"Selecting Their Bludgeons", 1936

The Milwaukee Brewers traveled to Louisville to open the 1936 season against the Colonels. So what does a ballplayer do with an afternoon off in the Derby City? Head over to the Louisville Slugger factory, of course, and the Milwaukee Journal's camera captured three Brewers doing just that.

"GO OVER to the bat factory and pick out a good supply. It looks as though you might break some," Heinie Bendiger told the three hard hitting youngsters on whom Milwaukee's pennant hopes rest. So here are shown (left to right) Chet Morgan, Chet Laabs and Rudy York selecting their bludgeons at Louisville Saturday.

These three batsmen came on loan from Detroit, who had signed a development agreement with the Brewers the year before. The Brews were an independent team for most of their existence (unlike the minor-league farm system we are familiar with today), but had working agreements with major league teams from time to time.

Henry "Heinie" Bendiger was the Brewers owner, who had purchased the Brewers from the Phil Ball estate in early 1934. Nice to see that he was giving his three new sluggers all the tools they would need to succeed.