- Today we are pleased to
introduce Dr. Patrick Steele

as part of the Wisconsin
Historical Museum's

History Sandwiched In
lecture series.

The opinions expressed today
are those of the presenter,

and are not necessarily
those of the

Wisconsin Historical Society
or the museum's employees.

(laughter)

Patrick W. Steele is
an associate professor

of history at Concordia
University Wisconsin.

He earned his B.A.
and M.A. in history

at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

He attended Marquette
University where he earned

his Ph.D. in modern
American history.

Before arriving at
Concordia, he taught at the

University of
Wisconsin-Fox Valley,

the University of
Wisconsin-Fond du Lac

and Wisconsin Luther College.

Here today to discuss
how and why Milwaukee

lost its beloved
Braves to Atlanta,

please join me in
welcoming Patrick Steele.

(applause)

- Thank you, thank you.

It's a pleasure being
here, thank you very much.

It's great to see
the attendance.

I wish I had room in
here for everybody.

Hopefully you can see the
slides from wherever you are,

but thank you very much
from the bottom of my heart.

It's always nice when
I go out and talk

to see a lot of people out here.

And, kind of the focus today,
with the book coming out,

I really wanted to talk
about the fan base,

because every time I come,
I meet people that talk

about their memories of being
there, seeing the Braves play,

the connection they
had, getting a chance

to meet the players, and
the sadness that they had

when the team left, and
I think for me that's

one of the reasons why I
wanted to write the book.

Not having lived through it,
they left before I was born,

I think that maybe there's
a little bit of objectivity

in looking back
from my perspective.

And it really may be, it is an
attempt to tell the story why

so that fans who grew up
with the team will maybe

understand a little
bit, ultimately

why the team is no longer here.

So we're going to talk a
little bit about the fan base,

talk about Milwaukee
in particular,
southeastern Wisconsin.

Wisconsin and
Milwaukee had long time

success in minor
league baseball.

In fact the American
Association Milwaukee Brewers

won the Little World Series
both in 1951 and 1952.

They were part of the
overall Braves organization.

They played down at
little Borchert Field,

and if you're familiar
with Bob Buege's book,

Bob wrote the foreword for
mine, he also wrote a book
on Borchert Field.

I highly encourage you to take a
look at it, it's a great read.

But the Brewers were
very successful,

and without the Brewers,
and the success they had

at Borchert Field, there
never would have been

pressure to
ultimately try and do

something bigger as
far as a stadium.

And I talk about it a
little bit in my book,

but the whole idea of
building a municipal stadium

was kind of a foreign concept,
and it really was a stretch,

and maybe a little bit
visionary by Milwaukee County

ultimately to do this,
to build a stadium

ostensibly for a
minor league team,

but the reality was
they were hoping

to garner a major league team.

If Major League
Baseball ever expanded,

or if, for the first
time in decades,

a team made the
decision to move.

The first team they
really set their eyes on,

and people are always
shocked about this,

was the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals were
under an ownership group

that got into a
little bit of trouble,

and Major League Baseball, in
particular the National League,

was forcing their owner
out, and Fred Miller,

the president of
Miller Brewing Company,

made a strong effort to try and

get the St. Louis
Cardinals to come here.

When Augie Busch figured
out that Fred Miller,

one of his rivals, was
attempting to buy the team,

the Busch family did buy
into the Cardinals ownership

that they still
retain to this day.

And so that never happened,
and that pretty much

could have been the story,
except for this gentleman here.

Some of you know who
he is by picture,

others maybe by reputation.

This of course is the
world famous Bill Veeck.

Now Veeck was the owner of
the minor league Brewers

for a period of
time in the 1940s.

He's the son of the president
of the Chicago Cubs,

and really was the innovator.

Some may argue is the
Clown Prince of Baseball.

I don't know if he
was that, maybe he was

simply the Clown
Prince of Promoting,

but certainly this guy
always never seemed to have

two nickels to his own
name, but managed to buy

into multiple major league
franchises at one point.

Well, he owned the
Brewers, like I said.

Sold them when he came
out of World War II

because he wanted to
buy a major league team.

He was lucky enough to
buy the Cleveland Indians

right as they were peaking.

He was the president
of their club when they

played the Boston
Braves in 1948.

Sold the team
shortly thereafter.

He ultimately put
another ownership group

to buy the St. Louis Browns.

Now the St. Louis Browns have
a strong Milwaukee connection.

Some of you are
familiar with this.

The Browns were originally the

major league Milwaukee Brewers.

In the American League in 1901,
one of the charter members.

Well, Veeck bought the team,
he bought Sportsman Park

where they played
down in St. Louis,

realized that even
though the Cardinals

were renting Sportsman
Park from him,

they were not making enough
revenue in there as the Browns,

and needed to go somewhere else.

Milwaukee was scheduled
to open up a new stadium.

There was a possibility that
maybe they could go there.

Now before he was able
to buy the Browns,

he was competing for that
with this gentleman here.

This is Fred Miller.

Fred Miller is the
president of Miller Brewing,

grandson of the founder.

He is probably
the most prominent

Wisconsin sports official
that we have had.

He's in the College
Football Hall of Fame,

played for Knute
Rockne at Notre Dame,

he was on the Packers
board of directors,

was instrumental in
bringing Miller Brewing

as a major sponsor to the NFL
saving the franchise up there.

He was also instrumental
in building County Stadium,

building the Milwaukee Arena,
have a strong influence

on all three of the
major professional sports

that play in Wisconsin
today, the NBA,

Major League
Baseball, and the NFL.

Fred Miller was
also part of a group

trying to buy the
St. Louis Cardinals,

or excuse me, the
St. Louis Browns.

And he got undercut a
little bit by Bill Veeck,

and he and Veeck
had been friends,

because Miller had sponsored
the minor league Brewers

for several years, so they
had a strong connection there.

And I don't know if Miller
ever got over the fact that

Bill Veeck bought the team
out from underneath him,

because I think that Miller
really wanted to buy the team,

bring it here, and he
was so dedicated to

southeastern Wisconsin,
that had he done that,

we probably still
would be the home

of the major league Brewers,
but they would have been

part of that original franchise
that's now playing in Baltimore.

So Miller is behind the
scenes really pushing to get

either St. Louis Browns,
Cardinals, or eventually

the Boston Braves
potentially to come.

And what would bring
a team to Milwaukee?

And that's what I want to
talk about a little bit.

This is one of the
original postcards,

Milwaukee County Stadium.

As I look around here,
I'm pretty sure everybody

in here maybe went to a
game at County Stadium

or certainly saw a game.

Nobody here would ever
argue that County Stadium

was a destination spot.
(laughter)

I have always said
it looked like it was

designed by East
German architects

and built by a Soviet
engineering firm.

(laughter)

But it fit the bill
for what was ostensibly

to be a minor league ballpark.

You can see the
original design for it

was to be wide open on the
sides, particular here.

And this would give
view to the veterans

up on what they called
the old Soldiers Home.

It's part of the VA
facility now in Milwaukee,

but they actually had
grandstands built out there

where the veterans
could go out, sit there,

and they could watch a game.

It was part of the
deal to actually

get the ground to put
County Stadium up,

because originally
that was federal land.

So it did take an Act of
Congress to get this built.

One of my favorite
photographs of the stadium

is this one right here.

This one's probably
from about '54, '55.

It's got the bunting
on from opening day.

It's got the teepees on there

to really kind of
showcase what it was.

For people of my generation
that grew up with the Brewers,

it's a little bit unusual
not to see in bolden letters

on the side Milwaukee
County Stadium,

but this of course is before
some of the major renovations

that went into the
ballpark to actually come.

Now, when Lou Perini
makes the decision

to bring the team
here, and there's a

long story behind that, I'll
keep it short, in theory.

People ask me, and
it's in the book, but

"Why did the Boston
Braves leave?"

And the answer's really simple.

They drew 280,000, just
barely more than 280,000

for the entire 1952 season.

Now even though Perini
owned his own stadium,

he owned Braves Field,
there was limited parking

around the facility, they
were clearly a second tier

team in compare to
the Boston Red Sox,

but Lou Perini, like Fred
Miller, was a local guy.

He was a Boston guy, he
was a New England guy

through and through, he
wanted to save the team.

He ultimately believed
if he had one more year,

if he had 1953, he could have
saved the team in Boston.

And there is a possibility,
because what he knew

was what became
evident on the field.

The team was really good.

It was on the verge of
becoming really good.

And there were a few
players matriculating

yet through the
minor league system.

If he could just get them
into Boston before they left,
he might have saved it.

Unfortunately for him
and the fans of Boston,

that would not happen
because Bill Veeck

wants to move his St. Louis
Browns to Milwaukee,

and he's looking at the stadium.

Now, take a look at
a photograph here

to kind of explain this.

Well, this is a picture
here, and this is what was
appealing about it.

This is shortly before the
stadium actually opened.

If you look very carefully
in the seating bowl

down here in the bottom,
there's no seats installed yet.

A lot of this would be
temporary seats, fold-up seats

that they would have for
the first season at least,

in some places going into '54.

Portions of the scoreboard
out in right field

were parts that were
eventually brought in

from the old Braves
Field in Boston.

They moved some of the parts
here, including the organ.

But you can look at the
stadium and you can see that

in our vision, if you've
been there towards the end,

this doesn't look like it.

One of the things that Lou
Perini did in his agreement

with the Milwaukee
County Board was,

"If I bring my team, you need
to put some improvements in."

Now this is a brand
new ballpark, hadn't
even opened yet,

and he put in a request
for up to $2 million,

which in 1953 was
substantive money,

but he wanted improved lighting,
improved office facilities,

the Braves would take up
much more headquarters space

in County Stadium than the
minor league Brewers would,

had a bigger staff, scouting,
all this other stuff,

had to be addressed
within the stadium before
he agreed to do it.

Fred Miller working behind
the scenes helps the County

to go along with this,
and ultimately the Braves

will make the decision in March

to come to Milwaukee
and give it a shot.

And they were greeted by
an overwhelming fan base.

And again, some of these
pictures, I realize,

focus specifically
on the stadium,

but that's where
the fans go, right?

That's the place
where you go to meet.

Now, the photograph I
have up next is also
one of my favorites.

This is taken much much later.

This is actually taken just
before Miller Park was built.

You can see by this photograph,
and the reason I love it

is if you look at the
roof line of the stadium

you can see the areas
that they added on.

This was all done during
the Braves tenure.

Part of it was
because in '53 and '54

it was so hard to get seats
for the fans that wanted

to come up that they needed to
keep expanding the facility.

So it turned out
to be much bigger

than they ever anticipated.

Now if you remember
my story that I told

in the beginning about
having the opening

to the side so the
veterans up on the hill,

well this blocked
off their view.

So what the team
would offer then,

is seats inside the
stadium at a reduced cost,

and they would set a
block aside every game

and if within 24 hours, if those
tickets were still available,

then they would turn around
and sell those to the fans.

What you can also see
in this photograph, too,

is the fully-developed
bleacher areas in the outfield.

That would not come until very
late in the Braves tenure.

Prior to that it was gravel and
temporary seating out there,

and it was not very
conducive to fans

that had to sit out
in the bleachers,

particularly women
wearing high heeled shoes

had a hard time
walking through there

because it was simply
gravel underneath,

it would attract
flies and mosquitoes.

It was not a
particularly nice place

to go catch a game
on a nice humid day,

so eventually they would
put asphalt underneath

and they put the nice
bleachers up there.

But, again, this
is much much bigger

than the County ever envisioned
that they would have.

And the seating
capacity was much bigger

than they had ever
expected, and part of it was

because of all of the
fans that showed up.

Now, from this photograph,
we'll take a look at this one.

This is actually
taken from 1953.

This is within the first summer
of baseball being played there.

You can see the temporary
seating in the outfield,

a lot of people sitting down.

There's a clear cyclone
fence that kind of

runs the perimeter of the field.

But the neat part is,
as you look around,

all the sections are filled,
and this was fairly common.

Now part of it was
because the excitement

of actually having
major league baseball.

And one of the things I'll talk
about as the presentation goes,

is the whole idea
of fan retention.

That bringing fans in is
part of the experience.

My wife and I went to
the Brewers-Braves series

over the weekend, and I
try to go every year the
Braves come to town.

I always take my mom because
she likes to boo them,

so as long as the Brewers have
been in the National League

I take my mom out there so
she has her chance to do that.

But just walking the ballpark,
my wife and I were talking,

and when our kids were
little, when we used to

take them to County Stadium,
there was nothing really

for kids to do, because you
went there to watch baseball.

You didn't go there to play
on slides and swings, right?

You didn't go there to go
throw a simulated ball.

You went there to
see a baseball game.

So the dynamics of the
way we view games now

and fan retention,
things that they do

to keep fans at the ball park,

is much different now than it
used to be back in the day.

But you can see here,
full stands mean

full concession sales, all
kinds of other things going on,

and it was a great
time to be a Braves fan

because the team moves,
and they got good.

And they were, of all the
teams that are going to move,

and I'll show you this in
some slides I have a little
bit down the road,

they'll move and they got good.

That was the
exception to the rule.

Because almost every other
team that moved with the
exception of the Braves

and in theory the
Los Angeles Dodgers,

every other team that moved
was a second-tier team

that was not particularly good
and not really competitive.

And certainly that
bears out when you look
at attendance factors.

One other photograph I'm
going to show you here

about a stadium,
and you can tell I'm

very fascinated
by County Stadium,

is an overhead
shot taken in 1959.

And again you can see
that there is more

of the temporary bleacher
buildup in the outfield.

It's not complete, if
you look very carefully,
from the left field

foul line over to center
field, you can see

what looks like
a pasture almost.

That was from the temporary
seating that they put up there

during the previous
fall for Packer games.

So it's one of the things
obviously that we lost

when the Brewers made the
decision to move to Miller Park,

and the decision was made
to eliminate County Stadium.

Obviously we lost the
ability to host Packer games

down in Milwaukee, but
certainly the Packers

have accommodated Packers
fans from the area

by offering tickets up
there, but prior to that

when the stadium was built,
that was one of the other deals

to help get the taxpayers
in the county to help do it.

The Packers were
playing some games,

they played some out at,
originally at Borchert Field,

they played some out at
State Fair Park, kind of
played all over the place.

County Stadium was not a perfect
place to see an NFL game,

but, boy, in the 1950s and
1960s, if you got a ticket

out at County Stadium to
see those Packer teams play,

I don't think you're
complaining too much, right?

The other thing I want
to point out, too,

is the expansive parking lots.

And this is one of the
reasons that made Milwaukee

attractive, it's also going
to be one of the reasons

why the Braves
ultimately will leave.

While the fans are paying
to be in the stadium,

you see all those cars there?

So I'm standing here right now,

and if I took a guess
from everybody here,

most people, unless
they've read the book,

would not know how much the
Braves made off the parking lot.

See all those cars there?
You know how much money
they made that day?

Nothing. Not a dime.

The Braves did not get any
of the parking lot revenue.

That all went directly
to the County.

So you can see the lost
revenue opportunities

for a team like the
Braves, but other owners

like Walter O'Malley
of the Dodgers,

he looks at what he
had at Ebbets Field,

while baseball fans look at
Ebbets field nostalgically,

it was beautiful, it was
all these other things.

There's no parking around it.
It was not easy to get to.

What did people want in
the post-World War II era?

They want to get in
their car, they want to
go to the ball game,

they want to be able
to get their stuff, and they
want to be able to go home.

You're out in a
wide-open area here.

You're not leaving your
car in a neighborhood.

You are leaving your car out
around the expansive lots

of the stadium,
you could tailgate,

you could do all
those other things.

Owners are looking
at it as pure revenue

that's directly to
their bottom line.

Helps pay for scouts
and stadium maintenance

and all these other
things, but the Braves

wouldn't get any
of that revenue.

Now as we talk about the fans,

and we talk about
the Milwaukee Braves,

we talk about some
of the fan favorites.

And I don't talk a lot
about players in the book

because they're not a
major part of the book.

But I like to point it out
whenever I have a chance

to talk to people like
you is that guys like

Johnny Logan, Logan played
both for the Brewers,

you can see there in
his Brewers uniform.

If you look very carefully
actually, it's stylized to
look like the Braves.

The Braves ownership
group bought them in 1946.

You can see the cap
that he's wearing.

Everybody identifies it today
as a Milwaukee Braves cap.

It was technically a
Milwaukee Brewers cap
before it was a Braves cap.

And there of course is
Johnny Logan when he was
playing for the Braves.

Photographs taken at spring
training I think in '57.

But the fans loved the players,

and the players loved the
fans, because there wasn't

as much of a disconnect between
the players and the people.

Baseball players then
weren't making 106%

of what the average
person was making or more.

They were making more
than most people,

but they were still living
in local neighborhoods.

A gentleman here
before told a story

about getting a baseball
signed from Eddie Matthews,

who was that that was
telling me that story?

My aunt tells stories
of when she was a kid,

going to play catch with Lew
Burdette, right down the block.

People have all kinds
of stories like that

when the Braves were in town,

and there was a
connection that they had,

and the Braves, particularly
those who had played in Boston,

really loved the
fact that they were

embraced so well
by the community.

And that embracing
by the community

wasn't just Milwaukee County.

It wasn't just
southeastern Wisconsin.

It was the state of Wisconsin.

And it's shocking
for some people

when we think about this
in the 21st century,

but if you polled people in
Wisconsin in '55, '56, '57,

their favorite team was the
Braves, not the Packers.

Then it's shocking for people,

because the Packers have
been king for so long,

they don't understand
how big the Braves were

for that window of time.

Of course part of the window
of time that they were so good

is because of men like
this, Warren Spahn.

The all-time winningest
left-hand pitcher

in Major League Baseball.

Yet we don't have a statue
to him in Milwaukee.

They had one in Atlanta
where he never played,
but we don't have one here.

So, if we could do anything,
let's get the movement going

to get a statue here
for Warren Spahn.

But Spahnny was the
ultimate Milwaukee Brave.

People argue, was it
Aaron, was it Matthews.

Was it one of
those guys?

Maybe, but Spahnny had that
gravitas before he came here.

People knew who he was.

We mentioned the 1948
World Series before.

You know, Spahn and
Sain then pray for rain.

I mean, he was a
known commodity.

But he was the face
of the organization

for most of the time they
were here in Milwaukee,

and he was somebody
that the fans

really really responded to.

I would have loved to
have seen him pitch.

I got to see him
throw out the last

opening day first
pitch to Del Crandall.

It really was neat
to see him out there.

He was very feeble by that
point, but it was still

that he took the
time to come up here

to pay his respects to the fans,

shows you how much all
of you meant to him

and I think that's the
neatest part of the story.

So I'm going to transition
a little bit from

showing you a couple
of these cool pictures

and talk a little
bit about retention,

because retention's going
to be one of the big things

that help you understand
the dynamics of

why the Braves are
no longer here.

So I'm going to show
you a couple graphs,

and you're going to get used
to one particular graph line,

because I'm going to show it
to you in comparison to a
couple of the other teams.

And I do this so we
really kind of grasp

ultimately why the team is
as successful as we thought,

because certainly they
were, in particular

in comparison to other teams.

So let's look at the first one.

This is season attendance
following relocation.

Now understand this, and I
talk about this in the book.

Attendance alone
is not an indicator

of the profitability
of a baseball club
or a football club.

For example, when you
look at this graph,

the Atlanta Braves
would make more money

playing in an empty stadium
than they would make

playing in front
of a full stadium

at Milwaukee County Stadium.

It's just the dynamics
of broadcast revenue

and all the advertising
things that go with it

so it's not the only indicator.

I'm putting this in
because one of the things

that irritated me
the most when I was

doing the research for the book,

was that the Braves organization

still to this day
blames the fans.

They blame the fans
for not showing up.

They talk about empty stands
and this was the reason

why the team
ultimately had to leave

and go to Atlanta because
the fans weren't there.

And it's just not accurate,

because there were more
fans in the worst year

prior to the lame duck
year, there were more fans

that went to games at
Milwaukee County Stadium

than went to games at
Wrigley Field that year.

That went to games
at Fenway Park.

And we would never
say Boston or Chicago

are bad baseball towns.

Yet, Milwaukee was labeled
as a bad baseball town.

Let's take a look
at these numbers here.

So if you look at the
beginning of the graph you
see it starts at minus one.

That's the year
before they left.

That's the indicator where
they were the year before.

So for example, for
the Milwaukee Braves

the year before was when
they were in Boston.

They drew about 280,000.

Look at this massive spike up.

So what happens?

The team moves to
Milwaukee in 1953,

so year zero is the first year,
look at this spike, right?

And it accelerates out
the first couple years.

There's a little bit
of settling right here,

and then you've got '57, '58,

and then we start to
get the decline in '59.

Now let's take a look
the comparison to the
Milwaukee Brewers.

The Milwaukee Brewers
when they came in 1970,

so this would be
1969 in Seattle.

It is a much slower,
steadier incline.

Now there's a big rise here,
and there's a big drop off,

and if you're not familiar
with what this is,

this was the 1981
baseball strike.

So that's the only reason
why there was the big
drop down in attendance,

but you look, it's a
much more measured,

slowly building fan base.

Now let's look at
the Atlanta Braves.

Okay, so the last year,
this is 1965 in Milwaukee.

This is the first year
they're in Atlanta.

Look they did not even come
close to where they were

when they came to Milwaukee.
And look at this.

The attendance line is much
much lower the entire time.

They get a little bit
of spike, look at here,

there's almost a merger
at the same point.

That's one of the
weirdest anomalies.

There's a merger at almost
the exact same point year 11

where they're all at
about the same attendance.

And then the Atlanta one
kind of stays steady.

The Milwaukee one
obviously went down further

in '65 because that
was the lame duck year.

Now what do I see in this?

Now again, I'm not a math
major, I'm a history professor.

What I see is that fan
retention in Milwaukee

was better than
it was in Atlanta.

You cannot look at
this graph and say

that the fans in Milwaukee
were not good fans, okay?

The drop off obviously
towards the end

is because everybody knew
the team was going to go.

Now one of the arguments
I address a little
bit in the book,

but I always like
to point it out

when I talk to crowds like
this, is this is what I believe.

That I believe if you reverse
this chart, you start it here.

If this would have been 1953,

and you work your
way this way.

And you got a little
bit of settling there,
we would talk about

one of the greatest successes
in baseball, still to this day.

Because it would not have
built unrealistic expectations.

See, every team that
moved had a dramatic spike

in attendance, but
then usually there was

an immediate settling effect,
because nobody wanted to pay

good money to go out and see a
sixth- or a seventh-place team.

Well which teams are moving?

The Philadelphia
Athletics, right?

Their best days were two
decades in their past, right?

They were a sixth or seventh
place, bottom-feeding team.

St. Louis Browns, the entire
time they were in St. Louis,

you know how many
pennants they won? One,

during the
World War, in 1944.

That was it, one
pennant the entire time.

Those are the teams
that are moving.

The Boston Braves won
the World Series in 1914.

They lost it in 1948.

You're not talking
about a stellar team

that had just lots of
achievement behind it.

Now, again, the
exception is the Dodgers,

okay, and we'll
address that dynamic

a little bit
differently in a moment.

So here is a relocation
chart that again has

the Braves, it has
the Brewers in it,

but it also then has
the Baltimore Orioles.

And the Baltimore
Orioles of course were
the St. Louis Browns.

Now, of all the major league
teams that wanted to move

during this era, only two
owners ever got shot down.

One was Bill Veeck.

The owners looked at
him as a socialist.

They're like, "Oh, he wants
equal pay for everything,

"and we just simply
can't have that".

And Veeck always looked at
it, it's not a fairness issue,

it was a competitive issue.

You can't have the New York
Yankees playing in a stadium

playing against the
Cleveland Indians,

and one team is
making, raw numbers,

say they're making $100,000
and the other teams' making 10.

It creates an unequal
playing field, okay?

Well, the Browns
ultimately, Veeck is
going to get forced out,

new ownership buys the team,
they move them to Baltimore.

They said specifically, "We want
to repeat the Milwaukee Miracle.

"We want to outdo in '54
what Milwaukee did in '53".

Well, what you can see
is they never came close.

But if you look at here
again, look at this.

Steady growth,
little bit of settling.

Little bit of settling but
look at where they are.

Their base number is better
than where they started,

but it's not as high as it was

for the most part when
they first arrived.

This is a fairly common
trend in baseball.

It doesn't happen here,
because the Braves got good.

See, that's the thing that makes
the Braves story different.

So the next slide, and again,

this is one of the other ones,
the Kansas City Athletics.

Again, the Philadelphia
Athletics moved to Kansas City,

so this is their last
year here in Philadelphia.

You can see the spike up,
and again the slow settling

of attendance because
they were playing

in a glorified
minor league park.

They had an owner ultimately

in Charlie O. Finley
that nobody liked.

If you're familiar
with the story of the
Kansas City Athletics,

Arnold Johnson who owned
the team before them

had been the previous owner
of Yankee Stadium,

had a very very
close relationship

with the Yankee ownership,
and any great player

that ever seemed to
come through Kansas City

got traded to the
Yankees, like Roger Maris.

So there's a whole laundry
list of incidents like that

so that the fans of the
Kansas City Athletics

never really embraced
the team as much.

But I'll point this out
again, look at, in Kansas City

they were still higher than
where they were in Philadelphia,

but you don't have
this drop off that

ultimately you'll see
later with Milwaukee,

and why does the drop
off happen in Milwaukee?

Because, I believe,
expectations were too high.

Because when the team moved

and they got good,
there was fan interest

to keep the attendance
artificially high.

There never was a
settling effect that had--

Let's just say for
example, the Braves don't

go to the World Series in '57,

and they go instead
in like, '62, '63.

What you would have
probably had is a settling

of the attendance
on the front end,

to probably somewhere
between 700 and 900,000,

and then slowly build back up
again as the team got good.

It would have created more
realistic expectations

what fan attendance was
supposed to be like.

See, when you talk
to people in 1965,

and they talk-- I read
this in multiple articles--

they expected the stadium to
be packed like it was in '53.

You can't sell the stadium
out 12 years in a row.

You can't sell it out
13 seasons in a row.

That's just too difficult.

So the next slide I have,
it's a little bit convoluted,

I grant you that, but
if I can figure it out
I know you guys can, too,

because again, I'm
not a graph guy.

And I had my son
put this together.
(laughter)

See, told you.
And they're multi-colored here.

So what I did was, I had
him put together a chart

of season attendance,
again, overlay it so you can

kind of see where
all of them are.

Now this does not have
every team that moved.
It has most of them.

The one that outperformed,
and this blue line right here

is the one you got
used to seeing before.

This was the Milwaukee
Braves right here.

This light blue one is the
Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles.

Playing in a much bigger
stadium at the Coliseum,

and eventually moving
into Dodger Stadium.

Certainly their attendance
was much higher.

Again we see a little
bit of a spike down here.

Ironically the Milwaukee Brewers
outdrew them a couple of years.

But you see again, even with
the Dodgers, what do you see?

A settling effect, right?

Team moved, they went to
the World Series in '59,

went to the World
Series a couple times

in the 1960s, and what happened?

Little bit of a settling effect
as they moved into the 70s.

The green one, San
Francisco Giants.

Never matched the
initial attendance

in San Francisco
that the Braves did.

What do we see?
We see a settling.

A slow steady climb,
and then what happens?

A big drop off.

The Oakland Athletics,
when they moved

from Kansas City
ultimately, look at this.

Never, ever, ever got close

to where the Braves
were in Milwaukee.

And again you can see
the drop off here.

I have the Kansas City
Athletics,

I talked about that one before.

Nobody would say Baltimore's
a bad baseball town.

Nobody would say San
Francisco's a bad baseball town.

People were saying
Milwaukee was.

And the numbers just
simply don't bear it out.

So what happened?

Why did we lose
our beloved Braves?

Well, in 1962 Lou Perini
had taken his corporation

the previous year,
made it public.

He was in construction,
had a lot of jobs out
on the East Coast,

and sold it to a
group out of Chicago.

Now, the group out of
Chicago did not necessarily

buy the team, I
believe, to move it.

I think that's a narrative,
and I actually spoke

to Bill Bartholomay,
he's the second one

in the photograph
here, and we spoke

for about two
hours on the phone.

He was as cordial as could
be, answered the questions.

I have no way to judge the
veracity of his statements.

But he made one point to me,

and I've told this story
repeatedly, but he said
to me, he's like,

"Look, you know, when
we first bought the team

"we didn't really
plan to move it".

He said, "Look, my wife
and I, we had a place

"out in Lake Geneva for
me to go see a ball game,

"it was 40 minutes in the
car up to our box, and
we could see a game."

When the team moved to Atlanta,
what did he have to do?

He had to get on a
plane, fly to Atlanta,

and he's away from his home,
he's away from his office,

he's like, "It wasn't
really convenient".

They wanted to be
baseball owners.

The problem was, they most
likely overpaid for the team.

It was harder to be
a baseball owner

than it was to be
a U.S. Senator,

because there were
only 16 baseball teams

when the Braves first
came to Milwaukee.

Now then through
expansion obviously there
would be a few more,

but it was still
ultimately very difficult
to be a baseball owner.

So when they got the
chance to own the team,

they bought it on the idea that

it was going to be
Milwaukee in the 1950s.

That you're going to be
drawing somewhere between

1.5 to 2 million, your
break-even point is

somewhere between
a million and 1.5,

and the reality was that
first year they owned it

they barely drew
more than 700,000.

Now, that's shocking.

It's a shocking number
when you consider

they were up over 2.5 just
a couple of years earlier

to be down to 700,000.

Well, it is shocking,
but baseball attendance

was down everywhere.

It wasn't just in Milwaukee.

See, by the time
this ownership group

was buying into the team,
professional football

was superseding the fan
interest across the nation.

It had an impact directly
on newspaper coverage.

So when you look at
the sports pages,

more and more coverage went
to football than baseball.

Well, in Wisconsin is
there anything going on

with professional football
that might have a strong,

well let's see, that
was the highlight

of the Vince Lombardi years.

So it probably had a stronger
impact in Milwaukee as well,

so you're starting a deal
with kind of a perfect storm.

You've got owners that
are buying a team,

maybe overpaid for it,
at a time when fan interest

is dissipating in baseball in
general across the country.

Maybe a little bit more
in particular in Wisconsin

simply because the
interest in the Packers.

And now I'll throw
another one at you.

At the same time all
of this is happening,

the Braves are paying
more to use their facility

than any other team in
Major League Baseball.

And I think that was
the most shocking thing

that I found doing
my research, was

the expenditures
that the Braves were

obligated to pay to be at
Milwaukee County Stadium.

So one of the things that
the new Braves ownership

attempted to do to
kind of alleviate

some of the financial issues
they had, was sell stock.

Now I have a story in
the book where I talk

about stock sale, and certainly
they were disappointed.

They never sold the amount
of stock they were hoping to.

One of the people they brought
on to help kind of sell it,

they appointed Vince Lombardi
to the board of directors,

kind of the face
of the Green Bay Packers,

kind of help this idea
of communal ownership,

and it just never
really went well.

I don't have an answer for it.

Some people argued, "Well,
you know, it was stock,

"it didn't really
have any voting,

there was really "nothing
you could do with it."

All the decisions
would still be made

by the basic owners, they
were just basically taking--

And I'm like, well that's
kind of the same thing

the Packers have done
twice in my lifetime,

where they've sold
stock that really is

meaningless but it's
a piece of paper.

Is anybody in here
a Packer owner?

I am.

We love our ownership.

And then one of the
other things certainly

that you find out
from the book is that

the relationship with the
Milwaukee County Board

was not particularly good.

At a time when maybe you
needed really strong leadership

from the Board, it was not
as strong as it needed to be.

Certainly for the
stadium negotiations

starting in '57, they
got very contentious,

and I understand it a little
bit from both perspectives.

The Braves need to maximize
the revenues they're making.

Anything that they
sell in the stadium, again,

as I look around the
room I see some people

wearing Brewers things,
I see some people

wearing some Braves
things, right?

Teams want to make
the revenue from that

because it helps them
pay for things like

scouts, and spring
training facilities

and all this other stuff, they
want to be able to control it.

Well, anything the Braves
want to sell at Milwaukee
County Stadium,

they had to get the approval
from the County Board.

They wanted to raise basic
prices on things like beer

and had to go through
the County Board.

It wasn't likely to happen, and
so when another stadium deal

comes along that says,
"Hey, you can get all the

"parking lot revenue, you
can control the prices

inside your stadium, we'll
give you a long-term lease".

Who wouldn't be
interested at least

in listening to
that opportunity?

Because one of the things the
new ownership group found out

within the first six
months they owned the team,

they were going to
be butting heads

with the County Board
just like Lou Perini had.

So, one of the newspaper
articles that I have here

is the ongoing reports that
the team was going to leave.

And I talk about this
in a couple other

different presentations
that I've done,

but the Braves and
every team in baseball

had been rumored to
move for a while.

I mean, the first
rumors you really see

the Braves were going to
go somewhere was 1955.

We're still in the middle
of the Milwaukee Miracle,

and it was just kind of
an outlier in an article

where a guy said, "Well,
you know, someday you might
see these teams move",

and the Braves were one of
the teams that were listed.

But every team was rumored
to be going somewhere.

I mean, the Yankees were rumored
to be going to California.

So I don't put a lot of
credence to that until 1963.

At the All Star break in 1963,
The Sporting News

reported that the Bartholomay
group had a deal in theory

in place to take their
team down to Atlanta

when Atlanta's new
stadium opened.

Now, is there truth that
there was a deal in place?

I don't think they
had a signed deal.

I don't even think they were
close to a verbal agreement.

But they were certainly
moving in that direction,

and the Braves ownership
group made it clear that

they were willing to talk
to them when their
stadium lease was up.

And the ownership group
looked at it this way,

their stadium lease they
had in Milwaukee County,

they viewed it like
a player contract.

You can cut a player, you
might still have to pay him,
but you can cut a player,

they thought they could
do the same thing with
their municipal stadium.

They thought at the
point that they could

go to Atlanta was up to them.

Certainly there
will be a different

interpretation from
Milwaukee County.

One of my favorite
photographs of this era

is we start to put a night
cast on our time in Milwaukee.

Twilight has come, rumors
are now proven to be true

that the team is
ultimately going to leave,

the owners will blame you.

Unfortunately, and I
think that's the most

unfair thing thrown at the fans

in the state of Wisconsin, is
that they simply disappeared,

and it really wasn't the case.

Certainly they were not
there is as strong of numbers

as they were before, but as
you saw from the other numbers,

they were better than
almost every other place,

every other team that moved.

I have a couple photographs
here as we get near the end.

This is some of the
photographs from the last night

at County Stadium and
that the Braves played

as the Milwaukee Braves.

Hall of Famer Eddie
Matthews looking over,

the only player
to play in Boston,

Milwaukee and Atlanta
for the Braves.

And then a bunch of
the other players

here standing in the dugout.

And I think one of the things
that I have heard a lot

from fans that are older
than I am, they would say,

"Well, you know, the
problem was we didn't really

"know the guy, all the
guys we liked were gone.

"The players they got in
return never really developed".

And certainly that was
the case the Braves

would contend periodically,
but they just never could

consistently put together
a winning product.

While they finished
with a winning record

every year they
were in Milwaukee,

they just didn't get
close to that first tier

after 1959, they just
really kind of settled

into the bottom half
of the National League.

"Taps" at the final game, again
look at the sparse crowds.

But look at, again I'll
point out the expansion.

You can see how far out now
the bleacher sections go.

Certainly the stadium footprint
looks dramatically different

by 1965 than it had in '53
when the team first came.

One of the saddest photographs,

this one's been in a
lot of different books,

but "See you next year
Braves", and unfortunately

Milwaukee would not see
the Braves again until 1970

when they came up to
play an exhibition game.

And then fortunately
with the Brewers going
in the National League,

now the Braves come
back on a regular basis.

So my mother who grew up
a diehard Braves fan.

I took her to the
first Braves game back

at Milwaukee County Stadium,
and I talk about the story

a little bit in the
beginning of the book.

Unfortunately, Greg Maddux
was just lights out that day.

The Brewers did not really
look good against him

but my mom stood and
she booed the Braves,

just to get it
out of her system.
(laughter)

I did live up to that promise
I made her as a young lad.

And then, one more graph, you
knew it was coming, right?

All right, so here is
a retention graph.

Now this one I love for a
couple of different reasons.

So, the way this works is,
this is the first year,

so this is 100% of your
attendance the first
year you're in there.

So your number may
vary from city to city

but that's 100%, right?

So as we break the numbers
down, look what happens.

The Milwaukee Braves went
up over their 100% mark

all the way out to year six,
going into year seven,

when it went below where
they had been in '53,

and progressively slid down.

In Atlanta, look at this.

They dropped off right away.

They never got, we use 13
years or 13 baseball seasons,

for all the graphs I
showed you was 13 seasons

to compare apples to apples,

the Braves experience
versus everybody else.

Look at this. In Atlanta, they
never got close to 100%

of where they had been
in '66 when the team
first played there.

Look at again, the
Milwaukee Brewers.

They dropped off.

The team was not very
good, they get above 100%.

And they get going, and
they're above that benchmark,

until you get to
right here, and again,

this was the strike in 1981
and they came out of it in '82,

of course go to
the World Series.

They set the record initially
at County Stadium in '83,

then attendance
kind of settled in.

Certainly it's much higher now.

I was at the Braves
game over the weekend,

and I think on their final
game, the attendance so far

for the year is up over
1.6 million already,

and we're only halfway
through the year.

So again, Lou Perini, Boston,
1952, they drew 280,000.

In 2018 in Milwaukee
we're at 1.6 million

and we're just barely over
halfway through the season.

So that's the difference
that attendance will do.

Now, one last thing.

Finances have everything
to do with this.

The local business community
did what they could

to support the team
while they were here.

They simply could not
match up with the dollars

that Coca-Cola could
bring to the table.

It's one of the
reasons ultimately
why the team would go.

I will say this.

If the decision to move,
if that would have been

10 years earlier
or 10 years later,

so if they would have
looked to take them,

say in 19, you know if
the Braves would have
come even earlier,

I don't know if the Braves
would have ever left.

And certainly 10 years later
that wouldn't have happened.

Had they been able to lock
the Braves into a long-
term deal in 1957,

sign them to a 10-year lease,

meant that they were
locked through the 1967,

Atlanta would have gone
to look for somebody else.

The two teams they wanted was
either the Cleveland Indians
or the Milwaukee Braves,

were the only two teams
that had leases coming up.

If Milwaukee County would
have had the foresight

to get a long-term
lease in place,

the Braves might still be here.

That is my story on
the Milwaukee Braves
and their fan base.

Thank you very much
for coming today.

(applause)