In the three years I worked for the Milwaukee Brewers, first as a media relations intern and later as one of the world famous Klement’s Racing Sausages, never in my life did I think I’d type the following words.
Say it with me folks — the Milwaukee Brewers are the NL Central Champions.
The Brewers took care of their end of the deal by beating the Marlins 4-1 earlier in the evening, but needed a little help from their neighbors to the south, the Cubs, to clinch the NL Central. Unlike much of the season, the Cubs took care of business tonight, beating the Cardinals 5-1 in St. Louis to make it official.
I’m a journalist at heart, but I literally just got chills typing the sentence you see above. The picture at the top of the posting is of me in a sausage costume with pasty skin and sausages for calves making an appearance at a Milwaukee car dealership. I was born and raised a Cubs fan but at my very core, my heart resides in Milwaukee.
Simply put, today is one of the happiest days of my life as a sports fan.
How exactly did they get here?
A little dumb luck and a lot of skilled maneuvering by GM Doug Melvin.
Melvin was responsible for building a farm system that produced guys like Yovani Gallardo, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart. He made shrewd trades for Nyjer Morgan (Tony Plush if you’re a gentleman), Shaun Marcum and of course ace Zack Greinke. This team was built to win and to win now because of these moves.
The Brewers will now likely head into the postseason as the No. 2 seed, drawing the Diamondbacks in the first round in what promises to be the organization’s best opportunity to reach the World Series since 1982 when they lost to the Cardinals.
What does this mean for the franchise? It means that baseball is back in Milwaukee, that September is no longer reserved for the Packers. When I was working for the Brewers (’03-’06), the team routinely drew crowds in the low teens. Tonight’s win over the Marlins was the 33rd sellout at Miller Park this season. To see what owner Mark Attanasio has done for this franchise and for this city has been, in a word, remarkable.
Attanasio has given Brewers fans reason to believe. He has trusted Melvin through good times and bad, reinvesting his own money into the franchise to get CC Sabathia in ’08 and to give a hefty contract extension to franchise cornerstone Ryan Braun. To say what tonight’s win means to guys like myself, my former boss Jon Greenberg (who started off as a Brewers bat boy and eventually went on to become the team’s Director of Media Relations) and others is quite literally impossible. This is something beyond any of our wildest dreams, a moment we’re all proud to see as it’s happening and certainly one we’re going to savor for years to come.
So here’s to you Milwaukee. Congratulations on being the unlikeliest of champions, a small market success story built from the ground up. This Schlitz is for you.
