This year marks the 15th anniversary of the death of, arguably, the player who ensured that the Milwaukee Braves have stayed in Milwaukee: Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle, as most baseball fans know, was signed by the Boston Braves in the winter of 1951 and would debut with the Braves in 1952, quickly becoming one of the star players on the Braves when they moved to Milwaukee in 1953.
Along with Warren Spahn, Eddie Matthews, and Hank Aaron, among others, he became one of the central players of the Milwaukee Braves dynasty of the late 1950s and 1960s, reaching the World Series seven times (in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1969) and winning five (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1969), breaking Babe Ruth's record (Hank Aaron would also break Ruth's home run record in the mid-1970s, before making a run at Mantle's record; he'd serve as a pallbearer at Mantle's funeral) and hitting 782 home runs before retiring in 1971. Mickey Mantle was right at home in Milwaukee, becoming popular with the Braves fandom (the fact that he helped beat the hated Yankees three times was a factor in his popularity).
So, WI Mantle hadn't played for the Braves? Mantle admitted that he was considering offers from several teams, but he decided on the Braves pretty much at the last minute. One of the other teams that considered him was the New York Yankees; one shudders at how well he would have done on the Yankees...
It certainly butterflies away the Braves dynasty of the 1990s and 2000s with Derek Jeter, IMO...