The Rise of a Dynasty: A Milwaukee Brewers Story

[CDuffy26]

The year was 1950. World War II had ended in the past decade, a new man was about to come to power in the Soviet Union, and many war bound heros had returned within the last few years. For most teams, these superstars returning had been a blessing in disguise. Ted Williams returned to Boston and without missing a beat had whacked nearly 100 homers since he returned. The same could be said for the Yankees and Joe DiMaggio. But there was one team which did not benefit from the return of this new talent...

The St. Louis Browns.

Now during the war years the Browns were successful, even advancing to the World Series in 1944 to face their cross town rivals the St. Louis Cardinals. But 1944, the Browns had been in steady decline, averaging barely 1000 fans a game last season. These small crowds were a painful thing to watch in the 35,000 seat Sportsman's Park, and it eventually came to much for the owner of the team, Bill DeWitt. Throughout the season he pleaded with the American League to help him, or he would have to file for bankrupcy. But none of the league owners took him seriouly. SO following the final game of the season, Bil announced that he was declaring bankrupcy and the team was to be sold off.

Now the league, not wanting to be associated with a bankrupt franchise, came up with a unique solution to the problem they were presented. Instead of selling the Browns, they were going to award the franchise rights of the Browns to another owner so that 1-They wouldn't have to pay off the debts of the team, and 2-Their name would be associated with liquidized property. After many hours of deliberation, the American League announced that it would be awarding the franchise to the city of Milwaukee, to a man named Clarence Goodman, or Clare for short.

Now you're probably wondering where I fit into this giant picture. Well, to be honest, I'm the new General Manager of the New Milwaukee Baseball Club. Clare has been my friend since grade school, where we both played baseball together. I was a third baseman whom graduated in 1941, and I had a legitiment shot at making the big league someday. Well, that all changed when I was drafted into the army in '44.

Following my 2 year stint in Europe, I returned home in '46 hoping to make a club. Unfourtunately by this time I had lost most of my potential and wasn't picked up by anyone. I then became a scout for the minor league Baltimore Orioles, and managed to get myself promoted to assitant General Manger by last year. With only one year of experience, I was shocked to learn that Clare had picked me to become the General Manager of a major league franchise.

My name is Christopher Stevens, and this is my story...

[Xen_Antares]

I wish you much luck, I have become convinced after 30+ years in my dynasty with the Milwaukee Braves suffering from 20+ consecutive losing seasons, and seeing the Milwaukee Brewers in Petrels dynasty that it is impossible to win in Brew Town. Good Luck

[CDuffy26]

So when I got the call from Clare, he told me to meet him ASAP at the Brewers "temporary" ballpark, Borchert Field. Now Borchert was a nice minor league ballpark, but by major league standards it was small. It barely held 16,000 people, and it closely resembled the Polo Grounds in New York as the foul poles were 266 feet from the plate. Clare met me out in front of the ballpark...

"Well, how's it feel to be a Major League GM?"

"It would've been better if you gave me a little warning."

"So, lets get down to buisness"

As we walked inside the ballpark we took a tunnel that curved a few times until we finally reached an office.

"It's supposed to be the managerial office, but it'll do for now."

We sat down at 2 chairs on each side of a desk and got to talking about the team. Clare told me that we were basically declared an expansion team. We would stock our rosters by drafting 3 unprotected players from each of the 7 other American League clubs, as well as 10 players from the old St. Louis Browns roster.

As I looked over the avalible players, I came upon a few I liked. None of them would probably crack the starting lineups on other teams, but in Milwaukee they would have a home...sort of.

As I circle off and checked players names, I basically proceeded to "draft" these players...

From St. Louis Browns
CF Roy Sievers
C Sherm Lollar
2B Owen Friend
3B Frankie Gustine
RF Dick Kokos
P Ned Garver
P Russ Bauers
P Bob Turley
P Ryne Duren
P Stubby Overmire

From Boston Red Sox:
3B Merl Combs
RF Tom Wright
SP Chuck Stobbs

From Chicago White Sox:
CF Jerry Scala
RP Howie Judson
SP Bob Cain

From Cleveland Indians:
1B Herb Conyers
RF Luke Easter
SP Jesse Flores

From Detroit Tigers:
C Bob Swift
2B Neil Berry
SP Saul Rogovin

From New York Yankees:
LF Dick Wakefield
3B Bobby Brown
SP Fred Sanford

From Philadelphia Athletics:
RP Bobby Shantz
LF Joe Taylor

From Washington Senators:
2B Al Kozar
SS Gene Verble
RP Al Sima

The reason we picked only 2 players from Philadelphia is because Connie Mack had said he would give us Bobby Shantz as one of the picks. Thats a great deal in my opinion, as Mr. Mack must be going crazy in his old age. Shantz is a great reliever and will probably see action from both the bullpen and in the rotation.

Another player I have my eye on is Luke Easter. We got him from the Indians, who must've really liked him as they trdaed Mickey Vernon to keep him. Maybe they thought he would slip through? Anyways, Luke's 33 and probably won't see a winning team with us, but it gives us someone to build a team around.

Some of you may be wondering why I didn't say that about American League Rookie of the Year Roy Sievers. Well, Roy's been kind of on a downward spiral since coming up. He's argued with his coaches, his manager, and even fought with fellow player Dick Kokos (Who won't even mention his name in a sentence now). If Roy doesn't striaghten up, I'll have to ship him off to some club.

The only thing I'm truly concerned about is depth. Were not going to be a good team, I'll admit it, so will Clare, and probably most of Milwaukee. But if anyone goes down, a rookies going to have to fill in as our minors are almost non-existant. We have only 2 players right now, and those are only in our minor because we requested that they be.

[CatKnight]

Looks like a promising start! Definitely an innovative one! I guess we won't have to worry about the Baltimore Orioles impacting the Senators any time soon.

I think Xen's mistaken: It's HARD to win in Milwaukee, yes...but the AI Brewers nearly took down Overbay17's Blue Jays one year. If an AI can do it, so can you :)

[Overbay17]

Wow. Interesting, I'll definately be keeping up with this. In my Jays dynasty the Brewers played in the 1978 World Series, losing to the Reds, and then nearly pushed my Jays to the brink in '79, losing the division to the Jays on the last day of the season, so it's definately not impossible to win in Milwaukee.:)

[CDuffy26]

The day following the expansion draft, I met Clare at the ballpark again to discuss "team related" matters...in other words we had to decide a name for our club, as well as logos and uniforms for the team. Clare brought me a list of the possible names, which included Admirals and Bucks, but we eventually decided to go with Brewers as a connection to the old minor league team that used to play here. We also decided on a logo and uniform. The logo is just the state of Wisconsin with a M in the midlle of it, but the uniforms look oddly familar to the ones the Athletics use.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff73/CDuffy26/MilwaukeeUniforms.jpg
The Milwaukee Brewers new Uniforms

Not to shabby if I say so myself.

"So whats the situation on our stadium?" I asked

"I'm working on it. We're going to have to play the 1950 season at Borchert, but hopefully by next spring we'll have a stadium done so that we can get out of this outdated facility.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff73/CDuffy26/BorchertField.jpg
Borchert Field: Current home of the Milwaukee Brewers

"Have you worked on getting us some minor league affiliates?" asked Clare.

"I'm glad that you asked that, as I did call around and manage to secure 4 minor league affiliates, and they are..."

AAA-Minneapolis Millers
AA-Omaha Kings
A-Springfield Browns
R-Aberdeen Pheasants

"That looks good Chris. Start working on our roster so we know who we want to invite to spring camp."

And with that, the Milwaukee Brewers first day of operations had ended...

[petrel]

Definitely an excellent start.

--Pet

[kevarms]

I like this era. Nice start. Good luck.

[CDuffy26]

As I reviewed our roster over the next week, I saw one BIG descrepency. Our starting shortstop. Up until now we had penciled Merl Combs in as our starter, but then we realized Merl could hit the broad side of a barn, or catch a cold. So I began to call around to other teams, and lined up a deal to bring in a starting shortstop...er 3rd Baseman...infielder. Yeah lets go with that last one.

I got in contact with the Cincinnati Reds General Manager and began shopping around one of our young pitching prospects, Hollis MacQuiod. The Reds GM almost immeadeatly responded by offering infeilder Grady Hutton in reply. Lets just say we got ourselves a starting shortstop.

Trade
CIN Gets: SP Hollis MacQuiod (66/93)
MIL Gets: 3B Grady Htton (83)

As I continued to look over our roster, I realized one thing...

WE DON'T HAVE A COACHING STAFF!

As soon as I realized this I called Clare. Clare said it was to be of no concern, as before he even hired me he had a manager lined up. Say hello to the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers...

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pics/johnny_cooney_autograph.jpg

Former big leaguer and Boston Braves hitting coach Johnny Cooney. Cooney took the helm for the Braves last season and led the team to a 20-25 record in the abscene Billy Southworth. Johnny will provide great leadership to the club house as he spent 20 seasons in the big, mostly with the Braves franchise. He also spent time with the Dodgers and Yankees, but is mostly known for his playing days with the Braves.

Clare also mentioned that I should line up a facility for our Spring Training, which would begin in the next month. I have already lined up a spring training home, Miami Stadium in Miami, Florida. Clare said that everything on the team was beginning to shape up, and that he would see me in Florida in a few weeks.

Before I took a week off for vacation before I went to Florida though, I did want to have a talk with our disgruntled superstar Roy Sievers. I call Sievers into my office...

"Roy, so why have you been acting so out of sorts lately. The fight with Dick, and arguing with you coach, what's wrong with..."

"Let me tell you something boss. I may only be 23, but I've already played more big league games than you ever did, so I don't want to hear it. When the team youre playing on is 60 and 90, you want to get off it as fast of you can. I'm not going to play forever, and I want to geta ring before I kcik the bucket."

"Then why didn't you tell the General Manager..?"

"I did, but did you think that anyone would trade the future of the team away. I was the only real talent in St. Louis, and everyone in the city knew it."

"You know what you cocky son-of-a-*****, if you ever speak up to me like that again you're out of the club house and down in AAA Minneapolis. There's tons of people that don't like their jobs, but you should. For pete's sake, your a major league ballplayer. Do you know what half the boys on the face of the earth would give to be in your situation right now?"

"I don't care" replied Roy as he slammed his fists down on my desk, "If you don't get me of this team, I will cause so much dissrest in the clubhouse that you'll wish you had."

"Fine. I'll make a deal with you. You give me 6 weeks of the season. Thats the second week of May, and if you don't like where this teams heading, I'll offer you around. Deal?"

"As much as you want it to be..." said Roy as he walked out of the room.

Barely 2 months into the job and already I'm getting grey hairs...

[CatKnight]

Send him to Minneapolis and leave him there. :mad:

[CDuffy26]

As I stood on the infield grass of Miami Stadium, I watched our newly formed club begin to take shape. Manager Johnny Conney had his picthers throwing to home plate.

"Anyone look outstanding to you?" I asked him.

"This next guy coming up, just watch him."

The guy coming up was a beast of a figure. He stood 6 feet 3 inches tall, and looked to weigh about 225 pounds. He was one of the biggest guys on the team, if not the biggest, and I didn't even know his name. As he wound up, you could see the pure power inside of the guy. He released it and I swear that thing crossed the plate before I knew it.

"What the...?" I stuttered

"Yep, you see exactly what I see." replied Johnny

"Who is that?" I asked.

Johnny turned his attention to the player, "Hey Joe!" he shouted.

The pitcher raised his head and began to jog off the mound, allowing another pitcher, Howie Judson, to begin throwing. As the gargantuan figure approached, it struck me who this guy was...

http://www.ablonline.org/images/60topps-282.jpg

None other than former Cincinnati Red Joe Nuxhall. The story of Joe was a wierd one. A scout went to sign his dad back in 1944, but he instead signed a 14-year old, 6'1, 177 pound Joe. He would pitch in only 1 game in 1944, but at age 14 he was the youngest player to ever play in Major League Baseball. I had sent out a non roster invites to a few players, but this guy was one whom I thought could make an impact, if not now in the immeadeate future.

"Yeah skip?" asked Joe as he reached us.

"I want you to meet the teams general manager, Chris Stevens." said Johnny.

"Nice to meet you" Joe said as he stuck out his hand to shake mine. You know how I said this man was BIG. Well, his hands are HUGE!

"Nice to meet you Mr. Stevens" replied Joe

"Likewise. I was watching you pitch out there, you've got a lively fast ball. What else do you throw?" I asked

"A slider" Johnny interupted.

"That's good, what else?" I asked again.

"That's it." stated Joe.

"Well, Joe, we'll need to work on that." I replied

"Okay. Hey skip, you want me to long toss with Howie?" Joe asked

"Go ahead, I'll talk to you later" said Johnny.

"We'll need to work on that coach. A potential major leaguer with only 2 pitches." I told Johnny.

"It's kind of hard when you're the only coach here." he bluntly stated.

"That's true. Let me work on finding you a pitching coach. DO you have anyone in mind?" I asked.

"In fact I do. Let me give him a call...

----
Later that day...
----

As I sat in my Spring Training office at Miami Stadium, I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in" I yelled.

As the door squeaked open, I saw 2 figures enter the room. One was my manager Johnny Cooney, and the other was I man I knew I had seen before, but I just couldn't put my thumb on it. He looked to be tall, as well as a little bit lanky. Then it hit me...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/MLB-Lefty_Gomez.jpg

It was none other than former 7 time all star Lefty Gomez.

"Holy cow John, how do you know Lefty?" I asked surprisingly.

"We go back, as I played in Brooklyn when he played in New York. I told him we're in need of a pitching coach, and he was more than happy to get on board." Johnny replied.

"I've been out of baseball for 7 years, I'm ready to come back" Lefty interupted, "I hear you've got a future hall of famer with a limited variety, let me see if I can help him..."

As Johnny and Lefty left the room, I thought to myself "I wonder what crazy happening will go on next...?"

[rockiesfan4ever]

Your hitting coach is going to be Lou Gerigh

[XyankeefanX]

Lou Gehrig was dead by then

[rockiesfan4ever]

Exactly if he got Lefty as Pitching coach why cant he have Lou Gerigh's ghost as Hitting coach

[CDuffy26]

No. I picked Gomez because he was out of the game since '43 and looked like a good canidate to be a pitching coach. Since I'm going to be filling out an entire coaching roster like this (Pitching, Hitting, and Bench) in posts like these. I'll probably combine the bench and hitting posts, but I've already got the two guys figured out for those positions. If you guess this right, two points for you...

Hitting Coach: The hitting coach played with Johnny Cooney on the Boston Braves from 1938 to 1942. He hit a total of 77 career home runs and retired in 1949.

[rockiesfan4ever]

Thank god for Baseball-Reference

MAX WEST!

[CDuffy26]

The following morning, I got into the Stadium early to review a list of possible bench coaches. I knew Johnny had someone in mind for a hitting coach, so I wanted to get a jump on hiring someone to control the clubhouse. I was focusing on finding someone who could provide leadership, as well as a veteran prescene on a the first expansion club in major league history.

As I reviewed a list of canidates, which included a wealth of canidates such as "Double X" Jimmie Foxx, Clare decided to drop by.

"Hello Chris, hows it going on filling out the coaching staff." he began.

"Not all that bad. Johnny said he had someone in mind for hitting coach, so I'm focusing on mainly finding a bench coach" I replied.

"Well I have somebody who's perfect for the job. I met him back during the '38 All-Star game. He's been wanting to help a young team, and he's not all that far off from his retirement. Plus, he might bring a few extra fans into the park." Clare stated.

"Well, what's his name?" I asked.

"Lloyd Waner..." he answered.

"Lloyd Waner!?! Little Posion? How'd did you meet him?" I returned.

"Let's just say I know a guy who knows Little Posion." He said.

"Well, when do we get to meet our bench coach?" I asked.

"Coaches" he interupted...

"What?" I asked.

"You don't just get one bench coach. You know if you get one poision you get the other." he replied.

"You got both...Johnny's going to be stunned. When do they get here?" I asked once more.

"As soon as I tell them to get on a train to Miami..."

http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/conlon/waner/images/waner1.jpg
Paul(L) and Lloyd(R) Waner, our new Co-Bench Coaches
----
That afternoon...
----

The team had just finished their mid-day practice and were heading inside the stadium for an hour long break before they would resume afternoon practices. As I watched the players walk into the clubhouse, I turned my head to Roy, who in turn just smirked back at me and continued talking to catcher Sherm Lollar.

I heard a voice call me off to my right...

"Hey, Chris!" Cooney yelled as I walked towards him. He was standing with a decent sized man. He was wearing a Milwaukee Uniform, so as I approached I figured it was one of our players talking to the skipper before the break.

"Afternoon Johnny" I spoke, "And you are...?" I asked as I turned to the uniformed person to my right.

http://lifeinlegacy.com/2004/0110/WestMax.jpg

"Max West, you're new hitting coach" said the man.

"Oh, you're the guys Johnny wanted to bring in." I said to Max, "Well nice to have you aboard."

"Good to be aboard, Mr..." Max spoke up.

"Stevens, but just call me Chris, as I'm not old enough to be a mister yet" I replied.

"Max has been helping out Easter this morning. Telling him to shorten his swing, it's got too many holes right now." interjected Johnny.

"That's good, if we don't have a competitive team, at least they'll be entertaining to watch..."

[CDuffy26]

As I finalized the roster following spring training, I thought we had a decent shot at not losing 100 games. Of course, that's not saying much seeing as we'd probably still lose 90, but we'll take it. Here's a quick review of our roster heading into opening day...

Lineup (vs Both)
1. 2B Neil Berry (79)
2. C Sherm Lollar (79/84)
3. CF Roy Sievers (85/96)
4. SS Grady Hatton (83)
5. 1B Luke Easter (79/81)
6. RF Dick Kokos (78/90)
7. LF Dick Wakefield (71)
8. 3B Bobby Brown (75/81)
9. Pitcher Slot

Bench
IF Frankie Gustine (78)
RF Tom Wright (73/77)
1B Herb Conyers (74/76)
C Bob Swift (64)
IF Merl Combs (72/74)
CF Jerry Scala (65/69)

I hate to address this situation. Our bench is so bare that if someone goes down we'll need two players to replace him. I don't expect Swift nor Scala to be here come September, and Wakefield will be gone by the trade deadline or sooner. And Roy's leavingas soon as I can find a buyer dim-witted enough to take an ego driven star.

Pitching Rotation
1. Ned Garver (78)
2. Jesse Flores (75)
3. Chuck Stobbs (80/95)
4. Fred Sanford (74)
Spot Starter: Al Sima (78/80)

Bullpen
CL: Bobby Shantz (76/86)
SU: Ryne Duren (69/79)
SR: Howie Judson (75/80)
SR: Stubby Overmire (70)
MR: Russ Bauers (70)
LR: Saul Rogovin (81/86)


Our rotation is pretty awful, as Ned Garver, a 2 year veteran is our ace. Stobbs looks like he'll be the next Cy Young, but it'll be more than a few years until he's ready to lead the rotation. Shantz should provide a decent arm out of the bullpen, but don't expect much else from the bullpen outside of Ragovin and Judson.

AAA Minneapolis Millers
C Wydeville Phillips (60/70)
2B Al Kozar (65)
SS Billy DeMars (70/74)
SP Bob Turley (76/87)

AA Omaha Kings
2B Owen Friend (69/85)
LF Joe Taylor (67/80)
SP Joe Nuxhall (66/89)
SP Bob Cain (79/88)

A Springfield Browns
C Roger Lyons (58/70)
2B Mark Alden (57/64)
SP Jeff Early (73/87)
SP Johnny Gibbons (56/95)
SP Don Larsen (69/87)
SP Joey Enright (63/81)

R Aberdeen Pheasants
SS Gene Verble (65/78)
CF Hank Regis (56/79)
SP Kevin Weise (54/92)
SP Brent Marks (55/90)
SP Martin Brown (51/89)
RP Dwight Fields (53/82)
RP Joe Lenn (49/86)
RP Carlo Waldman (48/83)


So as you can see, our minors are pretty bare. I'm hoping to trade some pitchers away for fielding talent, but these pitchers are probably going to become great someday and I don't want to miss out on that. We'll just have to go with the flow, and hopefully deepen our system through the draft and trades.

[CDuffy26]

Early April 1950

We were lucky enough to have our first ever series at home. We were even luckier to be facing a popular team. The bad part was it was the Yankees. Well, let the games begin...

----
Milwaukee(0-0) Vs. New York (0-0)

4/1-Brewers 9, Yankees 4 WP: Ned Garver (1-0)
4/2-Brewers 6, Yankees 7 LP: Jesse Flores (0-1)
4/3-Brewers 5, Yankees 4 WP: Howie Judson (1-0)
4/4-Brewers 9, Yankees 7 WP: Russ Bauers (1-0)
----

Our first series we went 3-1. Thats alot better than I ever thought we could do. I didn't think we'd have 3 wins in April!

----
Milwaukee (3-1) at Washington (2-2)

4/5-Senators 9, Brewers 8 LP: Bobby Shantz (0-1)
4/6-Senators 0, Brewers 2 WP: Ned Garver (2-0)
4/7-Senators 5, Brewers 4 LP: Stubby Overmire (0-1)
4/8-Senators 14, Brewers 21 WP: Chuck Stobbs (1-0)
----

How in the world did we manage 21 runs...21 RUNS! Well, it was against Washington though...they lost 104 games last year...which is probably where we'll finish this year.

----
Milwaukee (5-3) vs Washington (4-4)

4/9-Brewers 5, Senators 6 LP: Bobby Shantz (0-2)
4/10-Brewers 5, Seanotrs 6 LP: Howie Judson (1-1)
4/11-Brewers 4, Senators 2 WP: Ned Garver (3-0)
----

Not the best series ever, but when we win one game a series I'll be happy. Ned's been a pleasant surprise going 3-0 with a sub 2.00 ERA. Now were off to New York...and I think I found another grey hair today...

----
Milwaukee (6-5) at New York (8-3)

4/12-Yankees 8, Brewers 4 LP: Jesse Flores (2-2)
4/13-Yankees 6, Brewers 8 WP: Chuck Stobbs (2-0)
4/14-Yankees 4, Brewers 6 WP: Fred Sanford (1-0)
4/15-Yankees 3, Brewers 0 LP: Al Sima (0-1)

----



American League Standings

Team W L GB
Cleveland 10 5 --
New York 10 5 --
Milwaukee 8 7 2.0
Chicago 7 8 3.0
Detroit 7 8 3.0
Washington 7 8 3.0
Boston 6 9 4.0
Philadelphia 5 10 5.0



Off Day-April 16, 1950

So we headed back to Milwaukee for one day before we were to head to Philadelphia to face the last place Athletics. We arrived at the ballpark around 11:00 AM, and manager Johnny Cooney called for light practice until 3:00, when the team could head home and get some rest. As the rest of the team headed towards the field, I strode towards my office, where Clare was waiting for me...

"Nice road trip" he said with a smirk on his face

"2 and 2 isn't bad against the Yankee's you know..." I replied

"That's not the reason I'm here though...I got a deal" he spoke.

"What do you mean?" I asked confusiedly.

"Our stadium situtation. I managed to contact a contractor and they said that's they'll have a new 22,000 seat stadium up by opening day next year." he responded.

"Only 22,000 seats, kinda small don't ya think?" I asked.

"The 22,000 seats are only the ones completed by next year. Over the next 3 years the capacity will be raised to 48,000. And we're not paying for it all alone. The city leading us money and even the Packers (1) are willing to chip in if we let them play here for a few games a year" he said.

"We'll, you're the owner, you make the decisions" I said.

"Hey, if you keep winning, I might have to have more than 48,000 seats in the new stadium" he repsonded.

Great...Now I my owner's beginning to think that we might have a shot at a winning record this year. Hasn't he heard of a fluke, sort of like the Browns winning the AL pennant a few years back, or the Chicago Cardinals even existing as a team in the NFL. Oh, and I have a disgruntled superstar who wants to be traded...my life just keeps getting better and better.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff73/CDuffy26/MilwaukeeStadiumI.png
The "Incompleted" Milwaukee Stadium

[CatKnight]

Well, by the 1970s the 'model' for a new stadium would be a multipurpose field that could handle both the MLB and NFL/AFL team. Kansas City, St. Louis, Philly, Cincy and Pittsburgh just to name a few. I guess the Packers want to get started early!

[CDuffy26]

Late April 1950

How in the world are we 8-7...I'll never know, not with this team at least. Following the previous off day, we head to Philadelphia for a 3 game series vs the Athletics...

---
Milwaukee (8-7) At Philadelphia (5-10)

4/17-Athletics 4, Brewers 11 WP: Ned Garver (4-0)
4/18-Athletics 12, Brewers 7 LP: Stubby Overmire (0-2)
4/19-Athletics 13, Brewers 12 LP: Howie Judson (1-2)
---

Even we aren't this bad. We let up 25 runs in 2 games...TWO GAMES! Hopefully we can rebound with a three game series at Cleveland.

---
Milwaukee (9-9) At Cleveland (13-8)

4/20-Indians 11, Brewers 10 LP: Russ Baurs (1-1)
4/21-Indians 4, Brewers 18 WP: Al Sima (1-1)
4/22-Indians 2, Brewers 5 WP: Ned Garver (5-0)
---

We had a pretty good series here, as our offense seemed to find a little bit on conjinuity. We now head home for a four game series Vs. the Tigers.

---
Milwaukee (11-10) vs Detroit (11-10)

4/23-Brewers 6, Tigers 3 WP: Jesse Flores (1-2)
4/24-Brewers 3, Tigers 4 LP: Chuck Stobbs (2-1)
4/25-Brewers 2, Tigers 5 LP: Fred Sanford (1-1)
4/26-Brewers 6, Tigers 8 LP: Al Sima (1-2)
---

We went 1-3, which was not what any of us were hoping for following that Cleveland series. Maybe we'll get some of that momentum back after Cleveland comes to town for a 3 game set.

---
Milwaukee (12-13) vs Cleveland (13-12)

4/27-Brewers 6, Indians 3 WP: Ned Garver (6-0)
4/28-Brewers 6, Indians 10 LP: Jesse Flores (1-3)
4/29-Brewers 4, Indians 15 LP: Chuck Stobbs (2-2)
---

4/30-Off day

So following our 7 game home stand, our record for the month stands at 13-15, with 6 of our wins being pitched by undefeated Ned Garver (6-0, 2.31 ERA). I think we've done quite well considering where we were predicted to be. So I came into the office and before I even turned the corner I could tell someone was in the clubhouse. As I rounded the corner I saw Roy Sievers waiting against my door...

"Bout time you got here..."

"It's an off day, of course I'm not coming in at 8." I replied.

"You've got 2 weeks left before I quit, you have any deals done yet" he asked bluntly.

"In fact I have. While we were in Philadelphia, I managed to talk to Brooklyn, and seemed to have worked out a trade for you. Have fun backing up the Duke..." I replied, quite full of myself.

"Bro...Brooklyn! Do you expect me to actually report there?"

"You have no choice, unless you retire."

"You know what, next time I see you, I'll thank you, cause I'll be wearing a ring and you'll be stuck here in Milwaukee! Have fun loser!" he laughed as he walked off.

As he was about to leave the clubhouse, I decided to finally do something about his attitude...

"Hey Roy" I yelled.

"What now tool?" he said as he started to turn around, but he could never complete that turn, as my fist hit him upside the head. As he got back up, Dick Wakefield happened to walk into the clubhouse and hold back Rou.

"You better run!" he yelled as I turned my back and headed into my office. As I shut the door, I could hear Dick say "Finally, you got you're *** handed to you. Now head off to New York, Dodger"

You know, if nothing else at all, I'll always remember this season for that one reason only...



Trade

To Brooklyn
CF Roy Sievers (86/96)

To Milwaukee
OF Cal Abrams (76/83)
C Joe Pignatano (61/78)
RP Tommy LaSorda (70/90)
RP Jim Hughes (66/75)
3B Dick Williams (72/95)

A really good trade for us, and other than Abrams salary, we came out the major winners in this deal.