 MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers clinched their first divisional title since 1982 despite early injuries and struggles.
And their faithful followers have been with them every step along that tough but magical journey, one that included an unbelievable 27-5 run through late July and most of August that kept the team in first place every day since July 27.
Milwaukee guaranteed its second playoff appearance in four years Sept. 23 on Ryan Braun’s dramatic homer in a victory over Florida, while the Chicago Cubs defeated second-place St. Louis, giving the Crew the National League’s Central Division crown to join the 1981-’82 squads as the only teams in franchise history to taste postseason action.
The Brewers open the best-of-five NLDS Saturday against Arizona.
Although they’ve embraced what those earlier teams accomplished — including the 1982 World Series participants — current players are doing their best to build their own legacy. Despite that, many fans say that the 2011 version of the Brewers has many similarities to those special teams of bygone days.
This year’s team, led by rookie manager Ron Roenicke, established a franchise record for home victories (57) and broke the mark for total victories in a season with 96.
In the process, Brewers fans filed through the turnstiles in droves, setting a Milwaukee baseball mark in attendance this past week against Pittsburgh as the team cracked the 3 million mark for the third time in four years.
And fans from southern Wisconsin were among them, including Jason Robinette of Elkhorn, who attended all three games against the Marlins and said the series-opening clincher was exhilarating.
“It was awesome and a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Robinette, who has a collection of about 150 bobbleheads of Brewers players. “All of the people stomping and celebrating, it was like an earthquake.”
Robinette, 30, estimates that he’s attended 50 to 70 games a year for many seasons. That kind of devotion isn’t new to Milwaukee and its legions of fans across Wisconsin and the Midwest, as those who grew up watching the old Braves in the 1950s and early ’60s or Bambi’s Bombers and Harvey’s Wallbangers in the late 1970s and early ’80s remember well.
Deborah Maki is a Middleton native who has taught in the Delavan Darien School District the past 17 years. She learned to love America’s pastime from her grandmother, Olive Wight, a diehard Cubs fan.
“She taught me a lot about the game, much of it just by watching,” said Maki, 55. “I remember during the ’60s going to the same stadium in Kenosha where the women’s professional league played and hearing all of the stories.”
Maki said this year’s group reminds her of the Robin Yount-Paul Molitor era in many ways, and Braun is the obvious example.
“The 1982 team was so special because they had the right mesh of personalities and talent,” Maki said. “Craig Counsell is my guy, but Ryan Braun demonstrates real professionalism for the game while he’s enjoying it. The commitment he showed by signing the long-term contract resonates with the fans and the players.
“He’s cut from the same cloth as Yount and Molitor, and we haven’t seen that much since then.”
Jay Toubl, 60, of Beloit agreed wholeheartedly.
“The comparisons with (Prince) Fielder and Braun to Molitor and Yount is almost exactly the same because people identify with them, they’re the faces of the franchise,” said Toubl, who owns Carpet Market. “Back then, I lived in Waukesha and would take in three or four games a week, and those guys could do no wrong, and it’s the same with Braun and Fielder.
“You goof up at other places and they boo them off the field. ... Milwaukee fans are unique in that they stand behind their team.”
That’s been a common thread among the three generations, especially when the product on the field has matched the enthusiasm from the stands.
The Crew won the second half during the strike-interrupted campaign of 1981 to force a showdown with the New York Yankees. Unfortunately, the Bronx Bombers prevailed, winning the series 3-2.
In 1982, the Brewers took off in June after Harvey Kuenn replaced Buck Rodgers in the dugout and entered a four-game, season-ending series in Baltimore with a three-game cushion over the Orioles in the American League East. However, the hosts whipped Milwaukee by a combined 26-7 margin to force a tie heading into the final Sunday.
Eventual league MVP Yount — like Braun, age 27 at the time of his heroics — clubbed two homers and a triple as the Crew defeated future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer in posting a 10-2 triumph in earning the franchise’s first division title. They rallied after losing the first two games in the AL Championship Series to the California Angels with three consecutive wins and the team’s only pennant, securing it on Cecil Cooper’s two-run single in Game 5. However, they lost the World Series to current NL Central adversary St. Louis in seven games.
Eerily similar to the current team’s exploits, the Brewers ended a 26-year postseason drought as the NL’s wildcard entrant in 2008, finishing 7 1/2 games behind the rival Cubs before losing in the first round to Philadelphia in four games.
Meanwhile, the Braves drew more than 2 million fans from 1954 to 1957 while doubling the league’s average attendance figures. Milwaukee won back-to-back pennants in 1957 and ’58.
The Braves clinched the 1957 league title on Sept. 23, the same as this year’s Brewers, with a win over the Cardinals as Hank Aaron slugged a two-run homer — like Braun’s dramatic long ball 51 years later, the first pitch he saw — in the 11th inning at County Stadium.
Bob Luchsinger, 90, of Janesville fondly recalls the euphoria surrounding those historic days as the Braves finished with winning records in all 13 seasons before moving to Atlanta.
“(Warren) Spahn was the best left-handed pitcher I’ve ever seen,” said Luchsinger, a pitcher who signed with the Cubs just weeks before military service in World War II and with the Phillies after the conflict but left pro ball shortly thereafter to tackle married life. “Braun and Fielder can play with most anybody, but I don’t believe they were in the same league as (Roger) Maris and (Mickey) Mantle, and Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron were better. But when you’re old like me, nobody can dispute what you’re saying.”
All kidding aside, and despite reservations about how the team will fare this postseason, these Brewers fans are adamant in their support as the team chases the city’s second Major League championship.
“When the season started, there were names you didn’t recognize, but the addition of the new pitchers, Yuni Betancourt at shortstop and Nyger Morgan, they’ve had fun playing and made it enjoyable for us,” Maki said.
Toubl and Gary Olsen of South Beloit have been baseball rotisserie league foes for years. They’re not predicting a Series win, but they’re also not discounting the possibility.
“Philly has really had a bumpy ride of late, but they’ve got the pitching,” said Toubl, who starred at Beloit Catholic before earning NAIA All-America status at Milton College, also as a pitcher. “I believe the Brewers can hit with the Phillies. I think they’ll win their first series and it’s 50-50 whether they can beat Philadelphia.”
Olsen, 60, said he knew the Crew would challenge after the trades for Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum.
“I told all of my friends who are Cubs fans that if the Brewers got their bullpen figured out that they’d be tough to beat,” said Olsen, who works for WSJY radio in Fort Atkinson. “Then they got (Francisco) Rodriguez at the All-Star break, and nobody’s been better than (John) Axford.
“If they play the Braves in the first round they’ll do fine, but if it’s Philadelphia or Arizona, they’ll have to play very well to advance,” Olsen added.
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