Brewers 101: The Logos

The Milwaukee Brewers in the ’70s

The haphazard Milwaukee Brewers uniform were never meant to be – now they’re iconic. (photo from: baseballhalloffame.org)

Fun fact: the Milwaukee Brewers color scheme was never supposed to be blue and gold. Pretty much everything about the design in the 1970 season was not supposed to look the way it did, but the financial difficulties of the Pilots forced the hand of a lot of parties, and Milwaukee had to play the cards they were dealt.

Bud Selig wanted to remake the team with red and blue in homage to the American Association Brewers – but the blue and gold stuck.

The uniforms of the first season very closely resembled that of the Pilots – because they were the uniforms of the Pilots, with Seattle’s icons removed and the Brewers logos stitched over the top – fans of the early days and players of the era have said you could actually see the remnants of the old team on the uniforms.

The Brewers gave a nod to the Pilots with a similar lettering, and donned a blue cap with a plain gold ‘M’ adorned on it.

Over the next few years, slight adjustments were made along with the times. The

Owgust definitely got more trim for his trip to the Majors. (photo from: sportslogos.net)

block script stayed on the jerseys, and the Brewers said goodbye to tradition and used the word ‘Brewers’ on both home and road jerseys. After the 1970 season, the team slimmed down the gold armbands from the military style bands of the Pilots, giving the uniform a look more closely resembling the current look.  By ’72, Milwaukee went with the pullover double-knits and continued into the strange realm of ’70s fashion trends with the yellow front panel on the navy blue cap. Not to mention: yellow socks with blue stirrups.

Times were changing and the Brewers were young, so the early to mid-’70s was marked by tweaks and shifts in the overall design of the logo and uniforms. Oddly enough, the only constant of the era was Owgust – our friendly neighborhood barrel man who was dusted off, given a more athletic posture, and showed off to the Milwaukee faithful as one of the team’s official symbols. This era in Brewers history also gave birth to a new lasting team symbol. That mustachioed man was, of course, Bernie Brewer – introduced to the Milwaukee fans in 1973.

(sources: 1, 2, 3)