When the Braves abandoned Milwaukee and headed south to Atlanta, baseball fans in Wisconsin sharply felt the loss, and it appeared that professional baseball in Milwaukee was doomed and so it was for five long years.
But then along came a guy named Allan H. Selig, better known as Bud. With the help of his daughter Wendy, Bud Selig was instrumental in acquiring another Major League Baseball franchise for the city of Milwaukee and its long suffering fans.
That was back in 1970 when the Milwaukee Brewers were born, actually they were relocated from Seattle where they were known as the Pilots, and renamed the Brewers. After all, what is Milwaukee’s greatest claim to fame, if not for its fine beers?
Bud Selig went on to become the commissioner of Major League Baseball and has now served in that post for 22 years. Mr. Selig will be retiring in January 2015 and the Brewers organization has come up with a great way to honor his contribution to the team, the franchise and to the city of Milwaukee.
Bud Selig was born and raised in Milwaukee where he was a huge fan of the then Milwaukee Brewers Minor League team and, of course, the Chicago Cubs. But when the Braves came to town in 1953 and brought Major League Baseball to the City of Milwaukee, Selig became an immediate fan.
As Bud Selig is generally known as the father or at least the Godfather of the Milwaukee Brewers, the team will reward him uniform jersey Number One and then retire that jersey to reside along side of past greats from the Brewers franchise.
When Selig was informed of the pending honor he replied, “I’m never at a loss for words, but I am right now.” And rightly so Mr. Commissioner. Selig’s #1 jersey will be raised to the rafters and hang alongside those of Paul Molitor’s #4, Robin Yount’s #19, Rollie Fingers #34, Hank Aaron’s #44 and of course the #42 of the great Jackie Robinson, which has been retired throughout MLB. Quite a crowd and quite an honor.
Mark Attanasio, the principal owner of the Brewers said in a statement, “We’ve looked for ways to honor him, because but for his blood, sweat and tears, as well as his daughter Wendy’s, we wouldn’t be sitting here. We did a statue out front, but it didn’t seem to be enough, frankly.” Retiring a jersey in Bud Selig’s honor was the brainchild of Mr. Attanasio.
