Last night, MLB Commissioner Emeritus Allan H. “Bud” Selig received the first Johnny Logan Friend of Milwaukee award from the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association (MBHA). Logan was the former Braves shortstop on the World Series and pennant-winning teams of 1957 and 1958 and a fan favorite. Danny Logan, Johnny’s son, made the presentation.

Selig certainly deserved the recognition and got a second standing ovation of the evening after accepting the award at the Milwaukee Athletic Club at an event called, “An Evening with Bud Selig.”

Baseball fans may be familiar with Selig’s efforts first to keep the Braves in Milwaukee as the leader of Teams, Inc., formed in the Fall of 1964 when the jilting of the Braves to Atlanta was imminent. The group made an offer to buy the Braves and then sought an expansion franchise to begin play at Milwaukee County Stadium as early as 1967.  On July 24, 1967, a crowd of 51,144 fans packed the stands or sat in the outfield to watch the Chicago White Sox play the Minnesota Twins in an exhibition game.  (A $100,000 guarantee presented to Twins’ owner Calvin Griffith was Selig’s trump card, though an event some forecast for failure was a resounding success. The troubled Sox could have moved to Milwaukee but the Allyn brothers did not sell. They had played games in County Stadium in 1968 and 1969 to test-market baseball’s return there. In May 1968, the National League chose San Diego and Montreal over Milwaukee and the dream of bring baseball back to the city seemed dead.

As Selig told it last night, his group – now the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc. learned that the Seattle Pilots expansion club that joined the American League was in trouble after one season. They had finished last in the Western Division, did not draw well, and lacked an owner in March 1970 when, on the 31st of the month, Milwaukee Sentinel sports editor phoned Selig and told him, “You got it.” The Seattle Pilots, like the Boston Braves, moved to Milwaukee during spring training.

The mission to bring baseball back to Milwaukee may have began after the last Milwaukee Braves game at County Stadium September 22, 1965 when a wheelchair-bound woman, eyes filled with tears, told Selig, “Do you have any idea how much this team meant to me?”  Then she pointed a finger at Selig and said, “Don’t you fail because you’re all we’ve got.”

His love of the Braves went back to March 1953 right before National League owners approved the shift of the club from Boston to Milwaukee.  He and his college roommate, fellow Milwaukee resident and future Milwaukee Bucks owner and Wisconsin U. S. Sen. Herb Kohl joined him in a visit to an unprecedented site — a completed County Stadium, built to attract a major league team.  “Oh, my goodness gracious,” Selig recalled, “we’re going to get a major league baseball team.”  Selig told the audience that the Braves established a great legacy.  “You have a lot to celeb rate, you really do.  Selig called the Braves’ leaving “beyond heartbreaking, and said, “We were lucky. We had 13 years of watching a team that was remarkable.” Based on his own experiences as a Braves fan, Selig said it taught him a life lesson “to watch what a baseball team could do for a community.”

The Braves mascot that hung proudly on light poles down Wisconsin Avenue.

Selig recalled the Braves’ victory in their first game at the new stadium when center fielder Billy Bruton hit his only home run of the 1953 season in the 10th inning to beat Gerry Staley and the St. Louis Cardinals. The MBHA paid tribute to Bruton with four grandchildren and their adopted uncle and aunt, Mr. & Mrs. John Davis on hand. Bruton played eight seasons in Milwaukee 1953-1960 (with Logan at shortstop every one of those seasons) but was traded to the Detroit Tigers in 1961 for second baseman Frank Bolling.   Bruton is the 15th inductee into the MBHA Honor Roll.  A plaque describing his career is in the concourse at Miller Park that houses the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association exhibits.

Billy Bruton may have been the most popular Brave of them all. Even after he was traded, he said, “I will be a Brave forever.”

As for Johnny Logan, the MBHA had a vacant pace setting for him and there was a moment of silence in his memory.  Danny Logan told the story of a baseball fight between the Braves and Dodgers after Bruton had hit two home runs off Don Drysdale. Logan batted next and paid the price when he was hit by a pitch on his funny-bone. Logan said to Drysdale, “Why don’t you hit the guy who hit the home run? Talk to me.” With that, Logan dropped his batting helmet and walked toward the mound and the melee manifested.

Logan (left) is ready to deliver a haymaker to Dodger manager Walter Alston (24).

Perhaps Rabbi Marc Berkson, who gave the blessing before the meal and delivered the benediction, said it best: “In spite of all of our differences, the Milwaukee Braves brought us all closer together.”