Organists make pitch for Miller Park job
The Milwaukee Brewers will soon hold auditions for a new organist at Miller Park. The baseball team received applications for the job through Jan. 17 and will soon begin interviews and auditions, spokesman Jon Greenberg said.
The resumes were collected by Mike Jakubowski, the Brewers’ director of electronic services. The applicants ranged from church organists to people with professional performance experience, Greenberg said. “We’ve got double-digit applications. He tells me he’s got several really good candidates,” he said.
To attract the organist applicants, the Brewers posted a job description on the team’s Web site. The job will be a “part-time, seasonal” position, according to Greenberg, who declined to disclose the organist’s salary.
The team is seeking someone who can play traditional Milwaukee baseball fare, such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “Go, Brewers Go!” and “Roll Out the Barrel,” Greenberg said. However, the successful candidate also must be able to play popular music, he said. The team will pipe in recorded music to supplement the live organist.
When the Brewers open up with a pre-season game against the Minnesota Twins at Miller Park on March 28, the organ will return to baseball in Milwaukee for the first time since 1986, when Frank Charles tickled the ivories.
“We’re trying create that special feeling, that when you hear an organ, you think of baseball,” Greenberg said.
The idea of returning an organist to the ballpark came from a fan who made the request to Ulice Payne, the Brewers’ new president and chief executive officer, during a fan forum at Miller Park in October.
– Steve Jagler
