“Hey! That’s the Milwaukee Braves! Wait, no it’s not. Does that say Beavers? That says Brewers?”

If this photo is confusing to you as it was for me, come on in. A thread on how the #Braves and #Brewers are brand cousins, if you will. #ForTheA
So, I always figured the first version of the Milwaukee Brewers, which was a minor league team, followed the Milwaukee Braves parent club down south and became the Richmond Braves. Not true, the Atlanta Crackers became the Richmond Braves after Ponce was demolished in 1965.
The real story is tons of fun and a true crossroads: The original Milwaukee Brewers were an American League charter member in 1901, but moved the following season to St. Louis and became the Browns. In 1902, an independent Milwaukee Brewers club filled that void (seen below)
Ironically, that Brewers team was a Browns affiliate from ‘29-‘33, and was owned from ‘41-‘45 by WWII vet and baseball sage Bill Veeck, who bought the Browns in ‘51. By that time, the Brewers were a Boston Braves affiliate (‘47-‘52).
The Braves were owned by Lou Perini, who purchased the Brewers to be their AAA affiliate during that timeframe. Of course, the Brewers began wearing uniforms similar to the parent club (the Crackers ironically became the AA affiliate in 1950).
While the Brewers still used the ‘Barrel Man’ as their logo, they wore the same familiar piping and script as the Boston Braves. (The B in the adjusted script on the far right photo is identical to Boston’s)
And then Veeck and Perini butt heads a bit: Veeck wanted to get his franchise away from the more popular Cardinals; Perini wanted the Braves out from under the shadow of the Red Sox. Milwaukee County Stadium was built in 1953 to host the Brewers, OR lure a MLB franchise.
Perini got dibs on Milwaukee because of league rules that gave teams with affiliates in target cities right of first refusal. Perini used that proximity to the Brewers as an excuse, but the move to Milwaukee actually displaced the Brewers — they moved to Toledo, then Wichita.
Veeck’s team chooses plan B and moves to Baltimore in 1953, becoming the Orioles that we know of today.
So the Brewers, a popular team for 50 years, were no more. The Braves spent ‘53-‘65 in Milwaukee before heading south to Atlanta, where they re-affiliated with the Crackers (now of the new International League) and sent them to Richmond.
Then the Seattle Pilots show up in 1969 (nice!) as an American League expansion team, but last just one year. Milwaukee, with County Stadium vacant other than select Packers satellite games, inherits the Pilots franchise, which keeps their original blue and yellow colors.
But the new American League Brewers invite back the ‘Barrel Man’ as their primary icon. The “Crew” we are all familiar with are born (those throwbacks work by the Brewers in the 2000s are even mistaken as Braves throwbacks in Google searches).
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