This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
If only the Brewers would start having some fun, right?
The “Ballplayer Bell” has been a lot of fun since it appeared at the end of the dugout in time for Rowdy Tellez to break the club record with eight RBIs in last week’s 18-run romp over the Reds. Willy Adames has already broken the bell twice. Equipment manager Jason Shawger was sure to pack it carefully for the trip to Atlanta.
It made me think about the other trinkets and traditions in Brewers history. Surely I’m forgetting some — drop me an email if I missed your favorite.
BERNIE’S SLIDE
The Brewers’ original home run celebration was inspired by a real person, Milt Mason, who lived atop the County Stadium scoreboard for 40 days in 1970 until the fledgling Brewers drew a crowd of 40,000 and he slid down a rope, rather badly burning his hands in the process. Starting in ‘73, mustachioed Bernie Brewer slid from his chalet atop the bleachers into a beer stein after every Brewers home run. For the record, the first slide celebrated a homer by infielder Pedro Garcia. In 1984, Bernie was evicted when the Brewers rebuilt the bleachers, but he returned by popular demand in 1993, the same year the Racing Sausages came to life.
THE CHEESEHEAD
According to Cheese Culture Magazine (I’m serious), the foam cheesehead hats were created in 1987 and took off in…
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