The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, 1859–1952

Statues of Hank Aaron and Robin Yount, two of Milwaukee’s baseball heroes, stand outside the city’s palatial new Miller Park. Aaron and Yount represent two generations of major league baseball in Milwaukee, but what about professional baseball in Milwaukee before the arrival of the major league Braves in 1953? Why was it such an important city for minor league baseball?
This book traces Milwaukee’s baseball history from the game’s first appearance in the city in 1859 to the Brewers’ last American Association season in 1952. It covers Rufus King, the man responsible for bringing baseball to Milwaukee, and his efforts at getting the game off to a successful start in the city, Milwaukee’s status as the largest minor league market in the Northwestern League and Western Association, legendary manager Connie Mack, southpaw Rube Waddell, Hall of Fame player Hugh Duffy, who managed the team to its only Western League pennant in 1903, widowed owner Agnes Malloy Havenor, who chose veteran third baseman Harry Clark to lead the Brewers to their first two AA pennants in 1913 and 1914, colorful owner Otto Borchert, the Brewers’ pennant-winning 1936 season under manager Al Sothoron, the “golden era” of minor league baseball in the city, highlighted by owner Bill Veeck’s sideshows and colorful managers Casey Stengel, “Jolly Cholly” Grimm, and Nick “Tomato Face” Cullop, and the last years of minor league baseball in 1952 before the arrival of the Braves.

Historian/Author Brian A. Podoll lives in rural Grand Marsh, Wisconsin.

Brian A. Podoll
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 384
Bibliographic Info: 94 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2003
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1455-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments     vi

Preface     1

1 From the Mists of the Ancients     3

2 Northwestern by Western      30

3 That Mack Daddy Vibe (or When Irish Eyes Are Winning)     65

4 Last Team Standing     101

5 The Lady Is a Champ     147

6 Borchert’s Orchard     189

7 Framed in Black     226

8 Pennants 3, World War II     264

9 From Curtain Call to Wrecking Ball     312

Appendix A: Notes from a Conversation with Bud Selig     337

Appendix B: Milwaukee Baseball Statistics     340

Notes     345

Bibliography     355

Index     357

“in-depth…packed from cover to cover with statistics, trivia gems, little-known quirks of great players of yesteryear, and an overall inner core of respect for this great and popular favorite game…an absolute ‘must’!”—Midwest Book Review.