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50-636: Prior to the minor league San Benito "Saints," a semi–professional team of the same name played for many seasons in San Benito. In 1931, the Class D level Rio Grande Valley League formed. The league began the season with the Corpus Christi Seahawks , Harlingen Ladds and McAllen Palms joining the San Benito Saints in playing as charter members. The league began play on April 22, 1931. On June 4, 1931,

100-564: A White Sox –Braves World Series, as the cities are only about 75 miles (120 km) apart along the west shore of Lake Michigan . However, it was not to be. Though consistently behind both the Braves and Giants all season, the Dodgers won the league title with two straight wins against the Braves, ending the Braves' pennant streak at two. The Dodgers would go on to defeat the White Sox in six games in

150-667: A Major League Baseball club that played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin , from 1953 to 1965, having previously played in Boston, Massachusetts , as the Boston Braves . After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia , in 1966 they were renamed the Atlanta Braves . The 13-season tenure in Milwaukee at Milwaukee County Stadium saw varying degrees of success for the franchise, winning the 1957 World Series and

200-414: A 9-game win streak put the team only 3½ games behind the eventual World Series winning New York Giants by August 15. The team finished the season 89–65 (.578) and 8 games behind. The 1955 team saw even less success than the previous season under new general manager John Quinn and new manager Charlie Grimm . By May 28, the team was 10½ games behind, and would never be closer than 10 games behind for

250-560: A combined 1,226 home runs as Braves, with 850 of those coming while the franchise was in Milwaukee), while Warren Spahn , Lew Burdette , and Bob Buhl anchored the rotation. In the inaugural season of the Braves in Milwaukee, the team found success early on. For the latter half of May and most of June, the Braves held a narrow lead in the National League. By the June 15 trade deadline, the team

300-475: A favorable stadium deal. For the first two years, the team would pay only $ 1,000 a year for the use of Milwaukee County Stadium. For the next three years, the team would pay 5% of ticket prices and concessions. After that, the rent would be negotiated afresh, with the Braves being required to open their books. Milwaukee went wild over the Braves, who were welcomed as genuine heroes. The Braves finished 92–62 (.597) in their first season in Milwaukee, and drew

350-549: A record of 40–55, playing the season under managers Bishop Clements and Elgar Waitman. McAllen finished 7.5 games ahead of the second place Seahawks/Nighthawks in the final overall standings, with San Benito 16.5 games behind McAllen. The league did hold finals, where McAllen swept La Feria. Following the 1931 season, the Rig Grande Valley League folded. San Benito, Texas has not hosted another minor league team. The 1931 San Benito Saints hosted home minor league games at

400-465: A then-NL record 1.8 million fans. The success of the team was noted by many owners. Not coincidentally, the Philadelphia Athletics , St. Louis Browns , Brooklyn Dodgers , and New York Giants all relocated over the next five years. As the 1950s progressed, the reinvigorated Braves became increasingly competitive. Sluggers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron drove the offense (they would hit

450-845: The Corpus Christi Seagulls of 1976 and today,s Corpus Christi Hooks of the Texas League. Early Corpus Christi teams played in various leagues under differing monikers. The first minor league team based in Corpus Christi was the 1910 Corpus Christi Pelicans , who played as charter members of the Southwest Texas League in 1910 and 1911. The Corpus Christi Seahawks were members of the Gulf Coast League in 1926, Texas Valley League in 1927 and 1928 and Rio Grande Valley League in 1931. The Corpus Christi Spudders played in

500-603: The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League . The minor league Milwaukee Brewers were scheduled to begin play at the start of the 1953 season. However, in the first move of a Major League team in half a century, on March 18, 1953, the National League approved owner Lou Perini's move of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee 8–0 because of his "fine standing" with the other owners and also because there

550-593: The International League . The Braves had bought the Crackers in order to secure the major-league rights to the Atlanta area; in those days, the owner of a minor-league team also owned the major league rights to that city. The Braves completed the move to Atlanta prior to the 1966 season, and drew over 1.5 million in the new stadium that first year. Before that season, they moved the Crackers to Richmond, Virginia as

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600-592: The Kansas City Athletics (who moved to Oakland in 1968 ), Allen courted the Braves, who announced their intention to move to Atlanta for the 1965 season. However, an injunction filed in Wisconsin forced the Braves to play a lame-duck season in Milwaukee, but the home attendance was less than 560,000. In the interim, Atlanta Stadium played host to the Braves' new Triple-A affiliate, the Atlanta Crackers of

650-479: The National League pennant in 1958 . The team never finished with a losing record. The Milwaukee Braves had an overall win–loss record of 1,146–890–8 (.563) during their 13 years in Milwaukee. Three former Milwaukee Braves players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame . Construction began on Milwaukee County Stadium in 1950 in hopes of both luring a Major League baseball team, as well as

700-516: The Richmond Braves . Following the team's departure from Milwaukee after the 1965 season, the city was quickly considered for expansion, as stated by Commissioner of Baseball William Eckert in May 1966, citing that expansion would occur in "eight to 10 years." However, by 1968, Milwaukee was rejected for expansion due to its close proximity to Chicago . As early as June 1969, an MLB memo envisaged

750-634: The Southwest Texas League (1910–1911), Gulf Coast League (1926), Texas Valley League (1927–1928), Rio Grande Valley League (1931), Texas Valley League (1938), Rio Grande Valley League (1949–1950), Gulf Coast League (1951–1953), Big State League (1954–1957), Rio Grande Valley League (1949–1950) and Texas League (1958–1959). Corpus Christi played as minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Browns in 1938, Milwaukee Braves from 1954 to 1956, Pittsburgh Pirates in 1957 and San Francisco Giants from 1958 to 1959. The Corpus Christi Clippers and Aces preceded

800-463: The St. Louis Cardinals , they choked the season and finished at 92–62 (.597) , 1 game behind the Dodgers, who finished at 93–61 (.604) . The first half of the 1957 season saw the Braves in-and-out of first place, mostly between them and the Cincinnati Redlegs and St. Louis Cardinals . August 7 saw the Braves take the first place in the National League, a lead they would hold for the rest of

850-522: The World Series winning Pittsburgh Pirates . Two players threw no-hitters against the Philadelphia Phillies : Lew Burdette on August 18 and Warren Spahn on September 16. Milwaukee's home attendance slipped under 1.5 million for the first time since the move from Boston. The 1961 season saw the Braves hover around fourth and fifth for most of the season. After the June 15 trade deadline,

900-505: The World Series . The Braves finished their season at 86–70 (.551) . The next six years were up-and-down for the Braves. The Braves were somewhat mediocre as the 1960s began but fattened up on the expansion New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s (now the American League Astros) starting in 1962. The 1960 season under new manager Chuck Dressen saw the Braves somewhat fall of from the previous season, but for vast majority of

950-455: The 1938 Texas Valley League. The 1927 Corpus Christi Seahawks won the 1927 Texas Valley League championship. The Seahawks were managed by Jim Payton in the Class D level league. The Seahawks finished 1st in the regular season standings with a 63–56 record in the four–team league. Corpus Christi then defeated the Laredo Oilers 3 games to 0 in the finals. The Corpus Christi Aces played in

1000-637: The 1958 Texas League Playoffs, Corpus Christi defeated the Houston Buffalos 4 games to 1. In the Finals, the Corpus Christi Giants defeated the Austin Senators 4 games to 1 to capture the championship. Playing at Schepps Palms, Corpus Christi had season attendance of 87,774, an average of 1,155 per game. Baseball Hall of Fame member Gaylord Perry played for the 1959 Corpus Christi Giants. Perry

1050-461: The Braves from moving to Atlanta for the 1965 season, attendance plummeted to 555,000. The team saw the Braves perform slightly worse than the previous season. However, in the months of June and August, the team was largely in second place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers by only a few games, having led the National League only on August 18 and 20 by only ½ games ahead. Outside these months,

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1100-427: The Braves in Milwaukee saw less success than the previous season. Though the team went on a 10-game win streak towards the end of May, they only led the National League for the last week of May, at most 1½ games ahead. Following a losing record in June, the team never recovered, and dropped to 15½ games behind on July 14 and 21. The team would remain in third place for almost the entirety of the remaining season, even when

1150-471: The Braves to a 68–40 (.630) record for the rest of the season, leading for the majority of the season. For the second half of July, all of August, and most of September, the Braves held a small lead in the National League, in a tight race with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Redlegs . Going into the last series of the season, the Braves held a ½ game lead over the Dodgers. In losing the series 1–2 to

1200-582: The Braves would be consistently between 6 and 14½ games behind, eventually finishing the season in fourth place, at 83–71 (.539) , 10 games behind the Cincinnati Reds . Warren Spahn threw his 300th career victory on August 11 and threw his second no-hitter, this time against the San Francisco Giants on April 28. After the game on September 2, manager Chuck Dressen was replaced by Birdie Tebbetts . The team's home attendance continued its decline;

1250-422: The Class A level Gulf Coast League . The Corpus Christi Seahawks hosted 1926 and 1927 home minor league games at Kleberg Park . The ballpark was named for its builder and owner Richard M. Kleberg . In 1931 and 1938, Corpus Christi played home games at League Park . Corpus Christi teams played at Schepps Palm Field from 1949–1959. Named after owner George Schepps, the ballpark was torn down in 1960 after

1300-597: The Class AA Texas League moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. The new Corpus Christi franchise became a minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants and began play in 1958 as the Corpus Christi Giants . The 1958 Corpus Christi Giants won the Texas League Championship. The Giants finished the regular season with a 77–75 record. They were 3rd in the Texas League under Manager Ray Murray. In

1350-536: The Class D level Rio Grande Valley League in 1949 and 1950. The Aces joined the Class B level Gulf Coast League from 1951 to 1953, before changing their moniker to "Clippers" for the 1954 season. Texas businessman, George Schepps, was the owner of both the Aces and Clippers. The Corpus Christi Clippers were affiliates of the Milwaukee Braves (1954–1956) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1957). In their four seasons of play,

1400-607: The Corpus Christi Clippers finished with records of 87–60, 93–48, 83–57 and 69–58 (1954–1957). The Clippers captured the 1955 Big State League Championship and made the Big State Finals the other three seasons. The Clippers had home attendance totals of 97,255; 102,788; 112,625 and 56,871 in their four seasons. The Big State League permanently folded after the 1957 season. In 1958, the Oklahoma City Indians of

1450-590: The Corpus Christi Seagulls moved to La Feria to become the La Feria Nighthawks . For hitting home runs, San Benito players received a free barbershop visit. The Rio Grande Valley League folded during the season. On July 30, 1931, the league folded with the Saints in last place in the final standings. The Saints ended the season in fourth place overall. San Benito ended the 1931 overall regular season with

1500-679: The San Benito Ball Park. The ballpark was located at North Fannin & West Heywood Street, next to the Hondo River. No San Benito alumni advanced to the major leagues. On June 10, 1931, the Saints signed 3B "Cotton" Williams, C Dutch Hoffman and 2B Eddie Williford to the roster. Corpus Christi Seahawks The Corpus Christi Clippers was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams based in Corpus Christi, Texas between 1910 and 1959. Corpus Christi teams played as members of

1550-528: The Yankees stormed back to take the last three games, the last two in Milwaukee, in large part to World Series MVP Bob Turley , the winning pitcher in games five and seven. The 1959 season, under new general manager John McHale , saw a tight three-way race between the Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers , San Francisco Giants for the pennant race. The Braves led the National League in May and June, whereas in July and August,

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1600-469: The collar and down the middle of shirt. Red script "Braves" was across the chest with navy trim. At various times, there was piping around each sleeve. Piping on the uniform could be red or navy depending on the year. Road uniforms were the same format, but on a gray shirt. The Braves have retired four numbers in the history of the franchise related to its tenure in Milwaukee. Of the four Milwaukee Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for

1650-554: The departure of the Corpus Christi Giants. Schepps Palm Field was located near Old Brownsville Road, Highway 44 and Baldwin Boulevard. The approximate address of the site today is 4242 Baldwin Boulevard, Corpus Christi, Texas 78405. Corpus Christi Aces players Corpus Christi Clippers players Corpus Christi Giants players Corpus Christi Pelicans players Corpus Christi Seahawks players Corpus Christi Spudders players Milwaukee Braves The Milwaukee Braves were

1700-419: The fast-growing city of Atlanta , led by Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. , constructed a new $ 18 million, 52,007–60,606 seat multi-purpose stadium in less than one year, Atlanta Stadium (later on known as Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1976 until 1996 with its demolition in 1997), which was officially opened in 1965 in hopes of luring an existing major league and/or NFL / AFL team. After the city failed to lure

1750-478: The last season exceeding one million was in 1961. The 1962 season saw the Braves consistently in sixth place from mid-May through mid-September. Before July 22, the team had a negative record, though after this date would have a positive record for the remainder of the season. The team finished the season in fifth at 86–76 (.531) , 15½ games behind the San Francisco Giants . Hank Aaron his Milwaukee career high 45 home runs. Attendance fell off significantly below

1800-561: The newly founded Seattle Pilots of the American League moving to Milwaukee. Concerns for the Pilots' viability led to several attempts to relocate the team to Milwaukee, which lead to Pilots owner Dewey Soriano to try and sell the team. Following failed attempts to sell to former Braves minority owner Bud Selig and several deals involving Westin Hotels head Eddie Carlson , and bankruptcy of

1850-423: The newly relocated San Francisco Giants . The Braves would secure first place for the rest of the season from July 30, finishing the season 92–62 (.597) , 8 games ahead, securing their second consecutive National League pennant. In the World Series , the Braves jumped out to a three games to one lead in against New York once more, thanks in part to the strength of Warren Spahn 's and Lew Burdette 's pitching. But

1900-514: The only season that the Milwaukee Braves finished " second division ", having placed in the lower half of the league. Hank Aaron hit 44 home runs and notched 130 RBI, and Warren Spahn was once again the ace of the staff. There was a slight uptick in attendance, though still below 800,000. The 1964 season saw the Braves slightly improve from the previous season. By the All-Star break, the team

1950-432: The previous season, falling below 800,000. The 1963 season was the first under the ownership of William Bartholomay and new manager Bobby Bragan . The Braves performed slightly worse than the previous season. After the All-Star break, the Braves were consistently between 7 and 16 games behind, finishing the season in sixth at 84–78 (.519) , 15 games behind the World Series winning Los Angeles Dodgers . This would be

2000-602: The regular season, then went on to its first World Series win in over 40 years, defeating the New York Yankees of Yogi Berra , Mickey Mantle , and Whitey Ford in seven games. Burdette, the Series MVP , threw three complete game victories, giving up only two earned runs, including the seventh game in New York, a 5–0 shutout. The first half of the 1958 season saw the Braves in-and-out of first place, mostly between them and

2050-461: The remainder of the season, even though they held second place in the National League from July 7 until the season's end, trailing the eventual World Series winning Brooklyn Dodgers . The team finished the season 85–69 (.552) and 13½ games behind. Under opening day manager Charlie Grimm , the Braves got off to a mediocre start at 24–22 (.522) . After a loss on Saturday, June 16, the owners dismissed him and replaced him with Fred Haney , who led

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2100-459: The season, finishing at 95–59 (.617) . The team celebrated their first pennant in nine years. Spearheaded by Hank Aaron's MVP season , he led the National League in home runs and RBI. Perhaps the most memorable of his 44 round-trippers that season came on September 23, a two-run walk-off home run that gave the Braves a 4–2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and clinched the league championship. The team drew over 2.2 million at home during

2150-544: The season, the team would place in second or third, always within 8 games behind. The closest the team was to leading was on July 24, when they were at 52–36 (.591) and 0 games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates , though were ahead by percentage (the Pirates were at 53–37 (.589) ). From August 6 on, the Braves were consistently between 5 and 8 games behind and finished the season in second place at 88–66 (.571) , 7 games behind

2200-457: The team hovered at its worst, 4½ games behind. The three-way race continued into the last week of September, when the Giants fell off (having led in July and August). By the season's end, both the Braves and Dodgers were tied at 86–68 (.558) , resulting in a regular season best-of-three tie-breaker series to determine the winner of the pennant. Many residents of Chicago and Milwaukee were hoping for

2250-399: The team hovered between fourth and fifth place. The Braves finished the season in fifth at 86–76 (.531) , 11 games behind the World Series winning Dodgers. Lou Perini sold the Braves to a Chicago -based group led by William Bartholomay after the 1962 season. The ink had barely dried on the deal when Bartholomay started shopping the Braves to a larger television market. At the same time,

2300-598: The team on March 31—seven days before Opening Day—the team was sold to Selig and the team was moved to Milwaukee as the Milwaukee Brewers . The National League's 32-year hiatus from the city would end in 1998 when the Brewers were transferred to the National League due to realignment resulting from the 1998 Major League Baseball expansion . When the team moved to Milwaukee, their uniforms were largely unchanged. The home uniforms were plain white with thin piping going around

2350-446: Was 37–18 (.673) and 0 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers , who were only ahead by percentage points, with a record of 36–17 (.679) . Their widest lead was on June 23 and 24, 3 games over the Dodgers, though the team would quickly lose their lead just 3 days later and never recovered. The Dodgers went on to outperform the rest of the league as the Braves finished in second, at 92–62 (.597) and 13 games behind. The sophomore season of

2400-520: Was 10–11 with a 4.05 ERA at age 20. In 1959, the Corpus Christi Giants finished 66–79. They placed 6th in the Texas League, playing under manager Ray Murray. Corpus Christi had season attendance of 61,501, an average of 848. After the season, Corpus Christi relocated to Harlingen, Texas and became the Rio Grande Valley Giants . Corpus Christi next hosted minor league baseball when the 1976 Corpus Christi Seagulls began play as members of

2450-472: Was 2 games under .500, in seventh place. For the remainder of the season, the Braves were consistently between 5 and 14½ games behind while consistently in fifth or sixth place. The Braves finished the season in fifth at 88–74 (.543) , 5 games behind the World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals . Despite the consistently lower performance to the previous two seasons, attendance saw a large uptick to over 900,000. After an injunction filed in Wisconsin, blocked

2500-451: Was an open city for his minor league team then in Milwaukee. The minor league Brewers moved to Toledo, Ohio , and changed their name to the Mudhens . The full AP quote about fine standing: "Warren Giles, National League president, repeated again and again that 'Perini's fine standing with the other club owners was the most important reason for their approval.'" Milwaukee County gave the Braves

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