There were 42,000-plus rowdy fans packed into American Family Field in Milwaukee last week for NLCS Games 1 and 2.
For Hall of Famer Joe Torre, who was in attendance in his role as a special assistant to the Commissioner, the feeling in that building took him back to an earlier time.
“It sort of reminded me of the ‘50s,” Torre said in a phone interview with MLB.com. “There wasn’t an empty seat. It was a great atmosphere. The people in Milwaukee were so engaging.”
Torre was just a teenager with big league dreams when he attended the 1957 and 1958 World Series. His older brother Frank was Milwaukee’s backup first baseman when they beat the Yankees in seven games in ‘57 before losing the rematch in seven games the following year.
Torre spent the first six years of his career playing for the Braves at Milwaukee County Stadium before that franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966. The Brewers came to town in 1970 and made County Stadium their home until their current building opened next door in 2001.
When Game 1 of this year’s Fall Classic between the Brewers and the Rays begins Friday night, it will be the first World Series opener in Milwaukee since the Braves hosted the Yankees in Game 1 of the 1958 World Series at Milwaukee’s County Stadium.
“I was at every single game of those two World Series,” Torre recalled. “Little did I know that soon after that I would be playing professional baseball.”
Torre's Wisconsin ties run deep. He began his seven-decade life in baseball as a 19-year-old catcher with the Class C Eau Claire Braves in 1960. He hit .344 to win the Northern League batting title and made his Major League debut as a September callup that same year, collecting a pinch-hit single off Harvey Haddix at County Stadium for his first career hit.
“It was a nice ballpark, and it was fairly new because the Braves came from Boston in '53.” Torre recalled. “I was just telling someone last night that they charged 25 cents for parking.”
Frank Torre slugged two home runs in the 1957 World Series, including one at Yankee Stadium off Bob Turley. When the "Today" show interviewed their mother Margaret, she beamed with pride.
“Then the last question they ask is, 'Who's your favorite player?' and she said Gil Hodges,” Joe said with a laugh.
The Braves closed out their 1957 championship with a 5-0 win in Game 7 in New York.
“I remember Moose Skowron hitting the ground ball down the third-base line with the bases loaded, and Eddie Mathews touching third for the final out,” Torre said. “Then the celebration.”
The memories weren’t so fond the following year.
“That was just a bummer, because the Braves had the 3-1 lead before the Yankees came back, and my brother was charged with two errors in Game 7,” Torre said. “But it was exciting.”
Among other memorable events at County Stadium were the first and last hits of Hank Aaron’s career -- with the Braves in 1954 and the Brewers in 1976 -- and, of course, the middle three games of the 1982 World Series, the Brewers’ last appearance in the Fall Classic until now.
If the Brewers can claim their first World Series title, it will stand alongside that of the 1957 Braves in Milwaukee baseball history.
And just like he was almost seventy years ago, Joe Torre will be at every game.