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 baseball in Milwaukee before the arrival of the Braves and professional baseball 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 American Association’s last 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, Otto Borchert, the team’s first actual owner, 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.