Yelich’s Place in Brewers History

[rickh150]

What will his legacy be? A statue? A number retired? Captain is a HUGE honor already… that’s enough?

I think he has 22 retired. The lack of a HoF resume withstanding, the captain role and World Series Championship gets it. Mind you, it’s close. If he produced a bit less in the playoffs, I don’t think he gets it.

The MvP in 2011 and MVP like season in 2012, along with capt. and WS title, put him in that Fingers category for me of just being over the line of getting a number retired in Milwaukee…. Just enough.  From the area of Ted Simmons and a Ryan Braun to Fingers.

[MVP2110]

22 is definitely getting retired. He will be remembered as "The Captain" of the World Series team and frankly that's an awesome way to be remembered 

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, rickh150 said:

What will his legacy be? A statue? A number retired? Captain is a HUGE honor already… that’s enough?

I think he has 22 retired. The lack of a HoF resume withstanding, the captain role and World Series Championship gets it. Mind you, it’s close. If he produced a bit less in the playoffs, I don’t think he gets it.

The MvP in 2011 and MVP like season in 2012, along with capt. and WS title, put him in that Fingers category for me of just being over the line of getting a number retired in Milwaukee…. Just enough.  From the area of Ted Simmons and a Ryan Braun to Fingers.

2018 and 2019 were historically great seasons for the Brewers, but... I feel like Yelich and his impact is more about the era than about his performance... if that makes sense. 

He's been here or 9 years, we've been to the playoffs 8 of them. We won a WS. His speech is cited as a seminal moment. 

He won't be a Yount, Molitor, but he'll have a different legacy. A winner. I'd say it'd be comparable to Braun if... not for scandal. 

Hell, he may end up being "the Captain" on team that ends up with multiple titles! Even in the more likely case that he does not in his final two years, he's a Brewers legend. 

Most importantly, he's a WORLD SERIES WINNER... that's enough for me!

[DonBarclay]

8 hours ago, rickh150 said:

The lack of a HoF resume withstanding,.

Let’s not close the book entirely on Yeli to the HoF…he’s got one path that left that doesn’t have a 0.0% chance. 

Brewers 3-peat with Yeli as captain (with good postseason performances) and his 2027/2028 replicate his 2025 season. That would put him at least into a legitimate conversation, and is >0.0% (probably not >0.1% though). 

[craigharmann]

In the annals of Brewer lore, I'd say the order is:

Yount

Molitor

 

Yeli

 

 

Braun

[MrTPlush]

I think Yeli gets his number ‘shadow-retired’ like Braun has. I have seen a lot of people think his number is a lock to be retired suddenly and I think once the World Series high wears off that vibe (hopefully) changes.

Let’s not try to make Yelich into something he isn’t. The World Series win was a team effort and there were plenty of other leaders on the team past Yelich. If someone would have proposed Yelich’s number being retired before the season or even after being announced captain most would have thought that was a crazy idea. Now after one postseason run we are going to retire his number?

I think Yelich can have a nice legacy and remembrance that doesn’t involve forcing a number retirement. If we feel the need to retire a number wait for Murphy to retire and put a coach in the rafters.

 

[jay87shot]

I am conflicted with the Jersey retiring, he put up 2 amazing seasons and has been Geoff Jenkins since. The captain of the world series team plays pretty big into it. He will have 200+ HR and close to 200 sb and like 1300-1400 hits so that is very solid. Rollie Fingers was on the team only 4 years and I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that Yeli is more important to the franchise than Rollie. I will say yes but it is a bit borderline.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

He will probably be the most beloved player for anyone born after 2005. People are more cynical now than they were in the 80s so there will always be that contingent bringing up his contract and his decline etc. Most people don't look at him that way though. He is far and away the most recognizable player, if you were to grab people off the street I think most of this forum would be shocked at how many average people couldn't tell you who Brice Turang is out of a uniform. Not to mention, Yelich turned out to be the human everyone initially thought Braun was.

I don't think teams really like retiring numbers. Maybe a soft retired number. But he's the strongest case to have it done in a long time. I think he means significantly more inside the clubhouse and everyone in the FO knows it, so I don't think they are looking at his OPS to make that decision. I doubt it's very common for your franchise player to be texting draft picks and asking them how things are going etc.

[Outlander]

10 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

2018 and 2019 were historically great seasons for the Brewers, but... I feel like Yelich and his impact is more about the era than about his performance... if that makes sense. 

He's been here or 9 years, we've been to the playoffs 8 of them. We won a WS. His speech is cited as a seminal moment. 

He won't be a Yount, Molitor, but he'll have a different legacy. A winner. I'd say it'd be comparable to Braun if... not for scandal. 

Hell, he may end up being "the Captain" on team that ends up with multiple titles! Even in the more likely case that he does not in his final two years, he's a Brewers legend. 

Most importantly, he's a WORLD SERIES WINNER... that's enough for me!

I agree with this. His stats don't compare to Yount or Molitor but that winner comment really stands out. Playoffs 8 of 9 years is really impressive considering what the Brewers had prior to that. His MVP stands out as well and can't be ignored. The Fingers number retirement makes it a possibility too since his overall contribution to the organization is quite a bit lower than Yelich. I don't rule out HOF either, think there is a decent chance he gets elected by his peers a number of years down the road.

[MrTPlush]

I don’t know if Finger’s number being retired should really be a predictor of anything. If they could go back in time, are they really retiring his number? That’s always been a bit of a weird one. I guess the Cy Young, MVP, and HOF resume just put him over the top.

If Yelich somehow makes the HOF, sure, a no brainer. At this point he doesn’t even have 50 WAR yet though. Falls into the Jimmy Rollins and Miguel Tejada type category, imo.

[wiguy94]

To this point the Brewers have only officially retired the jersey numbers of players that made the HOF. Considering Yelich is very unlikely to make the HOF, I'd guess he goes the way of Gantner and Braun where the number is basically retired without officially being retired.

[nate82]

Numbers should only be retired for all time greats.  Yelich is not an all time great.  If you want to consider him as a Brewer HoF sure go ahead but the number shouldn't be retired.  

[long ball]

I really hope Yelich can turn out something like a 2025 George Springer age 35 monster season. Rack up a 3.5-4 WAR season and he has a shot at 50 career WAR. I think he’s a decent veterans committee HoF candidate, but unlikely to get their by the BBWAA. 
 

as for retiring his number, I think it should be. I appreciate that it’s much easier to make the playoffs than it was during the 80s due to playoff expansion, but he’s the pivotal member of this era of Brewers baseball. Heck he’s spanned 2 separate eras of brewers baseball really. I’m not passionate about this, but it would be a shame to not honor this WS team with a retired number. (Maybe Chourio Turang or Misiorowski get there, but their careers are so young)

[GAME05]

Hypothetically, if he wins a second MVP does he get the Yount treatment?

 

Maybe he gets about a 20% HoF vote, but the standard is getting lower and lower, too.

[Brewcrew82]

Pat Murphy and Jackson Chourio are more likely to have their numbers retired at this point than Yelich. 

The Brewers are not the Bucks where they retire the number of every Tom, Dick, and Harry who had a fair amount of success with the team. They only retire for HOFers, of which Yeli's chances are minimal in light of his post 2019 injury woes. 

[Brewcrew82]

Also, this very discussion is why I said a week ago they ought to carve out a section of Am Fam during the renovations to honor the 2026 championship team and Brewers history in a way the current Walk of Fame and Wall of Honor setup outside the ballpark doesn't fully do justice.

But number retirement should only be reserved for the true legends of the game. See, Packers. NOT Bucks.