Bernie Brewer is the official

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for the Milwaukee Brewers

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team.

History

In late June 1970, when the Brewers were still a new team and having difficulty drawing spectators to their games at

Milwaukee County Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Opened in 1953, it was primarily a baseball park for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Braves and later the Milwaukee Brewers. It was also used for Green Bay Packers f ...

, Milt Mason, a 69-year-old Brewers fan, decided to sit atop the scoreboard until the team could draw a home crowd of 40,000. He remained there for about 40 days. To the delight of a Bat Day crowd of 44,387 on August 16, Mason descended from his trailer following the Brewers 4-3 win over the Indians. He slid down a rope from his perch sustaining burns to his hands and legs. After a long illness, Mason died on June 12, 1973 but not before being recognized as the ''original'' Bernie Brewer. The Bernie Brewer character became the team's mascot in 1973, as a tribute to Mason, appearing as a cheerful man with a big

mustache A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ( ...

. In 1973, a beer-barreled

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

was built for him inside the stadium where he led the crowd in cheering. The new chalet and beer mug made their debut at the home opener that season on April 14, 1973. The original date for the opener had been snowed out. Thereafter, following each

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and every victory by the Brewers, he slid down and plunged himself into a huge

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

mug in celebration, balloons rising into the air from the mug. He was joined by a companion Bonnie Brewer, who playfully swatted at the backside of the opposing team's third base coach with a broom as the field crew swept the base paths. Bernie Brewer was a fixture at Brewers home games until 1984, when the Brewers re-built the

bleacher Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a ro ...

s, replacing the chalet with a sound tower and sending Bernie into

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. By popular demand, Bernie Brewer came out of retirement in 1993, when the fans voted for his return. Bernie was brought back not as just a mustachioed man in

lederhosen Lederhosen (; , ; singular in German usage: ''Lederhose'') are short or knee-length leather breeches that are worn as traditional garments in some regions of German-speaking countries. The longer ones are generally called ''Bundhosen'' or ''Kn ...

, but in a full-body costume of a man, including large foam head. The chalet was then rebuilt (it had been in storage on the third base side under the box seats) above the left-center field bleachers. The original chalet has found a home at Lakefront Brewery, a local Milwaukee brewery and may be viewed during their brewery tour.

Present

American Family Field American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's ...

, the current home of the Milwaukee Brewers, Bernie Brewer has his own " dugout" atop the bleachers behind

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

, where he continues to lead the cheering at every home game. Currently he slides down a plastic white slide, no longer into a giant mug of beer but onto a platform in the shape of home plate when a Brewer hits a home run, while a sign tower with Bob Uecker's trademark home run call ("Get up, get up, get outta here, GONE!!") lights up above the Dugout. In 2009,

Kalahari Resorts Kalahari Resorts and Conventions is a water park resort chain with locations in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; Sandusky, Ohio; Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania; and in Round Rock, Texas. Named for the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa, the resorts are he ...

bought the rights to the bottom platform, and renamed it The Kalahari Splash Zone. Joseph and Cecelia S. of Milwaukee had their wedding ceremony in Bernie's Chalet in 2008. They are the only couple to be married in the chalet to this day.

Gallery

Image:Bernie brewer in dugout.jpg, Bernie Brewer (left) in his dugout at

. Image:Bernie brewer dugout and slide.jpg, Bernie Brewer's dugout and slide. File:Bernie Brewer Waving Flag.jpg, Waving flag after a player hit a home run File:Bernie Brewer in crowd.jpg, Bernie Brewer embedded in the crowd, encouraging fans to make noise.

References

External links

Bernie Brewer's official page
{{Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball team mascots Milwaukee Brewers Mascots introduced in 1973 Culture of Milwaukee