Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee Brewers is a United States professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This city has been famous for brewing since the 1840s, when brewers with German ancestry arrived.

The team Milwaukee Brewers competes in Major League Baseball (MLB) and belongs to the National League (NL) Central division.

Since 2001, the home ballpark for the team has been the American Family Field (Miller Park) on 1 Brewers Way in Milwaukee, just southwest of Brewers Boulevard.

The Milwaukee Brewers have their roots in the 1969 establishment of the Seattle Pilots, an expansion team for the American League (AL). The team relocated to Milwaukee after just one season in Seattle, and became the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewer´s have only appeared in the World Series once, and this happened in 1982. They have never won a World Series title.

Short facts about the Milwaukee Brewers

Established in 1969, as the Seattle Pilots.

Based in Milwaukee since 1970.

Colours are navy blue – yellow – royal blue

Retired numbers are 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44

Nicknames: The Brew Crew, The Beermakers, Los Cerveceros

Ballpark: American Family Field (2001–present), Milwaukee County Stadium (1970–2000), Sick’s Stadium (Seattle) (1969)

Major league affiliations

  • National League (1998–present)
    • Central Division (1998–present)
  • American League (1969–1997)
    • Central Division (1994–1997)
    • East Division (1972–1993)
    • West Division (1969–1971)

World Series titles

None

NL Pennants

None

AL Pennants

1982

NL Central Division titles

  • 2011
  • 2018
  • 2021

AL East Division titles

  • 1981
  • 1982

Wild card berths

  • 2008
  • 2019
  • 2020

Mascot

Bernie Brewer is the mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers, and has been since 1973. He looks like a cheerful man with a big moustache

He has his own “dugout” atop the bleachers at American Family Field. When a Brewer hits a homerun, he slides down a slide onto a platform in the shape of home plate. (In the past, he would slide down into a giant beer mug.)

Background

In 1970, Milt Mason, a 69-year-old Brewers fan, decided to sit atop the scoreboard until a home crowd of 40,000 would gather. He has been recognized as the inspiration for Bernie Brewer. After his death in 1973, the mascot was introduced as a tribute to Mason, and a beer-barreled chalet was built for the mascot inside the stadium. A tradition was started where Bernie Brewer – a moustached man wearing lederhosen – would slide down and plunge himself into the giant beer mug after each Brewer´s homerun and game victory.

Eventually, Bernie Brewer was joined by a female companion named Bonnie Brewer.

In 1984, the bleachers were rebuilt and the chalet was replaced with a sound tower, sending Bernie into retirement. By popular demand, he returned in 1993 – this time in a full-body costume with a large foam head.

Origins

In 1969, an expansion team called the Seattle Pilots was established in Washington, but only played one season in the American League West Division before being acquired by Bud Selig in bankruptcy court. Selig moved the team to Milwaukee, and it was renamed Milwaukee Brewers. The team continued to play in the West Division for two years, before switching to the East Division – a move that made room for the Texas Rangers.

The first uniforms for the Milwaukee Brewers were their old blue-and-gold uniforms from the Seattle Pilots, because the move to Milwaukee was approved less than one week before the start of the season. Selig had planned to change the colours to navy blue and red, but there was not enough time to order new clothes – they simply removed the Seattle markings and sew BREWERS onto the front.