The Milwaukee Brewers are a Major League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are in the Central Division of the National League. The Brewers were part of the American League through the 1997 season, after which they switched to the National League.
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2 Players of note 3 External links |
Franchise history
Much of the story of the Seattle Pilots' only year in existence is told in Jim Bouton's classic baseball book, Ball Four.
The team was purchased on April 1, 1970 by an ownership group headed by Milwaukee auto dealer Bud Selig. The team was still in spring training as the Seattle Pilots. The trucks carrying the team's equipment were sent to Salt Lake City, Utah from Arizona, where they were to receive instruction whether to continue to Seattle or Milwaukee. The team was renamed the Brewers to honor Milwaukee's beer-brewing traditions. (The city had also had a major-league team by that name around 1900, plus a minor-league team with the same name in the first half of the 20th century.) The team had six days to remove the Pilots logos from team uniforms and replace them with Brewers logos.
The team was moved from the American League to the National League in 1998 during baseball's realignment in order to make sure that each league had an even number of teams. Major League Baseball wished to keep interleague play in designated blocks during the season. Making both leagues equal in size would have meant that each league would have 15 teams, an odd number. In turn, this would have required that single interleague games be scattered throughout the season. Therefore, it was decided to have a 16-team National League and a 14-team American League.
The Selig family's ownership of the Brewers is the longest continuing ownership in the majors now. Wendy Selig-Prieb, Bud's daughter, is now CEO. However, on January 16, 2004, Selig announced that he was putting the team up for sale, and had retained a New York firm to handle the deal.
One of the most memorable events of the 2003 season occurred at Miller Park. In a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Brewers, Pirates third baseman Randall Simon leaned over the dugout railing and hit the Italian sausage mascot with his bat, during the sausage race, held in Milwaukee. The sausage, played by college student Mandy Block, suffered only a scraped knee. Simon, however, was arrested, charged, and fined for disorderly conduct. He was also suspended by Major League Baseball.
Players of note
Baseball Hall of Famers
Current stars
Not to be forgotten
Retired numbers
External links