WAUKESHA, Wis. — One hundred years of life leaves behind a lot of memories. In Bob Pronold’s home, plenty of them involve baseball.
Pronold turned 100 years old Tuesday, surrounded by children, grandchildren and a collection of photographs and newspaper clippings documenting a connection to the game that stretches back more than eight decades.
Waukesha man celebrates 100th birthday as Brewers play for World Series title
"How does 100 feel?" asked Mike Beiermeister.
“Well, I feel like 100,” Pronold said with a laugh. “I feel good.”
Long before Pronold was cheering for the Milwaukee Brewers, he was the one playing the game.
A 1943 newspaper clipping kept by his family names Pronold among several Waukesha Junior Legion players who impressed Brooklyn Dodgers coaches during tryouts and were set to receive contracts. Pronold remembers playing third base and left field.
“I was a pretty good ball player,” Pronold said. “I hate to brag, but I was.”
Baseball, however, would not become his career. Pronold went on to serve in the U.S. Navy around the end of World War II before returning to Wisconsin and raising a family.
The years changed, but baseball never really left him.
“Mostly the Brewers, mostly,” Pronold said. “I like baseball. I like to watch it.”
That makes the timing of his milestone birthday particularly special.
Pronold will spend his 100th birthday watching the Brewers play Game 4 of the World Series, hoping Milwaukee can provide one more reason to celebrate.
And the former ballplayer already knows what he will be watching closely.
“I think the Brewer pitchers is going to be the main thing,” Pronold said. “They got pretty good pitching, and if their pitching comes through, going to win.”
Asked what it would mean to see the Brewers win a World Series on his 100th birthday, Pronold offered the kind of perspective that only a century can provide.
“Well, I won’t see it again. I won’t see 100 again,” he said. “So what you gonna do?”
Pronold said a Brewers championship would make for a pretty good birthday gift, but after 100 years, he appears grateful simply for another day.
“When I get up in the morning, I say it’s a bonus,” Pronold said.
And for Game 4, his message is simple:
“Let’s Go Brewers.”
His family hopes the Milwaukee Brewers can provide him with a special jersey for his big milestone birthday.
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