History of professional baseball in Milwaukee
Constantly creating new promotional gimmicks, Veeck gave away live animals, scheduled morning games for wartime night shift workers, staged weddings at home plate, and even sent Grimm a birthday cake containing a much-needed left-handed pitcher.
A 1967 exhibition game between the White Sox and Minnesota Twins had attracted more than 51,000 spectators, and Selig was convinced the strong Milwaukee fan base would demonstrate the city would provide a good home for a new club.
In an ominous sign of things to come, Soriano had to ask William R. Daley, who had owned the Indians at the time they flirted with Seattle, to furnish much of the expansion fee.
However, the owners turned it down in the face of pressure from Washington's two senators, Warren Magnuson and Henry (Scoop) Jackson, as well as state attorney general Slade Gorton.
[citation needed] With final approval to move to Milwaukee coming less than a week before Opening Day, Selig's efforts to promote the team were significantly hamstrung.
While this resulted in natural rivalries with the White Sox and Twins, it also meant the Brewers faced some of the longest road trips in baseball, traveling to the Angels and Athletics for three series each per season.
[citation needed] On November 2, 1974, the Brewers orchestrated a trade that brought one of the most beloved Braves back to Milwaukee, sending outfielder Dave May and a player to be named later (minor league pitcher Roger Alexander) to Atlanta for Hank Aaron.
[citation needed] As 1980 began, the Brewers and their fans were optimistic about becoming pennant winners, but the team scuffled during the season, partially due to Bamberger suffering a heart attack and having to be replaced by Buck Rodgers.
[citation needed] In 1982, the Brewers were considered heavy favorites to win the AL East, but by June, the team had fallen to 23–24 and signs had shown that the players were having problems playing under manager Buck Rodgers.
Don Sutton started against Jim Palmer and the Brewers won 10–2, thanks to Robin Yount hitting two clutch home runs, clinching the AL East Division.
[citation needed] However, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Commissioner (then club owner) Bud Selig decided another team should have the first chance to switch leagues.
In September 2004, the Brewers announced they had reached a verbal agreement with Los Angeles investment banker Mark Attanasio to purchase the team for a reported US$223 million.
With a solid base of young talent assembled over the past five years, including Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J. J. Hardy and Corey Hart, the Brewers showed renewed competitiveness.
However, soon starters JJ Hardy, Rickie Weeks, and Corey Koskie were lost to injuries, and the Brewers were forced to trade for veteran infielders David Bell and Tony Graffanino.
This led to the Brewers being far enough down in the standings that management decided to trade free agent-to-be Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers for closer Francisco Cordero, outfielder Kevin Mench, and two minor league prospects.
With young players waiting in the minor leagues, during the off-season the key additions were starting pitcher and 2006 NLCS MVP Jeff Suppan, starter Claudio Vargas, reliever Greg Aquino, catcher Johnny Estrada, and returning Brewer Craig Counsell.
ESPN's Peter Gammons and Dan Patrick both picked The Brewers to beat out the defending champion Cardinals and re-vamped Chicago Cubs to win the NL Central.
Despite poor performances from the usually steady Chris Capuano and more nagging injuries to Ben Sheets, the Brewers found themselves in a heated pennant race with Chicago's North Siders.
As June came to a close, the Brewers made their biggest move for playoff contention as they traded four prospects, most notably Matt LaPorta, to the Cleveland Indians for CC Sabathia.
The Brewers came out of the All-Star break with a bang as they won their first seven games back, all of them on the road, sweeping first the Giants and then the Cardinals, taking over first place in the Wild Card standings.
They first swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, thanks to walk-off home runs by Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, tying the New York Mets for the Wild Card lead with 3 games to go against the NL Central division champion Chicago Cubs.
The Brewers finished the 2008 season one game ahead of the New York Mets in the wild card race with a final record of 90–72, and faced the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS.
The Brewers lost 9 games in a row in May and never fully recovered, finishing the season 77–85, which was good for 3rd place in the National League Central division, behind the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals.
With the trades for Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke, the Brewers were tabbed by many experts as favorites to not only win the NL Central Division, but also contenders for the National League pennant.
The biggest news of all during the off-season, though, was the issue of the reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun apparently testing positive for PED's and facing a possible 50-game suspension.
The team also improved their bullpen with resigning Francisco Rodriguez as closer, trading outfielder Nori Aoki to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for a young pitcher in Will Smith, and signing veteran slugging first baseman Mark Reynolds.
The Brewers have showed much improved starting pitching, with a steady rotation in Yovani Gallardo, Kyle Lohse, Matt Garza, Wily Peralta, and Marco Estrada.
The Brewers began a mode of rebuilding the team, with Doug Melvin stepping down as general manager and being replaced with Houston Astros assistant GM, David Stearns.
Following their amazing 2018 campaign, GM David Stearns worked more on adding more talent to the Brewers roster, including signing free agent catcher Yasmani Grandal and third baseman Mike Moustakas, each on one year contracts.
On September 25, the Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 9–2 to clinch a postseason spot for the sixth time in franchise history, knocking the Cubs out of playoff contention.
