Lou Chapman

Louis Chapman
(Louie)

• School Marquette University
• High School Milwaukee West Division High School

• Born June 19, 1913 in Milwaukee, WI USA
• Died April 30, 2004 in Venice, FL USA

Biographical Information

Lou Chapman was the long-time baseball writer for the Milwaukee Sentinel, covering both the entire existence of the Milwaukee Braves and the first decade of the Milwaukee Brewers. He joined the newspaper after his discharge from the U.S. Army at the end of World War II. His first sports beat was to cover the Milwaukee Hawks in the early days of the NBA, from 1951 to 1955, although baseball took over as his main focus once the Braves moved into town in 1953. He was relentless in pursuit of stories, feeling that his paper had to always get the scoop on the rival Milwaukee Journal (ironically, the two papers eventually merged). On June 20, 1965, on the eve of the Braves leaving town for Atlanta, he was banned from the clubhouse by the team for his "stories of a negative nature" and their "disquieting" effect on players and management. Other members of the local chapter of the BBWAA protested the gesture, and he was reinstated within 24 hours.

After he retired from the paper in 1979, he continued to write free-lance stories about baseball, including for The Sporting News and Baseball Digest. He won several awards within the newspaper industry for his work.

Further Reading

• Bob Buege: "Lou Chapman", in Gregory H. Wolf, ed.: Thar's Joy in Braveland: The 1957 Milwaukee Braves, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2014, pp. 266-269. ISBN 978-1933599717

Related Sites

• Lou Chaoman at the SABR Bio Project
• Obituary from the Deadball Era