Would You Pick Another Team if the Brewers Moved?

[Diskono]

I'd say the White Sox, so I can continue hating the Cubs and Twins, but I don't think I could bring myself to root for a Chicago team. So, probably the Pirates or Indians.

 

Or maybe the Yankees, just to annoy people...carrying on about Jeter's amazing defense, True Yankeeism, etc. But honestly, I think I would probably get bored with the Yankees, or any team that wins all the time.

[AJAY]

I would probably have a little bit of a soft-side for the Pittsburgh Pirates because I have been to that city many times and I have family in that area. My dad was also a Pirates fan during his grad school days and I grew up with a lot of Roberto Clemente memorabilia in our house. I was also rooting for the Pirates heavily during the early 90's when they were regularly in the playoffs. Since the Brewers were in the American League at that time, the Pirates were sort of my adopted NL team for a while. PNC Park is nice too. I can also relate to the whole small market underdog thing.

 

Having said that, I probably wouldn't be as emotionally invested in the Pirates as I am now with the Brewers. It would be more of a casual rooting interest. In fact, I would overall be a lot less interested in sports if the Brewers were to ever move.

 

Maybe I would turn into the next Bud Selig and work my butt off to find a way to bring a team to Milwaukee. I think the Oakland A's would be better off here http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[LS Brewer]

I can honestly say that baseball would be dead to me. If the Brewers ever left Milwaukee, I would never go to another baseball game again. Never.

[naivin]

Yankees. No doubt. They've pretty much always been my second favorite team anyway, and after watching the Brewer lose for most of my life, why not go with a winner when given the chance?

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Padres and Mets

[GAME05]

I've always wondered what people in Milwaukee did when the team moved to Atlanta.

 

I'm sure I'd switch my allegiance from "team" to individual players and keep following them, cheering for them the way a fantasy sports owner cheers for particular players. but the past few years i've been getting soured on the way major league baseball operates as a business, and i'm sure that soon enough i wouldn't watch MLB at all. but the sport itself i love too much to just walk away from. i'm positive that i'd become a die-hard fan of whatever minor-league team was around me, no matter who they are affiliated with. actually, i'm surprised i haven't done that yet.

[HiAndTight]

Yankees. No doubt. They've pretty much always been my second favorite team anyway, and after watching the Brewer lose for most of my life, why not go with a winner when given the chance?

Funny, for me it'd be the Red Sox due to my seething hatred of the New York Yankee's.

Plus, the Red Sox are also a fun team to follow in terms of their minor league pitchers.

Moreover, I'd probably just become a fan of baseball. The Rays and Rangers would peak my interest.

 

 

But I don't know, it'd obviously never be the same. If I had the luxury of picking a team though, it sure as hell wouldn't be a team like the Brewers that doles out misery to it's fan base year after year! That was a hell I was born into, not one I chose!.....and I'm only half kidding....

[Invader3K]

I'd probably kind of cheer for the White Sox, but I wouldn't follow the game anywhere as closely as I do now.

[TracyThom]

I'd follow whatever community the Brewers moved to. I imagine I would become a Las Vegas ____ fan or whatever city is next in line for a major league team.

 

If the Brewers were ever contracted, I'm sure I'd be a Twins fan. I have a feeling that FS Wisconsin would show Twins games like the show Wild games now.

[Ennder]

I would still follow baseball and still like the teams I like now, but I wouldn't pick another team to follow the way I follow the Brewers.

[sgtcluels]

Woah.. would it matter? I'm pretty sure BTA would be the Jim Jones and we'd all drink his blue kool aid. So the answer would be... no... because it wouldn't matter anymore. (Teehee)

 

Shortlist: Twins, Reds, Royals, Rays. Probably Reds since I enjoy NL ball.

[JohnBriggs12]

Unlike most of you that weren't even born at the time, I have real experience with this question from the 1960's.

 

I ended up becoming a fan of the Kansas City Athletics, who eventually moved to Oakland, and I continued to follow them closely even through the first year or two the Brewers were around. I really got into them. I could pick up broadcasts from Minnesota and Detroit after dark and Chicago anytime. If the A's played those teams, I was listening. I heard Catfish Hunter's perfect game against Minnesota in 1968 through the static on the radio. One of my favorite baseball memories is going to County Stadium to see my A's play the White Sox in 1968.. I got Rick Monday's autograph that day. I also saw the game there in 1969.

 

These were my options at the time:

 

1. Stay a Braves fan.

 

I just couldn't do it. When your team leaves, while you don't blame the players, you loathe everything else about them.

 

2. Become a Cub fan

 

This was never an option. Before the Braves arrived, my dad was a White Sox fan, so becoming a Cub fan wasn't in my DNA. Also I've always had the belief it was Cub

ownership that was behind the Braves move to Atlanta. The guys that bought the Braves and moved them were neighbors of Cub owner Phil Wrigley. Hard to believe this,

but in the early to mid 60's Wrigley Field was a ghost town and Wrigley didn't like seeing former Cub fans rooting for the Braves.

 

3. Become a White Sox fan

 

Well I was 13 at the time and trying to find my own identity. I wasn't about to follow my dad and older brother back to the White Sox.

 

4. Become a Twins fan

 

Another "never going to happen". There was much talk in the day that the arrival of baseball in the Twin Cities contributed to attendance drop in Milwaukee. I hated

the Twins for that.

 

I settled on the A's for 2 reasons. One was, well, they weren't very good and they needed fans. The other was a Sporting News article from 1965 that Charlie Finley was looking into moving them to Milwaukee.

 

If the Brewers left town, I could see myself once again being an Oakland fan or a Royals fan.

[Baldkin]

And then when Bud Selig was going to contract the Twins and they started winning, I thought I would root for them because I thought they were getting screwed.

This is so far from the truth. I'm sick of Twins fans blaming Selig for that. Sorry for the tangent.

 

Nov 6, 2001: At a quarterly meeting in Chicago

baseball owners vote 28–2 in favor of contracting, or the folding and

buyout, of two of the league's 30 teams before the 2002 season. The

teams are yet to be determined, but the leading candidates are the

Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'd probably continue to follow them, but likely not really cheer for anyone unless a team came back to Milwaukee.

[Roderick]

But without the Milwaukee Brewers, I'd probably not follow MLB baseball that much. What can I say? I'm a homer...

Ditto for me.

[davego]

BrewCrewRising wrote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And then when Bud Selig was going to contract the Twins and they started winning, I thought I would root for them because I thought they were getting screwed.

This is so far from the truth. I'm sick of Twins fans blaming Selig for that. Sorry for the tangent.

 

Nov 6, 2001: At a quarterly meeting in Chicago baseball owners vote 28–2 in favor of contracting, or the folding and buyout, of two of the league's 30 teams before the 2002 season. The teams are yet to be determined, but the leading candidates are the Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos.

 

 

Thanks for re-directing this BrewCrew...this false narritive that the Twins have built around this event is hard to stomach. They should have had Bud there to throw out the first pitch on the opening day for helping get Target Field even built.

 

This is one of the reasons I'd never be a Twins fan.

[drezdn]

I'd root for whatever minor league team (hoping it's not connected to the Cards or Cubs) we got and then whoever was facing the ex-Brewers.

[Mr QL]

I'd be done with MLB.

[whizkid]

I've always wondered what people in Milwaukee did when the team moved to Atlanta.

 

I pretty much drifted away from MLB and didn't have a rooting interest in any team, not even a little. Kept up as best I could with what Henry, Eddie and Rico were doing but that was it.

[twobrewers]

I'd stop following MLB - except for my fantasy team and the playoffs.

 

I love the Brewers. I don't pay attention to the rest of the league until September.

[Jimbo]

Its taken me a long time, as I'm still a bit miffed over 1987, but since the Brewers left the AL, I've kind of sorta rooted for the Twins. A Brewer/Twin WS would be awesome, IMO.

 

But without the Milwaukee Brewers, I'd probably not follow MLB baseball that much. What can I say? I'm a homer...

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who feels this way. The Twins had a better team in 1988 and didn't make the post season, so I thought that would be enough to take the bitter taste of 1987 out of my mouth. However, to this day the Twins winning that WS still sticks in my craw.

 

Could you imagine the horrors if Milwaukee became a AAA team for one of the Chicagos? We'd never hear the end of it!

 

To answer the OP, I would lose interest in professional baseball altogether.

 

 

 

[ilovebeer]

If the brewers left, i would stop watching baseball all togather,baseball is the only sport i watch, i guess i would have to find a new hobby, but i wouldn't be another sport.

[bork]

Another homer here. I only care about the Brewers. If they left, I wouldn't have any reason to watch MLB. I might be able to root for a Milwaukee minor league team, but I could never root for a team in another city.

[Flood Pants]

I think I'd continue following MLB, just because I'm fascinated with baseball as a pure sport. But I don't know if I'd pick another team to root for. Even now, I enjoy watching games that don't involve the Brewers just because they're games, and I could see myself treating the whole league that way.

[GAME05]

i don't think it'd be that hard for me to root for a minor-league team for another affiliate. easy enough to root for a player to make the majors, whether it's with the Brewers or not.

 

MLB is too expensive for me to want to make the effort to become a fan of another team.