Michael Trzinski

Don Sutton only pitched two years and one memorable September for the Milwaukee Brewers. Even though his Brewer career lasted only 71 starts, he pitched in arguably one of the most important games in Brewers history--the final game of the 1982 season against the Baltimore Orioles. Image courtesy of Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images Donald Howard Sutton was born in April 1945 in Clio, Alabama, but moved with his family to Florida when Don was about five years old. Don Sutton won 21 games in three varsity seasons at Tate High School in Pensacola but got no offers in the pre-amateur draft world of Major League Baseball. He attended Gulf Coast Community College that summer starred in the National Baseball Congress tournament, and was named to the All-Tournament team. At the end of the summer, he had interest from at least nine teams but elected to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers for an estimated $15,000 bonus. In his first season at two levels, Sutton struck out 239 batters in two stops (A and Double-A) and was in Los Angeles the following season. The right-hander spent the next 15 seasons with the Dodgers and was an NL All-Star four times, a surprisingly low number for a guy who won more than 15 games nine times, struck out over 200 batters in five seasons, and posted an ERA+ of 100 or higher ten times, including a high of 162. Sutton finished in the top five in Cy Young voting for five consecutive years. After the 1980 season, Sutton became a free agent and signed with the Houston Astros. During the strike season of 1981, Sutton won 11 games in 23 starts and posted an ERA+ of 126. He added another 13 wins in 1982 for the Astros before he was traded to the Brewers at the end of August for cash and players to be named later. The players were Kevin Bass, Frank DiPino, and Mike Madden. The Brewers had a 4.5-game lead over the Boston Red Sox on September 1 when Sutton arrived. He made seven starts over the last month and went 4-1 with a 116 ERA+, although his 4.29 was a career-worst to that point. Sutton was the starting pitcher in the iconic final game of the season in the ‘loser goes home’ game with the Baltimore Orioles. Aided by two home runs by Robin Yount, Sutton went eight innings, scattering eight hits and five walks while allowing two runs in a 10-2 Brewer win, in which Milwaukee scored five runs in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach. Sutton got a 5-3 win in Game Three of the ALCS over California but didn’t fare as well in the World Series against St. Louis, taking a 5-4 loss in Game Two while getting a no-decision in a 13-1 loss in Game Six. When asked about the two home runs he gave up, he said, “They were not good pitches because good pitches aren’t hit that far.” The Brewers would end up losing after a 6-3 defeat the next day in Game Seven. Sutton, who turned 38 before the 1983 season, played two more years in Milwaukee and posted a 97 ERA+ over 64 starts. His 22 wins gave him 280 victories over 19 seasons. After the 1984 campaign, he was traded to the Oakland A’s for Ray Burris and two minor league players. He won 13 more games for the A’s before being traded to California in mid-September. In the middle of the 1986 season—June 18, to be exact—Sutton tossed a three-hit gem, allowing one run in a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers for his 300th career win. Sutton won 11 games in 1987 but was released after the season before he was signed by… the Dodgers. His 1988 season included 16 starts, but it was obvious he was not the same player he had been earlier in his career. He was released on August 10. “It was a mistake,” Sutton said. “It ended up being a depressing way to end my relationship with the Dodgers." He worked as a broadcaster for nearly 30 years. In 1998, he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 324 wins, 3,574 strikeouts, and an ERA+ of 108. Don Sutton passed away on January 18, 2021. View full article

Raymond Earl Fosse was born in April 1947 in Marion, Illinois. He was selected seventh overall by the Cleveland Indians in the first-ever MLB Amateur Draft in 1965. Fosse moved rapidly up the ladder in the Indians organization, making his big-league debut in just his third year as a professional in 1967. Although he struggled offensively (1-for-16) in seven September games, he threw out four of seven would-be base stealers. Fosse earned Pacific Coast League all-league honors in 1968 when he batted .301/.355/.428 at Triple-A Portland. He got into one game for the Indians in September and then began serving an army reserve hitch for a few months. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound catcher started the 1969 season with the Indians but suffered a broken right index finger off a foul ball in June. Fosse returned in September but finished with a batting line of .172/.230/.250 in 37 games. He played in the Florida Instructional League that winter and did much better, hitting .301/.363/.411 across 73 at-bats. Fosse had a great beginning to the 1970 season and was batting .312/.366/.527 going into the All-Star game but the fan voting (first time since 1957) put Detroit’s Bill Freehan in the catcher spot. Fosse was named as a reserve by AL manager Earl Weaver. He entered the game in the sixth inning and went 1-for-2 with a sac fly but his big moment came late in the game when he was run over by Pete Rose in the infamous home plate collision that affected Fosse’s game for the rest of his life. Fosse ended the season with a slash line of .307/361/.469 with a career-high 18 home runs and 124 OPS+. He also won his first AL Gold Glove. The right-handed batter was named to the All-Star team for the second and final time in his career in 1971 and earned his second Gold Glove Award. He batted .276/.329/.397 but dropped to 12 homers, his power declining since doctors found that his shoulder had been fractured and separated by Rose’s hit the previous year. Fosse slumped in 1972, batting just .241/.312/.354 but he did draw a career-high 45 free passes. He was traded to the Oakland A’s before the 1973 season. The Indians apparently got tired of waiting for the ‘old’ Ray Fosse to return to form and swapped him and Jack Heidemann for Dave Duncan and George Hendrick. Fosse played for Oakland the next three years and was a part of two World Series winners. He led the AL in 1973, throwing out 52 base runners for a 55.9% caught stealing rate. But Gene Tenace won the catching job in 1975, and Fosse was sold back to Cleveland in December. In 1976, Fosse split time behind the plate with Alan Ashby and slashed .301/.347/.362 with a 110 OPS+. The following season he split time with Fred Kendall but was traded to the Seattle Mariners before the end of the season. He hit well in limited play for the M’s, batting .353/.389/.441 over just 34 at-bats. On New Year’s Eve, the Brewers signed Fosse as a free agent. In spring training, Fosse injured his knee and hamstring when he tripped in a hole on his way to first base and missed the entire 1978 season. The following year, Fosse battled Buck Martinez and Charlie Moore for playing time but only got into 19 games all season. He was released in 1980 by the Brewers in spring training. After retirement, Fosse worked in several positions in the A’s organization and then became an announcer in 1986 for A’s baseball and worked 35 years as a color commentator and host of the pre-game show. Fosse passed away on October 13, 2021 after a long battle with cancer. View full player

Donald Howard Sutton was born in April 1945 in Clio, Alabama but moved with his family to Florida when Don was about five years old. Sutton won 21 games in three varsity seasons at Tate High School in Pensacola but got no offers in the pre-amateur draft world of the MLB. He attended Gulf Coast Community College and then that summer, starred in the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kansas and was named to the All-Tournament team. At the end of the summer, he had interest from at least nine teams but elected to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers for an estimated $15,000 bonus. In his first season at two levels, Sutton struck out 239 batters in two stops (Single-A and Double-A) and was in Los Angeles the next season. The right-hander spent the next 15 seasons with the Dodgers. He was an NL All-Star four times, a surprisingly low number for a guy who won more than 15 games nine times, struck out over 200 batters in five seasons, and posted an ERA+ of 100 or higher 10 times, including a high of 162. Sutton finished in the top five in NL Cy Young voting five consecutive years. After the 1980 season, Sutton became a free agent and signed with the Houston Astros. During the strike season of 1981, Sutton won 11 games in 23 starts and posted an ERA+ of 126. He added another 13 wins in 1982 for the Astros before he was traded to the Brewers at the end of August for cash and players to be named later. The players ended up being Kevin Bass, Frank DiPino, and Mike Madden. The Brewers had a 4.5 game lead over the Boston Red Sox on September 1 when Sutton arrived. He made seven starts over the last month and went 4-1 with a 116 ERA+, although his 4.29 FIP was a career worst to that point. Sutton was the starting pitcher in the iconic final game of the season in the ‘loser goes home’ game with the Baltimore Orioles. Aided by two home runs by Robin Yount, Sutton went eight innings, scattered eight hits and five walks while allowing two runs in a 10-2 Brewer win in which Milwaukee scored five runs in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach. Sutton got a 5-3 win in Game Three of the ALCS over California, but didn’t fare as well in the World Series against St. Louis, taking a 5-4 loss in Game Two, while getting a no-decision in a 13-1 loss in Game Six. When asked about the two home runs he gave up in Game Six, he said, “They were not good pitches because good pitches aren’t hit that far.” The Brewers would end up losing after a 6-3 defeat the next day in Game Seven. Sutton, who turned 38 prior to the 1983 season, played two more years in Milwaukee, and posted a 97 ERA+ over 64 starts. His 22 wins gave him 280 victories over 19 seasons. After the 1984 campaign, he was traded to the Oakland A’s for Ray Burris and two minor league players. He won 13 more games for the A’s before being traded to California in mid-September. In the middle of the 1986 season—June 18 to be exact—Sutton tossed a three-hit gem, allowing one run in a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers for his 300th career win. Sutton won 11 games in 1987 but was released after the season before he was signed by…the Dodgers. His 1988 season included 16 starts, but it was obvious he was not the same player he had been earlier in his career. He was released on August 10. “It was a mistake,” Sutton said. “It ended up being a depressing way to end my relationship with the Dodgers. He was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998, with a total of 324 wins, 3,574 strikeouts, and an ERA+ of 108. He worked as a broadcaster for nearly 30 years before calling it quits in 2019. Don Sutton died on January 18, 2021. View full player

Last season the Biloxi Shuckers finished third in the Southern League’s Southern Division and qualified for the playoffs, but lost to the Montgomery Biscuits in a three-game semifinal series. Can they go further this year? Let’s take a quick look at their Opening Day roster. Image courtesy of Matt Colville, Stadium Journey Headlined by fast-rising shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt, the Shuckers embark on a 2025 season that could see multiple future Brewers stars don their jersey. Pratt, diminutive but athletic outfielder Luis Lara, and pitcher K.C. Hunt bring the most prospect buzz with them, but two recent first-round picks and a bevy of more under-the-radar talents with upside round out the group. Manager Joe Ayrault has been a manager in the Brewers organization since 2010, and starts his second year at Biloxi. He is joined by hitting coach Kevin Martir, pitching coach Josh Spence, coach Liu Rodríguez, and associate coaches Tyler Thornberg and Matt Lipka. Starting Pitchers: K.C. Hunt (RHP), Tate Kuehner (LHP), Alexander Cornielle (RHP), Josh Maciejewski (LHP), Nate Peterson (LHP), Mark Manfredi (LHP). Hunt made six starts for the Shuckers last year and posted a K rate of 29.8%. Much is expected of him this year. Kuehner also made six starts for Biloxi, and performed well at High-A Wisconsin before that. Cornielle was among the top starters for the T-Rats and hopes to bring that success to the next level. Maciejewski, 29, is the only player on the roster with MLB experience, as he appeared in four games with the Yankees last year. Manfredi also did a nice job in Appleton last season, while Peterson returns for his second year in Biloxi. It is likely only two of these three will be in the rotation to start the year. Relief Pitchers: Justin Yeager (RHP), Tyler Bryant (RHP), Kaleb Bowman (RHP), Nick Merkel (RHP), Will Childers (RHP), Chase Costello (RHP), Stiven Cruz (RHP), Abdiel Mendoza (RHP), Tyler Woessner (RHP). Yeager recorded 20 saves for Biloxi and will keep his closer role for a second year, at least until he moves up. Bryant spent two seasons playing in the independent Frontier League before being signed by Milwaukee, and has done well in limited work at Single-A and High-A. He posted a K rate of 32.3% in 20 appearances. At 27, Bowman is the second-oldest Shucker and joins 6-foot-7 Merkel as multiple-, middle-inning pitchers in the bullpen. Childers pitched at three stops and posted a K rate of 27.3% and pitched in 43 games, second-most of the hurlers on this year’s roster. He showed some excellent velocity this spring and could be a dark-horse candidate to pitch for the parent club before the year is out. Costello spent most of the season on the T-Rats, but showed promise in three outings for the Shuckers. Cruz is the youngest pitcher on the staff at 23 and was a long reliever/spot starter for the Timber Rattlers last season. Mendoza and Woessner both spent time at Double-A and Triple-A last year, with Mendoza coming over from the Blue Jays organization and will begin his ninth year in professional ball. (For position players, ages are in parentheses.) Catchers: Darrien Miller (24), Ramón Rodríguez (26), Victor Torres (24). Miller is a glutton for punishment, as he was hit by a Southern League-high 28 pitches last year. In fact, Biloxi led the league with 101 plunkings last season. Between HBP and bases on balls, Miller is an on-base machine, fashioning a .392 middle slash number last year including 64 walks. Unfortunately, his arm is a liability, as he threw out only 20% of runners trying to steal. Rodríguez split time with Matt Wood at Wisconsin last year. He had a batting line of .252/.340/.428 while slamming 10 home runs, and earned the right to spend considerable time on the big-league side in camp this year. (Being a catcher keeps you around.) Torres only had 31 at-bats at two stops and hasn’t had 100 at-bats since 2022, so he is a bit of an unknown quantity. Infielders: Luke Adams (20), Eric Brown Jr. (24), Ethan Murray (24), Cooper Pratt (20), Zavier Warren (26), Brock Wilken (22). Adams moves up from Wisconsin, where he batted .227/.443/.397 on the strength of 40 HBP (!) and 78 walks. He hit 11 homers and stole 28 bases, although he was caught 10 times. With Wilken on the team, Adams will most likely move to the other side of the diamond, to first base. Brown usually plays shortstop, but will probably move to second base to make room for Pratt. Brown slumped to a batting line of .185/.270/.262 last season but did steal 20 bases. He has slipped on the prospect list. Murray can play second, short, or third and will serve as a utility infielder. Pratt is the next Brewers star (or so the team hopes), and will play shortstop. Last season at two stops, he hit a combined .277/.362/.406 with eight homers and 27 stolen bases. He won a minor league Gold Glove, so he can pick ‘em. Warren spent last year at Biloxi, and although he didn’t hit much (with a batting line of .206/.308/.342), he can play first, second, third, and at either corner outfield spot. He will probably be the fourth outfielder. Wilken is another former first-round pick with upside, but also major question marks. The Brewers are still waiting for the guy who hit 71 home runs at Wake Forest to show up. He has hit 22 homers in 570 professional at-bats, so maybe the in-game power is coming. He will be a mainstay at the hot corner, unless the Brewers elect to swap him across the infield for Adams. Most important, for him, will be demonstrating that he's put the beaning that derailed his 2024 permanently behind him. Outfielders: Luis Lara (20), Bladimir Restituyo (23), Jheremy Vargas (22). Lara is another stud who will start the season at Biloxi. The petite (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) switch-hitter is a plus defender in center and can steal bases, as evidenced by his 45 thefts last year. He needs to work on his bat-to-ball skills to keep moving up the organizational ladder. Restituyo came over from the Rockies organization, and will begin his seventh pro season at age 23. He has played mostly center field in the past, but can play all three garden spots, plus second, short, or third in a pinch. He doesn’t walk much, but has a .272 career batting average. Vargas spent last season playing for the T-Rats and can play every position except for catcher. He hit .210/.303/.301 but stole 23 bases during the 2024 season. These two will play LF and RF; it’s just a matter of who plays where. Summary If all the stars align, this could be a really good team. If players like Hunt, Adams, Pratt, Wilken, or Lara have great seasons and move up to Nashville, then it might be a different story. But until that happens, fans at Keesler Federal Park should kick back with their fried oysters, fried shrimp, or jambalaya and enjoy some quality Shuckers baseball. Brewer Fanatic’s 2025 Top Prospects in Biloxi #3: SS Cooper Pratt #7: IF Brock Wilken #13: IF Luke Adams #16: RHP K.C. Hunt #20: OF Luis Lara View full article

Murph has got to start talking in complete sentences...lol. You are gonna wear out your [] keys. 😅

Thomas Matthew Hausman was born in March 1953 in Mobridge, South Dakota but moved with his family to La Verne, California (an eastern suburb of Los Angeles) as a child. Hausman was drafted in the 10th round of the 1971 MLB Amateur Draft by the Brewers. After a solid season at short-season Newark in the New York-Penn League, Hausman was having a nice season at Single-A Danville but ended up on the disabled list and missed half the season. He had 12-win seasons at the Double-A and Triple-A levels the next two years and earned a spot on the Opening Day roster for Milwaukee in 1975. The 6-foot-4 right hander made 29 appearances, including nine starts in a season that ended in late August with shoulder problems. His 94 ERA+ and 4.00 FIP were decent numbers for a rookie. Hausman started 1976 with Milwaukee but was sent down to Triple-A Spokane after just three appearances to make room for Ray Sadecki. He made a total of 48 starts over the next two years at Spokane but was released November 1977. He was selected by several teams in the second annual free agent draft but elected to sign with the New York Mets. Hausman shuttled between New York and Triple-A Tidewater in 1978 and ’79, making 29 appearances (20 starts) for the Mets during the span. He posted a 133 ERA+ in 1979, making 10 starts in 19 appearances and had an ERA of 2.75. Hausman set career bests in 1980 with appearances (55), innings pitched (122) and strikeouts (53), although his ERA+ of 89 was subpar. The strike season of 1981 saw him post a career-high 162 ERA+, albeit in just 20 appearances. He was traded to the Atlanta Braves toward the end of the 1982 season and after pitching in just three games for the Braves, was released in January. Over the next three years, Hausman played at the Triple-A level in the Pirates, Dodgers, and Padres organizations, although he did not play in 1984. Hausman passed away on January 16, 2019. View full player

Sunday’s loss marked the seventh time in Milwaukee Brewers history that they have lost the first three games of the season. But this year takes the cake for most runs allowed and greatest margin of victory in that trio of contests. Image courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images The Brewers had high hopes as they traveled east last week to Yankee Stadium, aka ‘The House That Ruth Built.’ Technically, Ruth didn’t build this version (or the last two for that matter), but it is a common moniker for the stadium in the Bronx. But it sure looked like this year’s version of the Yankees had a whole lotta Babe Ruth's hacking away for them at the dish. Led by Aaron Judge’s four home runs, the Bronx Bombers belted 15 of them in the three-game sweep of the Brewers, who are suddenly struggling to find a pitcher who can keep the ball in the park. Not to be outdone, Jazz Chisholm slammed three homers, while Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe each have a pair of jacks to their credit. The Brewers played a decent game on Opening Day on Thursday, but due to a bad bounce on a ball hit by Judge that struck the third base bag and bounced over Vinny Capra’s head, the Yankees snuck out with a 4-2 win. Unfortunately, the other two games weren’t even close. Maybe the day off didn’t help Nestor Cortes’ nerves. Maybe he had too much rest. No matter. The first three pitches on Saturday served up (literally) by him were turned into souvenirs by Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Judge. And then, to add insult to the already-injured Brewers staff, Wells added a wall-scraper to give the Yanks a 4-0 lead after one. And it would only get worse. Although Milwaukee made a contest of it with three ‘small-ball’ runs in the second to cut the lead to 4-3, the Yankees tromped on the gas pedal the rest of the way with homers by Volpe, Judge, Chisholm, Judge (again), and Oswald Peraza en route to a football-like score of 20-9. Connor Thomas, not wanting to be left out in his major league debut, gave up three taters, while Chad Patrick allowed one in his first game as a big leaguer. All that was with the wind blowing out (mostly) on a nice 75-degree day. Sunday was a different story, weather-wise, with a blustery, cloudy, 45-degree day greeting frozen fans and players alike. No matter: New York treated their guests rudely again, slamming three homers off Brewer starter Aaron Civale and one dinger off Joel Payamps in a 12-3 win. Brewer players were probably in such a hurry to get out of town, they didn’t even take showers. It is now up to manager Pat Murphy to patch up the bedraggled pitching staff and put some wins on the board. If you had told me that one team would be winless in the NL Central after their first three games, I probably wouldn’t have picked Milwaukee for that dubious ‘honor.’ The Brewers' other slow starts: · 1970 (0-3) · 1984 (0-5) · 2001 (0-4) · 2003 (0-6) · 2011 (0-4) · 2015 (0-4) The combined score of this year's opening games was 36-14. In 2003, the St. Louis Cardinals scored 24 runs in the first three games of the season against the Brewers, winning by scores of 11-9, 7-0, and 6-4. Those two dozen runs were dwarfed by this year's three dozen. Way back in the days of the dinosaurs... err, I mean 1970, the Brewers lost 12-0 in their first-ever game to the California Angels at County Stadium. The second game was a little better, as the Brewers lost by a tally of 6-1 before a whopping crowd of just over 7,500. For the third game of that campaign, they traveled to Chicago to take on the White Sox. The Crew dropped a close 5-4 decision and the loss margin in those three games was the previous high of 18. Let's end this on a positive note. In 2011, the Brewers rebounded from that 0-4 start to win the NL Central title. Here’s hoping the 2025 Brewers can take some lessons from that team. View full article

Good piece, Tommy!

Haha, good piece, Jason. 🤣

David George Baldwin was born in March 1938 in Tucson, Arizona. After high school, he attended the University of Arizona and despite hurting his right elbow as a sophomore, led the Wildcats to the College World Series the following year before losing in the championship game to Oklahoma State. In the summer of 1959, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and scout Danny Regan for a bonus in the $40,000-$50,000 range. After languishing for five years in the Phillies organization, Baldwin was purchased by the New York Mets in early 1964 and released in May. The Houston Colt 45s picked him up on the first day of June and released him at the end of the month. Two weeks later, he was signed by the Washington Senators. After the 1964 season he experimented with a sidearm/submarine style and would use that the rest of his career. He made his big-league debut in 1966 for Washington and appeared in at least 40 games each of the next three years, including a stellar 1967 when he saved 12 games and posted an ERA of 1.70, ERA+ of 187, and a FIP of 2.45. He saved a total of 10 games combined over the next two years in the Nation’s Capital before being traded to the Seattle Pilots in December 1969. When the Pilots became the Brewers in 1970, Baldwin was one of the more effective Brewer relievers, posting a 149 ERA+ and an ERA of 2.55 over 28 relief appearances. In March 1971, Baldwin was purchased by Hawaii in the Triple-A, a farm club of the San Diego Padres. He pitched for two seasons in Hawaii and was purchased by the Chicago White Sox in March 1973. Baldwin was 37 days short of qualifying for a baseball pension, so the pitcher took uniform number 37. General manager Roland Hemond and manager Chuck Tanner called the pitcher up from Triple-A Iowa and kept him on the roster for those 37 days. He pitched 12 games in 1974 in the minors before retiring. Baldwin’s career after baseball is very interesting. He got his PH.D. in genetics and his M.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona. Baldwin has articles published in the Harvard Business Reviews and several others. He also worked as an artist and one of his paintings is hung in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. View full player

Yeah, the bottom of the sixth in Game 7 was kind of a killer.

And in looking at the front page pic, the outing turned his hair gray!

Thomas John Tellmann was born in March 1954 in Warren, Pennsylvania. After high school, Tellmann attended Grand Canyon College in Arizona and was selected in the 11th round by the San Diego Padres in the 1976 MLB Amateur Draft. The lanky (6-foot-3, 195 pound) right-hander led the Single-A California League with 12 saves for Reno in 1977, and ranked second with 14 saves the following year in the Double-A Texas League with Amarillo. One year later, he made his major league debut with the Padres in June and was greeted rudely by the St. Louis Cardinals, who banged Tellmann around for seven hits and five runs in 2.2 innings. He was sent down a few days later to make room for recently acquired outfielder Jay Johnstone. In 1980, the Padres converted Tellmann to a starting role and he performed well, going 13-5 in 24 starts with an ERA of 3.23. He got his second call-up to San Diego and made six appearances in September, including one save and a pair of complete game victories. Despite the solid performance, Tellmann spent the next two years back at Triple-A Hawaii. After the 1982 season, Tellmann was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for a pair of minor league pitchers. Tellmann was one of the top Brewer relief pitchers over the next two campaigns. In 1983 he notched eight saves and nine wins in 44 games, posting a team runner-up mark of 135 ERA+. The following season he posted an ERA+ mark of 140, even though he walked more (31) than he struck out (28) in 81 innings over 50 appearances. After a dismal spring in 1985, Tellmann was released by the Brewers. “We had to cut somebody,” manager George Bamberger said. “We just felt we had to make some changes.” Ten days later he was signed by the Oakland Athletics. Tellmann made 11 appearances for the A’s and posted a subpar 77 ERA+ and a 5.06 ERA. He was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma and struggled with back problems. He was released after the season by the A’s. In his two years as a Brewer, Tellmann posted a 137 ERA+ with 12 saves and 15 wins. View full player

Thank you!

When I was 10 years old, the Seattle Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers. I spent many a night tucked into bed with my little transistor radio slid beneath the pillow with the volume turned way down low so my parents wouldn’t know that I was awake at 11pm on a school night listening to a game out in California. Image courtesy of Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com I played little league and senior league until I was about 16, but then girls and parties became more important. Looking back, I wished I had played in high school, but no such thing happened. I was one of the biggest sports fans that I knew; one friend called me ‘Stats’ because I was always throwing numbers out to a group of friends that really didn’t care about baseball, football, and basketball like I did. I was a sports nut. Then I got married and had a kid, and I didn’t have as much time for sports as I did in the past. Although, I do remember watching every game of the 1982 World Series and was crushed like all the other Milwaukee fans when our team lost in seven games to the hated St. Louis Cardinals. Years went by, but as I got older, my intense love for the games started waning a bit, just like a gibbous moon. In my 50s, I started to get a little more involved in politics, but I wanted to keep sports and politics separate. But then things started getting crazy a few years back. I felt like I couldn’t just watch the games without being preached to by one side or the other. Then I just quit watching. Just over a year ago, I started writing for Brewer Fanatic. I was in awe of the contributors that knew so much more about the game than I did. Even though I digested nearly every Bill James tome ever written, analytics really passed me by in the last 10-20 years. Hey, I know all about wins, saves, and RBIs! My expertise is in baseball history. I love doing research and finding out things that even I didn’t know. And then to write an article that gives readers a different perspective? How cool is that? Last November, Brock asked me if I wanted to head up the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project. Are you kidding me, dude? I’m in! Since then, I think I have written about 75 player bios. I hope you read them and find out a little more about your favorite Brewer or more about a player you don’t know much about. And we are always looking for our readers/fans to write a bio or two. It is fun to research and not really that hard to do. Check out some of the bios and just use one as a template. A few paragraphs later, and you’re all done! But I digress. Anyway, after meeting Brock and a couple others at a Brewer game last summer, that helped fire me up even more. I wrote most of the NL Central preview pieces this spring, and did some Opening Day historical stuff, which I thought was pretty cool, too. I always like to work on that history. And like Rodney Dangerfield once said, ‘I’m so old that when I went to school, there was no history!’ Opening Day was earlier this week, and since it was nice out in central Wisconsin, I sat on my porch swing outside on a sunny, 59 degree day and listened to Lane Grindle and Jeff Levering on Sirius satellite. I missed the first inning but listened to the rest of the game while enjoying a few adult beverages. And you know what? It felt GREAT to be following the Brewers once more. I cussed our bad luck when Judge’s grounder to third hit the bag and flew past Vinny Capra, leading the way for the Yankees winning margin. I cringed when ‘Chewy’ whiffed for the fifth time, earning the infamous ‘platinum sombrero.’ But, tomorrow is a new day and our superstar will make up for his bad day. In summary, I want to thank everybody at Brewer Fanatic who has encouraged me and given me direction, especially in trying to figure out those new-fangled analytics. Special thanks to Brock, Brandon, and Matt, along with everyone else who makes Brewer Fanatic so great. And thanks also to all our readers, who are arguably some of the most knowledgeable baseball fans around. By the way, what even is a wOBA?? Play ball! View full article