The Original Bernie Brewer

A few weeks ago, I noticed two books about the history of the Milwaukee Brewers on the shelf in our school library. I decided to check them out and bring them home. I paged through them when I first brought them home before setting them aside. Tonight, I found them in a basket and chose to flip through them once again before taking them back to school tomorrow.

While perusing The Story of the Milwaukee Brewers by Sara Gilbert, I learned of the history of the Brewers' mascot, Bernie Brewer. As the story goes, "...The original Bernie Brewer was a fan, 69-year-old retiree Milt Mason, who was disappointed in the paltry turnout at County stadium. So on July 6, 1970, he ascended to a specially designed trailer at the top of the scoreboard in right field, pledging to stay there until a crowd of 40,000 came to the ballpark. He spent 40 days with just a television, an exercise bike, a gas stove, and a telephone before finally, on August 16, 44,387 fans squeezed into County Stadium to watch the Brewers take on the Cleveland Indians. In honor of Mason's tenacity, Bernie Brewer officially became the team mascot in 1973." After he was forced into retirement in 1984, Bernie returned by fan requests in 1993. He has been cheering on the Brewers at every home game ever since.

We go to many Brewers games, watch and listen to many games, and I've even taken the Miller Park tour twice before, but never had I heard that the character of Bernie Brewer was based on Mason. Go figure that I'd learn such an interesting fact from reading a children's book!