100 Years Ago Today: Milwaukee Gets Going

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This graphic from the Milwaukee Journal of March 16, 1913 show that the American Association's Milwaukee Brewers have a slew of lefties in their spring training camp down south. The early days of the 1913 season are especially interesting in light of the fact that Milwaukee went on to win its first American Association championship that year. Stay tuned for regular updates as we monitor the Brewers in their first championship season in the pages of this blog!

Here are the names of the players featured in this interesting graphic (from left - right; Powell and Burg are switched in the graphic's caption):

"Big Bill" Powell, pitcher (baseball-reference lists his B/T as R/R)
Joe Burg, second baseman (baseball-reference lists his B/T as R/R)
Johnson (does not appear on roster)
Ollie Reeb (does not appear on roster)
Anton "Mutz" Ens, first-baseman (listed as L/L)
Newt Randall, outfielder (listed as R/R)
Peter Clemens, outfielder (listed as batting L)
Art LaVigne, catcher (listed as R/R)

Obviously, many of the players shown in the graphic to be batting left-handed were not identified as being left-handed batters on baseball-reference. It is likely these batters were either switch-hitters or that baseball-reference is misinformed (as they have been known to be on occasion regarding the minor league statistical data they present).

The roster for the 1913 Milwaukee Brewers includes NINE players who either batted left, threw left, switch hit or threw and batted left. (source: baseball-reference.com)

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