Faces of Milwaukee: Bud Selig

If you are a Milwaukee Brewers fan, you have the subject of today's portrait, Bud Selig, to thank for the privilege of having a home team to root for at all. Born in Milwaukee in 1934, Selig grew up loving baseball, attending minor league Milwaukee Brewers games from the age of 3. The Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953 and Selig, who had grown wealthy working in his father's automotive sales and leasing business, eventually became the majority shareholder. After a protracted court battle that resulted in the Braves moving to Atlanta in 1965, Selig formed an organization called the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club with the single purpose of returning major league baseball to Milwaukee.

After a failed attempt to purchase and relocate the White Sox in 1969, Selig purchased the Seattle Pilots out of bankruptcy for just under $11M and moved them to Milwaukee as the Milwaukee Brewers. As an owner, he organized a group that successfully removed then commissioner Fay Vincent, and as chairman of the Executive Council of Major League Baseball, he became de facto Commissioner in 1992. Despite a number of controversial moves such as the addition of the wildcard to the playoffs, he was promoted from acting to formal Commissioner in 1998 and served in that role until 2015. He oversaw major controversies, in particular the rise of performance-enhancing drugs while many accused MLB of looking the other way, but also a massive financial expansion of the game with major revenue gains and consistently record-breaking attendance.

Since stepping down as MLB Commissioner, Selig has moved to teaching, offering courses in sports and collective bargaining law at Marquette University Law School and Arizona Statue University. He also has received a number of accolades including being inducted in the MLB Hall of Fame in 2017. He remains a resident of Milwaukee to this day!