At 9:30 a.m. on June 12 , 1977 , Jim Ksicinski make it at Milwaukee County Stadium and went to prepare the visiting team ’s club for that afternoon’sbaseballgame . It would be the second in a three - secret plan serial publication between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Kansas City Royals , and the Brewers already had one win in the bag . business organization as usual .
But when Ksicinski check his key into the lock , he knew something was off . The key would n’t turn , and he realized the door had already been unlocked .
“ Then I promote the door , it was open , and I see right away there were no T-shirt , ” hetoldthe Associated Press . “ It was a very neat Book of Job . Every chair was in front of every locker , the same as we entrust them yesterday . ”
Only seven shirt escaped the heist : pitcher Jim Colborn ’s , which the burglar or burglars had n’t spy , and six that Ksicinski had bring home to wash after the previous game . All 53 other jerseys had been swiped , along with 20 boxing glove , 15 warm - up jackets , and 10 pairs of cleats .
Instead of throw the Royals clip out in T - shirt , the team ’s equipment manager Al Zych suggested they borrow the Brewers ’ road uniform . Not only would the light blue jerseys counterpoint well enough with the Brewers ’ home white single , but they were also essentially the same hue as the Royals ’ lift kit . And since the two team run each other often , they “ looked at face more than uniforms ” anyway , as Brewers pitcher Jerry AugustinetoldMLB.com .
For spectators and scorer , on the other hand , the sartorial swap - up likely proved a little disorienting — especially considering that three players were sporting figure five : Brewer Jamie Quirk , Royal Hal McRae wearing Quirk ’s route island of Jersey , and Royal George Brett . Like the other role player whose uniform had n’t been steal , Brett was allowed to wear his own .
“ I ’ve hear some fishy stories , like you ca n’t tell the players [ apart ] without a scorecard — or with one , ” ColborntoldThe New York Times .
For all the jokes batted around between the twoteamsthat day , it was the Brewers who had the last laugh : They beat the Royals 4 - 0 .
[ h / tMLB.com ]
