Home of the Braves: The Battle for Baseball in Milwaukee

by Patrick Steele

Overview

Winner of the Gambrinus Prize from the Milwaukee County Historical Society

In March 1953, the Boston Braves relocated to Milwaukee. They soon found success with stars like Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. The team began drawing bigger crowds than almost any other and went on to win two pennants and a World Series within five years. To fans, it was the dawn of a new dynasty—making it even more of a shock when the owners announced in October 1964 that the Braves would move once again, this time to Atlanta. Patrick Steele examines all facets of the story to understand why the "Milwaukee Miracle" went south.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299318147
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,055,423
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Patrick W. Steele is an associate professor of history at Concordia University Wisconsin. He is a member of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Bob Buege
Acknowledgments 

Prologue 
1 “You Keep the Brewers, We’ll Keep the Braves,” 1945-1953 
2 Home of the Braves, 1953-1954 
3 Bush Leaguers, 1955-1957 
4 The Beginning of the End, 1958-1961
5 Something New, 1962-1963 
6 Bringing Down the Curtain, 1964 
7 Lame Ducks, 1965 
8 Milwaukee v. The Braves, 1966 
 Epilogue 

Appendix: Seasonal Attendance Following Relocation
Notes 
Index

Editorial Reviews

"How could such a profound love affair between a city and its baseball team turn so toxic? Home of the Braves grapples with that issue, and its conclusions may surprise you. They surprised me."
—from the foreword by Bob Buege, author of The Milwaukee Braves: A Baseball Eulogy


"The truth behind one of the darkest divorces in sports history, revealing details often lost in the shadows of nostalgia. Steele's extensive research uncovers a war of greed, jealousy, and contempt between the Braves and Milwaukee's civic leaders."
—William Povletich, author of Milwaukee Braves: Heroes and Heartbreak

From the Publisher

05/14/2018
In this enthusiastic history, Steele, a history professor at Concordia University Wisconsin, recounts the decade when the Braves franchise was based in Milwaukee. In 1953, the poorly performing Boston Braves relocated to Milwaukee with great expectations. Even before the Braves moved to the city, Milwaukee was a well-known baseball town with the AA Milwaukee Brewers, whose owner, William Veeck, Jr., sold the team to Louis R. Perini, one of the owners of the Boston Braves. As the Boston team floundered, losing attendance to the Red Sox, Perini and the other owners decided to move the Braves to Milwaukee with the promise of a new stadium. Steele chronicles the early successes of the team: they started to win, they invested in better players, and attendance at County Stadium soared. The Braves won 92 games in the 1953 season “and put 1,826,297 fans into the seats.” The Braves’ World Series victory over the Yankees in 1957 was the pinnacle of the team’s success. In the following years, attendance began to diminish, and Perini sold the team in 1962; the new owners looked to bigger markets, with Atlanta and its new Fulton County Stadium emerging as the top contender in 1965. Steele’s detailed history of the Braves captures the fervor of fans in an era when major league baseball gained larger national audiences. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly