This blue cardstock ticket gave one lucky fan a seat to watch the Milwaukee Brewers on July 28, 1952, sixty-three years ago today. It wasn't any old game, though; the Brews were hosting the Chicago White Sox in an exhibition game.
Exhibition games against major league clubs were a staple with the Brews. In 1943, Bill Veeck and Charlie Grimm took their club down to Wrigley Field for an exhibition game, the first time a minor league club played in the Friendly Confines. Welcoming a big-league club to Borchert Field was much more common.
As might be expected, the Brews had a long relationship with Chicago. As the nearest big-league city, Milwaukeeans were often fans of one of the two Chicago teams.
The was "a ding dong exhibition for seven sessions," to quote the Milwaukee Sentinel. Going into the eighth inning, the Brewers were leading their guests 2-1 behind the solid pitching of right-handed hurler Dick Donovan. As the box score indicates, that's when it all went a bit sideways:
Donovan, who had exhibited so much control to those first "ding dong" seven innings, suddenly lost it. He walked the first batter and gave up a single to the second. He managed to retire the third but lest anyone think the hurler was regaining his form, he followed it up by hitting a batter and walking in a run with the next. Brewer manager Bucky Walters had seen enough this point, and brought out the hook, but by the time they closed out the top half, the damage was done and the ChiSox were on top 5-2. The Brewers started a comeback with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but the Sox added five more in the ninth to finish it.
It must have been a disappointing evening, for the owner of this ticket and the other 9,574 who came to the Orchard that night. At least for those who weren't White Sox fans.
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