen because of Milwaukee’s beer-brewing tradition. Milwaukee had hosted a major league team who called themselves the Brewers and they were one of the charter teams of the American League. The team relocated to St. Louis and became the Browns.

To show there was fan support for baseball in Milwaukee. Selig’s group contacted the Chicago White Sox owner Arthur Allyn in a plan to host nine White Sox games in Milwaukee. The plan was a success. Those nine games drew 264,297 fans to Milwaukee County Stadium.

Selig’s hopes for an expansion franchise were swept away when National League owners awarded franchises to San Diego and Montreal, and American League franchises to Kansas and Seattle. Seattle would become a part of Selig’s plan in the future.

The city of Seattle had been the topic of major league baseball for years, and when Seattle was awarded a franchise in 1968, everything seemed to fall in place. Their first season was terrible, posting a 64-98 record, finishing 33 games out of first place.

The team’s poor play wasn’t the only problems the Pilots had in 1969, their ballpark, Sick Stadium, was not up to par. Attendance was so bad, the franchise began to lose money. During the off-season, Selig met in private with Pilot owner Dewey Soriano. By the end of the season, Soriano sold the Pilots to Selig for $10 million. Selig moved his newly acquired franchise to Milwaukee for the 1970 season.

When the Pilots left Seattle, Selig changed the name to”Brewers.” The team’s first year in Milwaukee was just like the Pilots first year in Seattle, horrible. The team finished 65-97. They would not have a winning season until 1978.

In 1974, the Brewers traded outfielder Dave May to Atlanta for Milwaukee favorite Hank Aaron, to be a designated hitter.

Their first winning season took place in 1978, when the Brewers won 93 games and finished in third place. Led by Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie and Gorman Thomas, who’s 45 home runs in 1979 is still a Brewer record, finished in second place in 1979.

In 1982, the Brewers were loaded with talent. Led by manager Harvey Kuenn, his “Wallbangers” dominated the AL. The Brewers had excellent hitters including Robin Yount (AL MVP), Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper, Ted Simmons, Ben Oglivie and Gorman Thomas. They also featured Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich and Rollie Fingers. The Brewers won the AL East and beat the Angles in the ALCS to win the franchise’s first AL flag. In the World Series, the Brewers faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals. In game one, Molitor became the first player to get five hits in a series game. The Brewers would go on to lose the series in seven games.

After winning the AL flag in 1982, the Brewers fell to the bottom of the AL East, never finishing higher than fifth place in their division from 1983-1986.

In 1988 the team had a strong season, finishing in second place in their division. In 1992, the Brewers posted their best record since 1982 by going 92-70, finishing in second place.

In 1998, Major League Baseball added two more teams- the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The two expansion teams set off a reconstruction of both the AL and NL. The Brewers moved out of the American League and moved in the National League.

To replace Milwaukee County Stadium, Miller Park was opened in 2001. Miller Park is the only sporting facility to have a fan-shape retractable roof.

On January 16, 2004, Selig decided to sell the club. Many Milwaukee fans were happy Selig sold the team due to many lackluster years. In September 2004, the Brewers announced they reached a deal with Los Angeles investment banker Mark Attanasio to purchase the team for $180 million. Since taking over the franchise, Attanasio has worked hard to rebuild the relationship with fans by giving away every seat to the final home game of 2005, free of charge.

With a solid base of young talent assembled over the years including Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, Ryan Braun and Cory Hart, the team finished 81-81 to secure their first non-losing season since 1992.

In 2006, the Brewers play disappointed the fans and management. Shortly before the all-star break, the Brewers climbed to one game above .500, but then lost the next three games to the Chicago Cubs and never returned to .500. The team suffered setbacks losing pitchers Ben Sheets and Tomo Ohka to injuries.

Before the start of the 2007 season, the Brewers made key additions by signing 2006 NLCS MVP pitcher Jeff Suppan, starter Claudio Vargas, reliever Greg Aquino, catcher Johnny Estrada, and returning Brewer Craig Counsel. The Brewers were regarded as the sleeper team for the 2007 season.

In 2007, the Brewers led the NL Central or shared first place for 133 days during the season and opened a division lead as wide as 8 1/2 games in June. But it slipped away, beginning with the final road trip before the All-Star break, and the Brewers missed the postseason for the 25th season in a row. First baseman Prince Fielder became the youngest player in ML history to hit 50 home runs, setting a club record. Fielder also led the team in RBI (119) and runs ( 109). The Blue Crew finished the season with an 83-79 record, second in the NL Central.