The Summer of Johnny Morris and the Milwaukee Brewers

We're all familiar with the famous story of Babe Ruth visiting the sick boy in the hospital and then, at the kid's request, going out to the ballpark and hitting a home run to make his wish come true. It's almost become a cliché, repeated in endless movies and comedy sketches on late night television. As a young man, I had a similar encounter with a major league ballplayer, though I wasn't sick (he was) and though he didn't hit a home run for me, what he did for me has stuck with me to this day.

Growing up in Wisconsin, I was a fan of the Milwaukee Braves baseball team. Moving from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the Braves were quickly embraced by Wisconsinites and its line-up of future Hall of Famers- Hank Aaron, Eddie Matthews, Warren Spahn- thrilled us year after glorious year. They even brought us a World Series title in 1957 and almost a second one in 1958. In 1964 the Braves were sold and the new owner planned to move the team to Atlanta to a new ballpark for the 1965 season, but a successful court injunction kept the team in the city for one more lame-duck season. The Braves moved to Atlanta the next year leaving Milwaukee without its own team for several more years. An agreement with the Chicago White Sox, allowed them to play a handful of games at County Stadium each year, helping to fan the flames of desire for a new team. I, for one, was hungry for baseball.