The rivalry between Milwaukee Brewers fans and Chicago Cubs fans is heated. All the more so this season, after Craig Counsell went from being the Brewers manager to the Cubs manager. But there is such a thing as a Cubs-Brewers fan — Milwaukee freelance journalist Tom Kertscher is one of them.
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I’ve always said that when it comes to baseball, I have dual citizenship. In my case, you could spell dual, d-u-a-l or d-u-e-l.
You see, I’m a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs.
For some baseball fans, that might seem impossible. Kind of like the idea of…sweet poison…or, Budweiser Platinum…or gardening at night. But you don’t give up on your first love — especially when your heart is big enough for two.
Here’s how I became a Cubs-Brewers fan.
I grew up near Milwaukee, in Cedarburg. Well, the Town of Jackson, actually, out in the country. One of our neighbors had three boys around my age. Their aunt and uncle down the street had a huge empty lot next to their house. It seemed like we played baseball there every summer afternoon.
This was in the late-1960s, when there was no Major League Baseball team in Milwaukee. The Braves had left for Atlanta after the 1965 season and the Brewers didn’t arrive until 1970.
On one of the afternoons when we weren’t playing baseball, I discovered that the Chicago Cubs were on the radio. A lot. In those days, long before Wrigley Field got lights, the Cubs played all of their home games in the afternoon.
I fell in love with that team and the WGN radio announcers, Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau. How they could stir my imagination.
I still feel the adrenaline rush when I remember the song that played before every broadcast. I know it by heart.
It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame
for a ballgame, today
The fans are out to get a ticket or two
from Walla Walla, Washington, to Kalamazoo
It’s a beautiful day for a home run
But even a triple’s OK
We’re gonna cheer and boo
And raise a hullabaloo
At the ballgame today
Then came that triumphant voice: “Chicago Cubs Baseball is on the air!”
Of course, once Major League Baseball came back to Milwaukee, it wasn’t hard to become a Brewers fan, too. My dad would take me to games at old Milwaukee County Stadium.
When the two teams play each other, I really can’t lose.
I still have on my wall from my childhood a black-and-white, 8-by-10 of my favorite Cubs player, Hall of Famer Billy Williams.
It’s next to the front page of the newspaper that I framed from when the Brewers made it to the playoffs in 2008 — for the first time in 26 years.
Great stuff.
I still listen to Cubs games on the radio. That is, when I’m not listening to the Brewers. Sometimes, I can listen to one and then the other.
Now that’s a beautiful day for a ballgame.
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Editor’s note: The regular season ends Sunday, Sept. 29. The Brewers have clinched the National League Central title, and have qualified for the playoffs for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. The Cubs have been eliminated from the playoffs, which begin Tuesday, Oct. 1.
