| Bernie Brewer | |
|---|---|
 Bernie Brewer embedded in the crowd, encouraging fans to make noise | |
| Team | Milwaukee Brewers |
| First seen | 1973 |
| Website | Official Website |
Bernie Brewer is the official mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.
| Bernie Brewer | |
|---|---|
| Bernie Brewer embedded in the crowd, encouraging fans to make noise | |
| Team | Milwaukee Brewers |
| First seen | 1973 |
| Website | Official Website |
Bernie Brewer is the official mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.
In late June 1970, when the Brewers were still a new team and having difficulty drawing spectators to their games at Milwaukee County Stadium, Milt Mason, a 69-year-old Brewers fan, decided to sit atop the scoreboard until the team could draw a home crowd of 40,000. He remained there for about 40 days. To the delight of a Bat Day crowd of 44,387 on August 16, Mason descended from his trailer following the Brewers' 4–3 win over the Indians. He slid down a rope from his perch, sustaining burns to his hands and legs. After a long illness, Mason died on June 12, 1973, but not before being recognized as the original Bernie Brewer.
The Bernie Brewer character became the team's mascot in 1973, as a tribute to Mason, appearing as a cheerful man with a big mustache. In 1973, a beer-barreled chalet was built for him inside the stadium where he led the crowd in cheering. The new chalet and beer mug made their debut at the home opener that season on April 14, 1973. [1] The original date for the opener had been snowed out. Thereafter, following each home run and every victory by the Brewers, he slid down and plunged himself into a huge beer mug in celebration, balloons rising into the air from the mug. He was joined by a companion Bonnie Brewer, who playfully swatted at the backside of the opposing team's third base coach with a broom as the field crew swept the base paths.
Bernie Brewer was a fixture at Brewers home games until 1984, when the Brewers re-built the bleachers, replacing the chalet with a sound tower and sending Bernie into retirement. By popular demand, Bernie Brewer came out of retirement in 1993, when the fans voted for his return. Bernie was brought back not as just a mustachioed man in lederhosen, but in a full-body costume of a man, including large foam head. The chalet was then rebuilt (it had been in storage on the third base side under the box seats) above the left-center field bleachers. The original chalet has found a home at Lakefront Brewery, a local Milwaukee brewery and may be viewed during their brewery tour. [2]
At American Family Field, the current home of the Milwaukee Brewers, Bernie Brewer has his own "dugout" atop the bleachers behind left field, where he continues to lead the cheering at every home game. Currently he slides down a plastic white slide, no longer into a giant mug of beer but onto a platform in the shape of home plate when a Brewer hits a home run, while a sign tower with Bob Uecker's trademark home run call ("Get up, get up, get outta here, GONE!!") lights up above the Dugout. In 2009, Kalahari Resorts bought the rights to the bottom platform, and renamed it The Kalahari Splash Zone. Joseph and Cecelia S. of Milwaukee had their wedding ceremony in Bernie's Chalet in 2008. They are the only couple to be married in the chalet to this day.
In baseball, the bullpen is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if they have not yet played in a game, rather than in the dugout with the rest of the team. The starting pitcher also makes their final pregame warm-up throws in the bullpen. Managers can call coaches in the bullpen on an in-house telephone from the dugout to tell a certain pitcher to begin their warm-up tosses.
Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on the north side of the city.
Milwaukee County Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Opened in 1953, it was primarily a baseball park for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Braves and later the Milwaukee Brewers. It was also used for Green Bay Packers football games, ice skating, religious services, concerts, and other large events. Its final season was in 2000, when it was replaced by the adjacent Miller Park.
American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Located southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard, it is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers. It opened in 2001 as a replacement for Milwaukee County Stadium. The stadium was previously called Miller Park as part of a $40 million naming rights deal with Miller Brewing Company, which expired at the end of 2020.
The 1982 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1982 season. The 79th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion St. Louis Cardinals and the American League (AL) champion Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals won the series, four games to three.
The Sausage Race is a race of sausage mascots held before the bottom of the sixth inning at every home game of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Sausage Race began as a promotion for the Klement's Sausage Company, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose sausages were served at American Family Field, the home of the Brewers. In 2021, Johnsonville sausages began being served at American Family Field and today are officially known as the Famous Racing Sausages.
Busch Stadium is a baseball stadium located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the home of Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. It has a seating capacity of 44,383, with 3,706 club seats and 61 luxury suites. It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. A commercial area dubbed Ballpark Village was built adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.
Borchert Field was a baseball park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The home field for several professional baseball clubs from 1888 through 1952, it became obsolete after the construction of County Stadium in 1953 and was demolished later that year. The site is now covered by Interstate 43.
The Barrelman is a mascot logo used by two baseball teams in Milwaukee nicknamed "Brewers".
The Bleacher Creatures are a group of fans of the New York Yankees who are known for their strict allegiance to the team and their fierce attitude towards opposing fans and teams. The group's nickname was coined for the first time by New York Daily News columnist Filip "Flip" Bondy during the 1990s, and then he spent the 2004 season sitting with the Creatures for research on his book about the group, Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium, which was published in 2005.
Ten Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., on June 4, 1974. The promotion was meant to improve attendance at the game by offering cups of beer for just 10 cents each, a substantial discount on the regular price of 65 cents, with a limit of six beers per purchase but no limit on the number of purchases made during the game.
Lakefront Brewery, Inc. is a brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The brewery is based in the Beerline B neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1987 by brothers Russ and Jim Klisch, several of its brands are named after Milwaukee neighborhoods, such as Riverwest Stein Beer and East Side Dark. The brewery was the first in the U.S. to bottle fruit beer since prohibition was repealed, starting in 1992 with the seasonal Lakefront Cherry Lager. The brewery often uses Wisconsin-grown ingredients, including Door County cherries.
The 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 73rd playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues that make up Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 9, 2002 at Miller Park, now named American Family Field, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers of the NL. The game controversially ended with a 7–7 tie due to both teams running out of available pitchers. Beginning the next year, home field advantage in the World Series would be awarded to the winning league to prevent ties.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin is home to a variety of sports teams and events.
The 1982 Baltimore Orioles season was a season in American baseball. The Orioles finished second in the American League East to the eventual AL Champions Milwaukee Brewers. They finished with a record of 94 wins and 68 losses. For the second consecutive season, the Orioles recorded the most grand slams in MLB, hitting eight in 1982. This was long time Oriole manager and future Hall of Famer Earl Weaver's last season managing the Orioles until he returned to manage them from 1985 to 1986.
The 1974 Cleveland Indians season was the team's 74th season in Major League Baseball. It involved the Indians competing in the American League East, where they finished fourth with a record of 77–85.
The 1977 Major League Baseball season saw the American League (AL) having its third expansion, as the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays began play, with Seattle returning to the MLB fold after a seven-year absence when the Pilots relocated to Milwaukee to become the Brewers. However, the National League (NL) did not expand, remaining at 12 teams compared to the AL's 14, until the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins joined the NL in 1993.
Compadre Stadium was a stadium located in Chandler, Arizona. It was the spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986 to 1997 and the home field of the Chandler Diamondbacks of the Arizona Fall League from 1992 to 1994. The ballpark was privately financed by local developers and built at a cost of $1.6 million in 1985. It closed in 1997 and sat abandoned for a number of years, with the outfield being used for grazing, before finally being demolished in 2014.
The city of Milwaukee in the U.S. state of Wisconsin has been associated with beer throughout its history. This heritage can be found in its Major League Baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, and on beer brands such as Old Milwaukee and Milwaukee's Best. The city's major brewers have included Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz. MillerCoors, the city's largest brewery, produces 10 million barrels of beer a year.
