The World Series ended nearly two weeks ago, and the good feelings engendered by the Milwaukee Brewers’ victory remain. They got a boost today when my wife opened a Ziplock bag holding a bunch of pin-back buttons.
To our delight, the bag retrieved from a storage bin contained two souvenir buttons we received at the Brewers’ home opener on April 16, 1981. On that chilly morning, I called a guy who’d placed an ad in the Milwaukee Sentinel classifieds for two tickets to the game at Milwaukee County Stadium.
I had the day off, and the Brewers were playing the Cleveland Indians, so the decision to get the tickets was a no-brainer.
Other than it being cold and a friendly fan after the game jokingly accusing my 6-months-pregnant wife of smuggling a seat cover under her coat, I remember little of the game. It is fun to see the box score, showing a pitching matchup of Wayne Garland against Mike Caldwell, with Rollie Fingers coming in in relief for the Brewers.
Their lineup that day — with Paul Molitor, Robin Yount and Cecil Cooper batting 1-2-3 — featured a classic cast of players that with a few tweaks would win the American League pennant a year later. The Indians had a few memorable players, too, include Rick Manning and Mike Hargrove.
The buttons were sponsored by Pabst Brewing Company and had blue ribbons attached. Pabst was still brewing in Milwaukee then. Cued by their advertising theme song, as with many Wisconsin baseball fans, I had Pabst Blue Ribbon on my mind, more and more lately, I’d find. 🧢
