1901: When the National League got rid of four teams
it opened the door for a second Major League. Ban Johnson, who was the
President of the minor Western League, decided to step up his league to the
next level. He placed teams in cities that the NL just shunned, and other teams
were placed in NL cities to create a rivalry.
With all this moving around only
two cities survived from the Western League, and that was Detroit which was
about to have a boom thanks to the Automobile Industry, and Milwaukee which was
years away from being a Major League city.
Almost from the start of the season
plans were under way to relocate the Brewers, this resulted in the club
finishing dead last with a 48-89 record. The Brewers would move on to St. Louis
the following season, and become the Browns.
As for Milwaukee they would be a
successful minor league city for years, before, getting another Major League
team in 1953, when the NL's Braves moved from Boston. After the Braves left
Milwaukee without a team again in 1966, the Brewers were re-incarnated in 1970.
Ironically the Brewers
moved from Seattle after just one season as had the original Brewers 68 years
earlier.
There was one Hall of Famer who came out of the 1901 Brew Crew. Can Anyone name him? The other thing that is interesting to note is that in choosing the name "Browns" in 1902, the Browns started a trend of "reviving" an old name and an old era. The Browns were consciously evoking the memory of Chris Von Der Ahe's American Association Browns of the 1880s glory years. The towns of Milwaukee, Baltimore and Washington would all do the same in later years with the monikers Brewers, Orioles and Senators/Nationals. Even the Seattle Mariners is a slight evocation of the ill-fated Pilots. But will there ever be another Montréal Expos??
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