The Milwaukee Brewers are a Major League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are in the Central Division of the National League. The Brewers were part of the American League through the 1997 season, after which they switched to the National League.

Founded: 1969 (American League expansion)
Formerly known as: Seattle Pilots (Sick's Stadium) (1969). The franchise relocated to Milwaukee and changed its name prior to the 1970 season.
Home ballpark: Miller Park, Milwaukee (2001 ~ current; capacity 42,500), Milwaukee County Stadium (1970~2000)
Uniform colors: Midnight Blue, White, and Gold
Logo design: The word "Brewers" in script superimposed over a baseball which itself is inside a circle with the word "MILWAUKEE" above and a pair of crossed barley stalks below
Official Team Mascot: Bernie Brewer
Wild Card titles won (0): none
Division titles won (2): 1981, 1982
American League pennants won (1): 1982
National League pennants won (0): none
World Series championships won (0): none
All-Time Record(at the start of the 2005 season): 2,680 wins, 3,019 losses

Franchise history

Much of the story of the Seattle Pilots' only year in existence is told in Jim Bouton's classic baseball book, Ball Four.

The team was purchased on April 1, 1970 by an ownership group headed by Milwaukee auto dealer Bud Selig. The team was still in spring training as the Seattle Pilots. The trucks carrying the team's equipment were sent to Salt Lake City, Utah from Arizona, where they were to receive instruction whether to continue to Seattle or Milwaukee. The team was renamed the Brewers to honor Milwaukee's beer-brewing traditions. (The city had also had a major-league team by that name around 1900, plus a minor-league team with the same name in the first half of the 20th century.) The team had six days to remove the Pilots logos from team uniforms and replace them with Brewers logos.

The team was moved from the American League to the National League in 1998 during baseball's realignment in order to make sure that each league had an even number of teams. Major League Baseball wished to keep interleague play in designated blocks during the season. Making both leagues equal in size would have meant that each league would have 15 teams, an odd number. In turn, this would have required that single interleague games be scattered throughout the season. Therefore, it was decided to have a 16-team National League and a 14-team American League.

The Selig family's ownership of the Brewers is the longest continuing ownership in the majors now. Wendy Selig-Prieb, Bud's daughter, is now CEO. However, on January 16, 2004, Selig announced that he was putting the team up for sale, and had retained a New York firm to handle the deal. In September of 2004, it was announced that the Brewers had reached an oral agreement with Los Angeles investment banker Mark Attanasio to purchase the team for US$180 million.

One of the most memorable events of the 2003 season occurred at Miller Park on July 9th. During the Brewers' "Sausage Race," in which four contestants wearing sausage costumes have a footrace on the field, Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon leaned over the dugout railing and hit college student Mandy Block with a bat. Block suffered only a scraped knee. Simon was arrested, charged, and fined for disorderly conduct. He was also suspended by Major League Baseball, and would issue an apology to Block.

The Brewers are featured prominently in the 2004 film Mr. 3000.

Players of note

Baseball Hall of Famers

* Henry Aaron
* Rollie Fingers
* Paul Molitor
* Don Sutton
* Robin Yount

Current 25–man roster (updated on June 10, 2005)

Pitchers

* 52 20px Ricky Bottalico
* 39 20px Chris Capuano
* 49 20px Doug Davis
* 47 20px Jorge De La Rosa
* 33 20px Wes Obermueller
* 50 20px Tomo Ohka
* 41 20px Tommy Phelps
* 48 20px Julio Santana
* 53 20px Víctor Santos
* 15 20px Ben Sheets
* 59 20px Derrick Turnbow
* 38 20px Matt WiseI no

Catchers

* 26 20px Damian Miller
* 21 20px Chad Moeller

Infielders

* 6 20px Jeff Cirillo
* 28 20px Prince Fielder
* 2 20px Bill Hall
* 7 20px J.J. Hardy
* 18 20px Wes Helms
* 11 20px Lyle Overbay
* 23 20px Rickie Weeks

Outfielders

* 27 20px Brady Clark
* 5 20px Geoff Jenkins
* 45 20px Carlos Lee
* 24 20px Chris Magruder

Disabled List

* 31 20px Russell Branyan (IF, 15-day)

* Manager
o 3 20px Ned Yost

* Coaches
o 36 20px Mike Maddux (pitching)
o 16 20px Butch Wynegar (batting}
o 35 20px Bill Castro (bullpen)
o 25 20px Rich Dauer (bench)
o 14 20px Dave Nelson (first base)
o 45 20px Rich Donnelly (third base)