It did not get a lot of publicity, but the Milwaukee Brewers have announced that they will be retiring the number 1 in honor of Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Selig may not be the most popular Commissioner in North American Sports history (though Roger Goodell is making him look awfully good these days), but this is not in the same vein as what the San Diego Padres did by renaming their Hall of Fame park after the soon to be retired Commissioner.
Selig was at one point a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves, and when he was unable to prevent the team from relocating south to Atlanta after a long fight, he sold his interest in the franchise. A lover of the game of Baseball all of his life, Selig would arrange for exhibition and regular season games of the Chicago White Sox to be held in Milwaukee County Stadium. The large attendance of these games proved to Major League Baseball that the city of Milwaukee was still a viable Baseball market. Still, this was a city without a team to call its own, at least it was for a few years anyway.
Selig first attempted to purchase the White Sox with the intention of moving the team to Milwaukee, but the league vetoed the sale preferring to keep two teams in Chicago. Not giving up, Selig then purchased the Seattle Pilots who after one year in existence already went bankrupt and this time the MLB approved the relocation to Milwaukee.
Selig owned the team until 1998, when he transferred the ownership of the team to his daughter once he became the Commissioner. Although the Brewers never won the World Series, they did win the American League Pennant in 1982.
Many criticisms (and we have certainly made them) can be made about the tenure of Selig as the Major League Baseball Commissioner, but the people have Milwaukee have professional Baseball because of Bud Selig. This is well warranted.
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