1982 Brewers: The Parade in Milwaukee

A person not knowing the final score and watching the homecoming reception for the Brewers after Game Seven of the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals would have bet money that the Brewers had won. Despite the loss, Brewers fans gave the team a heroes’ welcome when they returned to Milwaukee.

A crowd estimated at 100,000 filled both sides of Wisconsin Avenue from North Cass Street to 10th Street as their motorcade, with the players riding in vintage convertibles provided by local car dealer Wally Rank, was showered by confetti and greeted with loud cheers.

Brewers pitcher Jim Slaton recalled how he felt the day after the Brewers lost Game Seven. “I remember how down I was. My first feeling was that I didn’t want to go. I think everybody was mentally drained. But to see the way the fans reacted around town was very gratifying and uplifting. I’ve been in a lot of places, just about every baseball town, and I can’t think of any place better than Milwaukee was.”1

Robin Yount shared Slaton’s emotions. “I was still so mad that morning knowing we had to go to the ballpark and go through this parade. I really didn’t want to do that. … But it ended up being a great thing.”2

Brewers manager Harvey Kuenn commented about the huge turnout, “It’s like my wife (Audrey) said on the ride to the park through that crowd on Wisconsin Avenue. She told me it was like we didn’t lose, and that’s the way I feel. We might have lost the game, but we were not losers.”3

Team owner Bud Selig’s thoughts were about the loyal Brewers fans: “I guess when I woke up this morning, I was the only disappointed man in town, and I have to qualify what I mean by disappointed. We had such a storybook year, there’s no question about that. But through the last three innings of last night’s game, I kept thinking about the fans here. I know how bad I felt, so I know how bad they must have felt. But when the car was stopped during the parade, a man came up to me and said, ‘You just can’t imagine the joy you have brought to this town.’ And he’s right. We did something for this city, and I can’t explain how remarkable it is. It’s just wonderful.”4

After the parade, the motorcade moved off Wisconsin Avenue and took I-94 westbound for County Stadium for a rally there. While in transit, semi-truck drivers acknowledged the team by sounding their horns, and some cars pulled onto the shoulder to watch.

Fifteen thousand fans were awaiting the Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium for a rally that began at about 1:20 P.M. The only sour note came when the car carrying Dwight Bernard and Jerry Augustine broke down on the right-field warning track and needed a tow.

All of the players rode in the vintage cars, but Robin Yount had another idea. When he arrived at County Stadium, he left the car he was riding in, ran to the dugout and toward the clubhouse. Yount talked about his means of transportation for his trip inside the stadium. “I rode this dirt bike through the streets of Milwaukee. It didn’t even have license plates,” he said. “I didn’t care if I got pulled over. It just didn’t matter. Nothing mattered at that time. I was kind of being a rebel or whatever. That motorcycle wasn’t even street legal, but for whatever reason I had it in Milwaukee all year. It was just a dirt bike. It just happened out of the clear blue. It wasn’t planned. It ended up being something that everybody remembered.”5

Brewers owner Selig was surprised and concerned about Yount’s motorcycle ride. “I almost died,” Selig exclaimed. “Here comes this figure racing around like a madman, and it’s Robin. I can still remember Vuckovich and Simmons saying, ‘Don’t worry. Your kid will be all right.’ I’m up there ready to faint, but the crowd went wild. Nobody knew he was going to do it.”6

Charlie Moore summed up his feelings about the great homecoming: “The whole thing was simply unbelievable. It helps take the sting out of the Series.”7

Paul Molitor expressed the emotional roller-coaster of the last 24 hours. “Last night I said I was sorry because we weren’t able to bring back a world championship for you, but today, you’ve paid us all back.”8

RICK SCHABOWSKI has been a SABR member since 1995. He is a retired machinist at the Harley David- son Company, is currently serving as an industrial mathematics teacher at Waukesha Community Technical College and at the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership in the Manufacturing Program, and is a certified manufacturing skills standards council instructor. He is president of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter of SABR, treasurer of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association, and a member of the Hoop Historians and the Pro Football Research Association. He is the author of a book about the Milwaukee Bucks championship season, From Coin Toss to Championship: 1971 The Year of the Milwaukee Bucks. He lives in St. Francis, Wisconsin.

 

Notes

1 Tom Haudricourt, Brewers Essentials: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2008), 62.

2 Haudricourt, 63.

3 Vic Feuerherd, “Cheers! Fans Let Brewers Know That Losing Series ‘Doesn’t Matter,’” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 22, 1982: 2-1.

4 Feuerherd: 2-8.

5 Haudricourt, 62.

6 Haudricourt, 64.

7 Feuerherd: 2-1.

8 Feuerherd: 2-1.