Maverick Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley experimented with baseball rule changes in 1971, namely going to a three-ball walk to cut down on length of games and promote more offense. Milwaukee Brewers General Manager Frank Lane agreed with Finley, and in fact, had proposed the idea several years earlier. “I suggested it a dozen years…
I recently finished reading Phinally and must say, it is most certainly a winner, and a book that will be worth revisiting again and again. Written by J. Daniel and published by McFarland & Company, it covers exactly what the title says – the 1980 baseball season with a bit more focus on the Phillies…
Over the weekend leading into MLK Jr. Day, I again found myself holed up in a hotel room with a laptop, working on various writing projects while my wife was in a conference hall scrapbooking. This year the stars aligned and we both had a blast! She made some great progress in her book with…
Not surprisingly, the top 5 most visited posts of 2018 on my site have Milwaukee Brewers content. Here they are from #5 to #1, with a little background on each: #5 – Gaylord Perry’s 15 Inning Marathon In the course of doing research for my Milwaukee Brewers historical book, I stumbled on a box score…
Milwaukee Brewers Historical Book News: In March I received peer and editor feedback on my manuscript. I had a few typos and spelling errors I could have kicked myself over, but the biggest blunder on my part came in the second half of the manuscript. I went in a completely different direction and started recapping…
This Craig Counsell kid has a trophy too! (with outfielder Dion James) Milwaukee Brewers reliever Rollie Fingers spent the first two months of the 1981 offseason adding hardware to his trophy case. First, he won the Cy Young Award as the American League’s top pitcher, and then he took home honors as the league’s Most…
It was a deal destined to probably never happen, but for a short time in the fall of 1973 the Chicago Cubs inquired about acquiring highly touted catching prospect Darrell Porter from the Milwaukee Brewers. They had been shopping around 14-year veteran Ron Santo and had him on the table for Porter. It’s…
This upcoming Monday brings another birthday for yours truly, and another potential trip around the sun. Some years ago on the eve of my 18th birthday, I wrote the following rather bleak piece on where I was in life. Last year I wrote a reply to that young punk from “Future Me” to offer a current perspective:…
July 9, 2003, was a dark day in Milwaukee’s racing sausage history. First baseman Randall Simon of the Pittsburgh Pirates reached out over the dugout railing and knocked the Italian sausage with a bat near the top of the head. The racing sausages had been a part of Milwaukee Brewers games since starting off as…
Lefty Ron Guidry had a 1978 season that pitchers dream about – and will probably never be duplicated. Guidry went 25-3, in a season that is among the top 10 for winning percentage in baseball history. Some of his incredible stats include: Leading the league with a sparkling 1.74 ERA, 25 wins, a .893 winning…
The 1977 Milwaukee Brewers are generally looked at as a transitional team to the contenders that graced County Stadium from 1978-82. Popular first baseman George “Boomer” Scott and future star catcher Darrell Porter had been traded away in separate deals. New to the team were pitcher Bob McClure, first baseman Cecil Cooper, and star third…
The 1973 Milwaukee Brewers team achieved a few milestones, both collectively and as individuals. The team pulled off a ten-game winning streak for the first time in franchise history. It all started on Friday, June 8, in California, with an 8-2 win. The ’73 Brewers were starting to show a propensity for streaks. They ended…
