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Recalling Selig’s fight to keep Milwaukee in the game

Bud Selig’s life in baseball, now well into its fifth decade, began out of frustration and heartache.

The catalyst for Selig was the 1965 departure of the Milwaukee Braves, his beloved hometown team, for Atlanta. At the time, Selig was a local businessman, a car dealer, and had been a minority shareholder in the Braves.

Selig has often spoken of breaking down in tears on Opening Day in 1966, listening to the radio call of the Braves’ first game in Atlanta, playing against Pittsburgh, complete with Pirates announcer Bob Prince’s call, “We’re a long way from Milwaukee.”

Bud Selig faces the news media in 1970 to read a telegram from American League President Joe Cronin regarding the move of the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee.
Photo by: AP Images
From that sadness came a fervent fight by Selig to return baseball to Milwaukee. He soon formed Teams Inc., an organization devoted to get a team for the city. Trying to show Milwaukee off as a major league city in any way possible, Selig arranged to stage several Chicago White Sox games each season in 1968 and 1969, with attendance at County Stadium both years well in excess of the club’s average back in Comiskey Park.

Selig helped lead

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Milwaukee’s strident but unsuccessful bid to be part of the league’s 1969 expansion that brought teams to San Diego, Montreal, Kansas City and Seattle.

After that expansion decision, Selig neared a deal to buy the White Sox and move them to Milwaukee permanently. But the American League, not wanting to abandon the huge Chicago market, vetoed the transaction at the last minute.

Selig was again back to square one.

However, the sport’s decision to expand to Seattle didn’t go well, and after only one year of play, the Pilots franchise fell into bankruptcy. Selig quickly arranged a deal with the bankruptcy court to buy the team for $10.8 million, with approval coming on the night of March 31, 1970, less than a week before the start of the season.

The deal, however, came with one last bit of drama. The club’s equipment truck had left Arizona and stopped in Provo, Utah, awaiting word on whether it should head northwest to Seattle or northeast to Milwaukee. The court’s approval of Selig set the trucks bound for Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee Brewers were born.

“It was a long, tough 5 1/2 years with a lot of rejection, and a lot of sadness,” Selig said. “Then the ultimate happened. … Nothing will ever give me the satisfaction that [landing the team] did.”

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