By Woodrow Carroll
To many younger fans it may be difficult to know that there were many cities which at one time had two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. In the late 1950s and early 1960s only Chicago had more than one team in the metropolitan area.
In 1952 there were three teams: New York Yankees, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, just a trolley ride away in New York’s Big Apple. Along with Chicago in 1952, were Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis each with two MLB operations. Back then there were only 16 franchises. Further, Major League Baseball was largely a northeastern operation in the United States going no farther west than St. Louis with MLB a long way from taking on a franchise in the South, such as Atlanta.
When expansion came to Major League Baseball, it came with a vengeance! So much so that from 1958-1961 only Chicago had more than one MLB operation. When the Dodgers and Giants pulled up stakes in 1958 for the West Coast, the Yankees were New York’s lone representative for four years.
The Boston Braves in 1952 emerged as the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. Soon after, the St. Louis Browns surfaced as the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. Then it was the Philadelphia Athletics going to Kansas City beginning with the 1955 season. You are free to draw your own conclusions! Note that Milwaukee and Kansas City retained the Braves and Athletics for their nicknames, Baltimore, however, wanted nothing to do with the Browns.
The Braves lasted only 13 seasons in Milwaukee before moving to Atlanta. The first half-dozen years in Milwaukee were as good as it could get. A World Series championship in 1957 for the Braves was followed by another World Series appearance the next year, albeit a losing one in seven games to the New York Yankees.
The 1957 Braves outdrew the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs combined and were the talk of Major League Baseball everywhere.
Rather quickly the bottom fell out in Milwaukee. Attendance faltered despite the team’s never having a losing record in a season in the 13 years the Club was in Wisconsin. To this day, some fans debate as to why there was such a precipitous drop in fan interest. But it was there! It was good-bye to Milwaukee and hello to Atlanta for the Braves starting with the 1966 season.
Similar to the Braves in Milwaukee, the Athletics lasted 13 seasons in Kansas City, 13 seasons with losing records. Kansas City’s loss was Oakland’s gain of a franchise.
In 1969 the Seattle Pilots were an expansion team playing in the American League West. In the National League East, were the Montreal Expos. One needs a road map to track the likes of the Pilots and Expos. Gone are the team names, for sure.
The 1969 season was the lone one for the Pilots who surfaced in Milwaukee the next season as the Brewers. Trivia note: The Expos were the first MLB club north of the Canadian border preceding the Toronto Blue Jays by eight seasons who joined the MLB fraternity in 1977.
It was a mixed bag for MLB which added four franchises to bring its membership to 24 teams in 1969. Newcomers Seattle, and Montreal lacked staying power. The Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres are still with us.
At the time, the Toronto Blue Jays first took the field in 1977 and, Seattle made its debut as the Mariners. A second go around may have paid dividends. Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Seattle all look to be much stronger franchises than the original MLB operations that were in the respective cities.
A pro sports operation is often a dicey operation, but, with interesting histories!