BillScottCanRake

It is hard to believe that is 35 years ago already. I like the how you tied the game into the Top 40 music. For me, talking about the music from the time did a great job brining me back to 1987, better than just saying "The game was 35 years ago". Nice work!

Thank you @Julio Muchacho and @Seth Stohs. I had a lot of fun looking back as I wrote this, and it the extra "research" playing the game was a nice bonus!

The good ol' days I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them. -- Andy Bernard Like many of us, my love of baseball and the Brewers started at a young age. My first baseball memory was 8-year-old me watching the 1981 Divisional Playoffs with my dad on ABC. Even though it was my first memory, I must have known enough to feel like Milwaukee was an underdog going against the big, bad Yankees, because I remember distinctly that feeling, and being so disappointed after game 5. But I will always fondly remember Paul Molitor's game three homerun and how good those Brewer uniforms looked under the bright lights that night. After 1981, I was hooked and followed the Brewers a closely as I could. Back in 1982 I wore number 4 on my little league jersey. And even though there weren't many Brewer games on TV, the newspaper and 10pm news always had box scores and highlights. I was glued to the TV for game 162, and I watch the entire ALCS, except for the last 2 innings of game 5, which I listened to on the radio as we drove home from my grandparents' house. And I was utterly convinced the Brewers were destined to win the whole thing after winning game 5. When they didn't, I wasn't all that upset. They took the Yankees to the wire in 1981, and they were so close in 1982, it was natural for a 10-year-old to assume they'd be back in 1983. In all fairness, what 10-year-old could have foreseen the next 20+ years? Lost? They're [expletive deleted] -- Groundskeeper # 1 As the Brewers won less during the 1980s, my interest in baseball waned. I started playing football in 7th and 8th grades, and even when I stopped playing due to a knee injury football had become my primary love. As for baseball, I was still a fan, but one of convenience. Maybe it was because of the success Milwaukee had when I was younger, before I understood how sports work, but I found it hard to watch then the games didn't mean everything. And even as the team rebounded back into relevance in 1987 and 1988 and they did have games which meant everything, it wasn't the same as it was earlier. As a baseball fan, I was lost, and it wasn't until 1992, with the help of Earl Weaver, I was found again. Baseball rediscovered The number 3 man (in your lineup) should be a contact guy who can hit with power. Stan Musial and Ted Williams were two of the best that ever lived. Pick a player like that. -- Earl Weaver Several things happened in 1992 which saw me rediscover baseball. I was a high school graduate with a bit more freedom and time on my hands. I still was a huge Packer fan, but in the spring of 1992 they were coming off a 4-12 season with a rookie head coach and a ton of questions. I also had a bit more money, which lead to two purchases which changed how I view baseball. The first was a computer game called Earl Weaver Baseball 2 with the all-important Commissioners Disk. This was quickly followed by the 1992 edition of The Sports Encyclopedia Baseball. For those of you who never played it, Earl Weaver Baseball 2 was pretty incredible for its time. If you got version with the Commissioners Disk, not only did you get the game, but you also got full MLB rosters, plus all-time greats divided into AL, NL, and Negro League rosters by era. I had heard of guys like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, but who were Nap Lajoie or Ed Walsh or Cool Papa Bell? As I got into the game, I found you can use the player editor to add players, their statistics, and attributes. And best of all, you can create and draft your own teams based upon the pool of players you created. But wait, there is still more! You got to build your own management style and custom ballpark for each team. The more I played, and the more I learned about the past from the thickest book I'd ever seen, the more I was hooked. Armed with EWB2 and a book of baseball stats back to 1901, a friend of mine and I built a pool of historical and current players, 8 teams, and a 152-game schedule. We held our draft on a train from Madison to Albany, NY in May, and had our league season that summer. EWB2 has the ability to simulate games, which we did for most of them, but the in-game action was good enough that we got together as often as possible to play games ourselves. The game wasn't perfect by any means, but our results were still fascinating to us. In many ways, the game was very extreme. Players who had good years had really good ones, and those who didn't were often like the one Lou Gehrig suffered through in the printout above. But to watch a 152-game season with current stars like Ricky Henderson and Jose Canseco compete with and against all-time greats like Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson never got old. It was my first experience with platoons, managing a pitching staff, and injuries. Our EWB2 World Series was held on the last day of the actual baseball season, and according to my somewhat incomplete season documentation, the Brewhas defeated the Sharks in 6 games. Bob Gibson beat Ed Walsh 4-1 behind 4 hits from Honus Wagner in game 6. Fandom The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game -- it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. -- Terrence Mann There was no 1993 Earl Weaver Baseball 2 season. My cohort and were busy with school and work, and neither of us had the time we needed to put into the game to make it interesting. But, thanks to the game and the Brewers run in 1992, my fandom was back. During the 1992 season I watch more Brewer games than I ever had. I attended exactly one game in 1992, but at that game I watched from Lower Grandstand Section 16, Row 9, Seat 19 (seat 19!) as Robin Yount stroked hit number 3000 to right center off Jose Mesa. I was saddened by the team's playoff push falling a bit short, but I had a different perspective than I had when I was younger. I wasn't crushed like I was in '81, nor was I sure they'd be back in '93 like I was after the World Series. For the first time, I was able to enjoy the ride, and appreciate the season and the memories for what it was. I can't say I followed every season thereafter with the same vigor I followed the 1992 team. I went from a student to a career in software, so I didn't have the same amount of time to put into baseball as I used to. But it was always there, even in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the Brewers fielded some pretty awful teams. In 2001 I got married and had two kids who needed to be converted from Cardinal fandom to Milwaukee, and a little startup website called Brewerfan.com helped me find the right community to do so. Earl Weaver Baseball, 2022 As I wrote this article, I had to know if Earl Weaver Baseball 2 would run today. After a big of digging for the copyright protection wheel that game with my game, I fired up the game on DOSBOX. I lost four hours on Sunday to the game, and I don't mind one bit. It's not Out of Park Baseball, but it was everything I remember from 30 years ago. I still wanted to swing at everything, my teams defense still sucked, and runners on third still would run home on a 3-2 pitch with 2 outs and with the bases not loaded... and be tagged out at home when the batter walked. I love that game, but I still hate that bug. Now, if we can only find the 2022 Brewers that ideal number 3 hitter Earl Weaver says you should pick...

Welcome to the 2022 season opening edition of Brewer Fanatic’s Forum Friday! This is our first Opening Day as Brewer Fanatic, and we are excited to be the new home of the best Brewer news and discussion anywhere. Every week, we’ll take a look at some of the popular topics generated by our community and give a quick rundown of the week’s action. April 7 is the best day of the year thus far, with the Brewers opening their season in Chicago against the Cubs. This also means the first of at least 162 Game Threads in our forums. While you don't have to watch a Brewers game while also keeping tabs on the game thread, you'll be missing out if you don't. And without spoiling thins too much, we’ve got 161 more games to go. Prior to the opener, the Brewers made almost as many moves at the catcher position in a two days as they did all of last year, which considering we now have the "Jacob Nottingham Rule" is quite an accomplishment. The first big of news was the suspension of Pedro Severino for 80 games and the post season on Tuesday, April 5. Among the first names brought up as a replacement for Severino was the aforementioned Nottingham by @Ron Robinsons Beard. Severino's suspension spurred the Brewers front office to action, as they added two catchers in rapid succession. Victor Caratini was acquired from the Padres for minor leaguers OF Korry Howell and C Brett Sullivan, and a few hours later the Crew added some additional depth from Miami by flipping IF Hayden Cantrelle and RHP Alexis Ramierez for Alex Jackson. Having back-to-back trades completed to closely together made @ClosetBrewerFan quip David Sterns may have "just forgot to call (the Jackson) trade off." Or, as @Ulice Payne said, “Jake Nottingham can breathe easier.” One topic which didn't get as much attention as I thought it should was Pitch sign stealing woah solvdd? Not only does @young guns get some kudos for a creative title, but I'll be very curious to see how offenses perform against teams using this new technology as compared to how they perform against teams using traditional signs. I also wonder if teams will be looking to expand their IT staffs... This week was a busy one for the Crew’s minor league affiliate, so there was plenty to talk about in our Minor League Forum. Rosters have been released for each of the full season teams and our first 2022 Community Top 25 Prospects poll voting has closed. We’ll have the results from this poll in a future Forum Friday. And, of course, the minor league season opened April 5 and along with it the return of the Daily Link Report. For those of you who are new to Brewer Fanatic, the Daily Link Report is a complete roundup of each day's minor league action, including links to box scores, stories, and video from each game. We may be biased, but we believe Brewer Fanatic has the best Brewer minor league coverage you will find anywhere. And being biased doesn’t mean we are wrong! That’s all for now, but be sure to check back next week. Hopefully we can chat more Brewer wins and less about catchers. View full article

Outside of his speed, I don't recall much about Felder beyond his nickame and a humorous exchange between Bob Uecker and Pat Hughes when Kenny Felder was drafted by the Brewers. During one game in '92 Uecker expressed surprise when he learned the Brewers drafted Kenny Felder because he the Brewers already had him once and he currently played for the Giants Pat Hughes, playing the good straight man, reminded Ueck the former Brewers OFer was Mike Felder. Uecker had a sarcastic reply which I can't remember now but had me laughing hard at the time. I wish I could remember more about the exchange, because it was pretty funny when I heard it 30 years ago... not so much as I type this out.

Outside of his speed, I don't recall much about Felder beyond his nickame and a humorous exchange between Bob Uecker and Pat Hughes when Kenny Felder was drafted by the Brewers. During one game in '92 Uecker expressed surprise when he learned the Brewers drafted Kenny Felder because he the Brewers already had him once and he currently played for the Giants Pat Hughes, playing the good straight man, reminded Ueck the former Brewers OFer was Mike Felder. Uecker had a sarcastic reply which I can't remember now but had me laughing hard at the time. I wish I could remember more about the exchange, because it was pretty funny when I heard it 30 years ago... not so much as I type this out.

Outside of his speed, I don't recall much about Felder beyond his nickame and a humorous exchange between Bob Uecker and Pat Hughes when Kenny Felder was drafted by the Brewers. During one game in '92 Uecker expressed surprise when he learned the Brewers drafted Kenny Felder because he the Brewers already had him once and he currently played for the Giants Pat Hughes, playing the good straight man, reminded Ueck the former Brewers OFer was Mike Felder. Uecker had a sarcastic reply which I can't remember now but had me laughing hard at the time. I wish I could remember more about the exchange, because it was pretty funny when I heard it 30 years ago... not so much as I type this out.

Outside of his speed, I don't recall much about Felder beyond his nickame and a humorous exchange between Bob Uecker and Pat Hughes when Kenny Felder was drafted by the Brewers. During one game in '92 Uecker expressed surprise when he learned the Brewers drafted Kenny Felder because he the Brewers already had him once and he currently played for the Giants Pat Hughes, playing the good straight man, reminded Ueck the former Brewers OFer was Mike Felder. Uecker had a sarcastic reply which I can't remember now but had me laughing hard at the time. I wish I could remember more about the exchange, because it was pretty funny when I heard it 30 years ago... not so much as I type this out.

While the book I am reading is highly political, I will keep my own opinions about the politics in the book to myself so as not to violate forum rules. Due to recent current events, I am re-reading The Third World War: August 1985 by Sir John W. Hackett, 1977. It was written as a possible future history, and after the fall of the Soviet Union was considered an alternate history. With recent events, some of the predictions made in the book are relevant again. Not the most fun read out there... but I've never been considered a ball of fun.

I really only knew of Howell through his time in Milwaukee. Like @Julio Muchacho, I pretty young when the Brewers went to the World Series (9), so I wouldn't have realized he was an all-star in '78 or a really high draft pick. I do remember his relative lack of success in the 1982 post season, but I wouldn't have thought he was hitless. I look forward to many more of these!

I really only knew of Howell through his time in Milwaukee. Like @Julio Muchacho, I pretty young when the Brewers went to the World Series (9), so I wouldn't have realized he was an all-star in '78 or a really high draft pick. I do remember his relative lack of success in the 1982 post season, but I wouldn't have thought he was hitless. I look forward to many more of these!

I really only knew of Howell through his time in Milwaukee. Like @Julio Muchacho, I pretty young when the Brewers went to the World Series (9), so I wouldn't have realized he was an all-star in '78 or a really high draft pick. I do remember his relative lack of success in the 1982 post season, but I wouldn't have thought he was hitless. I look forward to many more of these!

I really only knew of Howell through his time in Milwaukee. Like @Julio Muchacho, I pretty young when the Brewers went to the World Series (9), so I wouldn't have realized he was an all-star in '78 or a really high draft pick. I do remember his relative lack of success in the 1982 post season, but I wouldn't have thought he was hitless. I look forward to many more of these!

I wouldn't be too upset if the Packers draft looked a bit like that. It's a bit light on WRs, but I'd take it. Speaking about the difference between PFF and PFN, Jake Ferguson never even appeared in the list of best available in my PFF drafts. And the one I posted above I had three picks between 92 and 111, so you'd have think he'd have shown up.

In fairness, Twins Daily writers who are old enough can let us know what it's like to write about a WS win.

Ok, the PFF.com mock draft is addictive. For fun, I moved picks 22 and 28 and ended up with 14 picks starting at 32. You have to believe one of those 5 receviers will make an impact.

It sounds like cutting the program was a necessity, given the expense of hockey and the lack of money coming in. It's too bad, but I don't think the university can be faulted for that. The handling of the announcement and the apparent lack of communication is where the "bad optics" come into play for me. A friend of my daughter's just completed her senior year as a member of the UND women's hockey team. According to her, they found out about the cut after practice on social media a few hours before any announcement was made. An article we read online posted by a UND graduate said a recruit on campus was informed mid-visit (after watching a practice) of the cut. It sounds like either the university wasn't communicating the possibility the program could be cut or the coaches were not communicating with the players and possible recruits. Maybe they couldn't- it would have probably killed the program to know it may be cut- but the team and incoming recruits are the ones who are suffering the consequences, and they deserved better.

To add to what Jimbo said, when Jessica played youth hockey in Onalaska, she played against a number of teams from Madison, Green Bay, Eau Claire, River Falls, and a ton of Minnesota teams, but I don't recall her playing against a Milwaukee team until she moved to girls AAA hockey starting in 9th grade. Even then, I'm not sure how many of the girls who played on the Junior Admirals were from Milwaukee, since AAA teams are allowed to add players regardless of where they live or attend school. I know a number of them were from Madison, but I don't know how many. With regard to fandom in Wisconsin, my experience is all over the map. The crowds at the youth games I attended were great, but they were small- parents and other relatives, but hockey fans from outside the organization were rare. Badger fans (men and women) are largely into the games and knowledgeable, but I'm not sure how much of their love is for hockey or love Wisconsin hockey. The crowds at the NAHL games that I've attended in the area are more like what Jimbo experienced in Milwaukee. For whatever reason hockey plays don't really excite them so much as two guys beating on each other. I haven't been to a Madison Capitols USHL game, so I am not sure how those games are to attend. To me an NHL team in Milwaukee would be a chicken or the egg thing. Would a new NHL team in Milwaukee create a new generation of hockey fans that wouldn't have otherwise existed and turn it into a viable NHL market? Or is the relative lack of interest in hockey in Milwaukee a sign that an NHL team would fail? I kind of think that between Badger hockey, the nearby Wild and Blackhawks, the USHL teams and smaller NAHL teams that Wisconsin hockey fans are appropriately satisfied, but who knows.