By Woodrow Carroll
One of the great mysteries in the history of Major League Baseball might be the rise and fall of the Milwaukee Braves, and, not just about the product on the field. The fans ceased to support the Club.
The 1952 Boston Braves pulled up stakes and left for Milwaukee, the first time in more than 50 years that a Major League Baseball team made a franchise move. It paid off, at least at the start.
The 1953 Milwaukee Braves played in County Stadium, the first MLB park constructed with lights. Other teams had lights by then, however, lights were added long after the stadiums were built.
In 1948, the Boston Braves reached the World Series only to fall to the Cleveland Indians in six games. The franchise went into a downward spiral on the field and at the gate.
Long a fixture in minor league baseball, Milwaukee welcomed the new entry to the big leagues with open arms.
A total of 1,816,397 fans showed up at County Stadium that inaugural 1953 season. It was a great start and the Braves finished in second place in the eight-team National League race behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Milwaukee Braves were a national story. The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine, August 16, 1954, showed the Braves’ Eddie Mathews at bat in a game at Milwaukee County Stadium.
The high-water mark for Milwaukee was in 1957 in the franchise’s fifth year in Milwaukee. The Braves beat the New York Yankees, four games to three games to capture the World Series. Attendance reached 2,215,404, a franchise best. For the record, the 1957 Braves outdrew the White Sox, 1,135,668, and Cubs, 670,629, combined.
The 1958 Braves reached the World Series, only to lose to the Yankees in seven games. In 1959, the Braves suffered a one-game National League playoff loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that kept them from playing the White Sox in the World Series.
After 1957, crowds at County Stadium declined, and, rather rapidly!
The South was itching for a Major League Baseball team and Atlanta stepped up. By 1964 the Braves were ticketed for Georgia. Legal wrangling did keep the Braves in Milwaukee through the 1965 season, then it was off to Atlanta.
Why? What happened to the heralded franchise? No definitive answer exists. The Braves had a winning record all 13 seasons in Milwaukee, even if there was only one World Series championship.
Today, the Braves are a fleeting memory in Milwaukee. Major League Baseball, however, returned to Milwaukee after a five-year hiatus, thanks to “Bud” Selig and company.
A Milwaukee native, Selig first saw the Milwaukee Brewers as a minor league operation before the Braves arrived in 1953. Then, in the late-1960s, it was Selig who promoted White Sox games at County Stadium.
The White Sox played nine regular-season games in Milwaukee in 1968 and averaged close to 30,000 per game. In 1969, playing 11 American League games in Milwaukee, the gate was again very good. The White Sox played each American League rival. The two-game addition in 1969 was a product of the expansion Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots.
The Seattle Pilots game in Milwaukee presaged the future. Seattle was poor on the field and a disaster financially. Selig, who earlier had tried to buy the White Sox and move the franchise to Milwaukee and was rebuffed, swooped in and purchased the Pilots. The Pilots, after a lone season in Seattle, were the 1970 Milwaukee Brewers.
The Brewers, in their 50 seasons in Milwaukee have a lone World Series appearance, in 1982. The Series culminated in a seven-game setback at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Braves gave Milwaukee a roller-coaster ride for 13 seasons, while the Brewers have offered a half century of stability. Take your pick!