I had the pleasure of living in Milwaukee in 1977 through the first half of 1981. I was a Braves fan when I was a little kid but then they moved to Atlanta and I just cheered the players I knew from the Milwaukee era; Aaron, Mathews, Spahn. I turned into a Twins fan after the Braves moved and, when I moved to Milwaukee, I figured I'd get to see a Twins series every year and maybe a Yankee game or two but who were these Brewers? Well, I got there just at the right time and then left a year and a half too early. I had seasons tickets for the 1980 season and had to buy two seasons tickets because no one else I knew had the money to go in on the deal. I had great lower box seats about 6 rows behind the Brewers dugout. By 1981, city life had gotten the best of me and I knew it was time to move on but, when the right job came along (in Williston, ND), I asked if they could hold it 2 1/2 months because I had tickets to the Yankees series in late June. Well, there was no Yankees series in June, 1981 although I waited until then to see if the strike would end. You see, I LOVED the Brewers. They were a great bunch of players that could score runs at ease. Heck, people were coming up from Chicago to watch them (and not just when the White Sox were in town)! Their pitching was their weak spot and their relief pitching was a joke (sorry Reggie Cleveland et. al.)! But boy could they hit the ball and Milwaukee was the ideal place for them to play. The THE TRADE ocurred before the 1981 season and we suddenly had the missing parts in Vuckovich, Simmons, and especially Fingers.
I missed the post season of 1981 and the World Series of 1982 and it wasn't until the following year that I bought a VCR (Beta). However, I subscribed to the "Milwaukee Journal" (boy was that expensive) and, since 1979 when I was still in Milwaukee, I saved every sports page from Opening Day until the Brewers were mathmatically eliminated from the post season. There was a Saturday paper in June, 1982 that never came. I wish I had the sense to report that I needed a replacement because it is the only 1982 game I don't have the write-up and box score for. (As an interesting side story, the Journal ran the daily box scores of the 1957 Braves season when they beat the Yankees in the World Series). I would call my friend in Milwaukee and have him turn up the radio when I got tired of waiting to get the final score on ESPN. I actually went to a couple of September games against the Red Sox on a trip back to Milwaukee; I was a Brewers FAN!!!
I realized that, 25 years later, there must be someting out there to bring back the excitement and I found it in this 70 minute DVD that is a testimonial to the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. It comes with another DVD of the 5th game of the ALCS that year which I'll view later. I'm still basking in the highlights and recollections of the 70 minutes I watched today.
Modern sports is jaded; people come and go to the highest bidder without even realizing the team they're signing with already has an All-Star at their position (Hello George Steinbrenner). Heck, I was a Twins fan through most of the 1970's (Goodbye Cal Griffith) so I knew a few things about money and MLB. Yet there was something very special about being a baseball fan in Milwaukee in the late 70's and early 80's. I've tried to describe the excitement that every Milwaukean of that era knows. Watch this DVD and you, too, will find out the special relationship that once existed between a team and its' fans. What a team that was!!!
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