The last time the Milwaukee Brewers were in the World Series, in 1982, the left-field bleachers at historic County Stadium swayed when filled with the maniacal fans of the swashbuckling Brewers that magical October. I witnessed it firsthand 44 years ago, during the first World Series that I covered, and the memory returned Saturday when I arrived at my seat in the auxiliary press box above the left-field stands at American Family Field, just above star Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio.
The left-field stands at American Family Field do not sway, but the ballpark seemed to pulsate amid the apocalyptic crowd noise when the 2026 World Series returned to Milwaukee.
"This place is nuts,'' said Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick after Game 1 against the Rays. "When I ran out on the field for the first time, with all the lights going off, it was like being in a movie. I was so fired up, I thought, 'I just want to hit someone.' When I got on base, I said, 'I just want to get dirty.''' (So, after his single in the second inning, he stole third with a headfirst slide.)
That's how the greatest Brewer ever, Hall of Famer Robin Yount, felt every time he ran onto the field during his career, and he got the chance again this week. Before Game 1, former Brewers owner Bud Selig, who brought the franchise to Milwaukee in 1970, presented the ceremonial first pitch to Yount, who was wearing a sports coat belonging to perhaps the most beloved broadcaster and former player ever, the late Bob Uecker. Yount removed the jacket to reveal his retired No. 19 -- but instead of Yount written on the back, it read Ueck. Yount threw out the first pitch to the booming ovation from a sellout crowd that seemed to be completely seated two hours before the first pitch. The Brewers won 3-2 in Game 1 with a beautiful, hard-nosed, fundamental brand of baseball.
Before Game 2, the second greatest Brewer ever, Paul Molitor, threw out the first pitch to equally respectful and joyful applause. The Brewers won that game 5-4 in typical Milwaukee fashion. The Brewers rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning -- their seventh comeback victory in this postseason, the second time they've erased a four-run hole in the past three games. The amazing Aaron Ashby, who has thrown 15⅔ scoreless innings in this postseason, got the final five outs. Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, the closer for the '82 Brewers, would have been proud.
All the '82 Brewers would be proud of this team because of the way it plays.
"Baseball is all about connections, and it's so cool that this team and the '82 team have connected after 44 years,'' Molitor said. "It's so nice to be remembered, especially by a team that plays like this team plays.''
It would be hard not to remember the legendary crew of 1982. That squad was a band of unshaven, unkempt renegades with great power, free-flowing hair and iconic nicknames: Rockin' Robin, Stormin' Gorman, Gumby and Simba. Their manager, Harvey Kuenn, a former batting champion, had a wooden leg, a dry wit and no fear. As a tribute to him, they were named Harvey's Wallbangers. They had five future Hall of Famers and a supporting cast that did more than support.
"We had a lot of personality on our team,'' Molitor said. "We did a lot together. We did a takeoff on 'Saturday Night Fever' once. It was so funny. We had costume parties on occasion. At one, I went as Prince.''
(Prince. Not Prince Fielder.)
"I once went as Rod Stewart,'' Yount said. "And I can't sing or dance.''
Yount won the American League MVP that year. On the final day of the regular season, he hit two home runs off future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer to send another future Hall of Famer, Don Sutton, to a victory over the Orioles -- and to send the Brewers to the postseason for the first time.
"I remember a game when Robin had a thigh bruise that was so purple, I couldn't even look at it,'' former Brewers reliever Dan Plesac said years later. "I asked him before a game, 'Are you going to play with that?' He asked me, 'Do you remember the first time you pretended you were sick when you were a kid so you didn't have to go to school?' Plesac said, 'Yeah, I did that all the time.' Yount said, 'Do you remember how much easier it was to do it the second time after you got away with it once? So don't do it the first time.'"
In Game 1 of the 1982 World Series against the Cardinals, Molitor became the first player to get five hits in his World Series debut. He was, according to former manager Joe Maddon, speaking for many in the game: "the best baserunner that I have ever seen.'' Fittingly, no team in the game today runs the bases better and more aggressively than the Brewers -- Milwaukee stole five bases in Saturday's win, only the eighth time in World Series history a club stole as many.
Cecil Cooper, who finished fifth in MVP voting that year, played first base. Jim Gantner, nicknamed "Gumby'' after a children's TV show character, played second base; no one played harder than Gumby. He also owned a lube and oil change service business as a side job. One year, as a charity auction item, the every-day second baseman of the Brewers went to a fan's house and changed the oil in the fan's car in his driveway.
Left fielder Ben Oglivie hit 34 homers that year. Unshaven center fielder Stormin' Gorman Thomas led the AL with 39 homers. The right fielder was a catcher, Charlie Moore. The catcher was future Hall of Fame catcher Ted Simmons, nicknamed Simba for his long, flowing mane. Simmons, a uniquely intelligent man, brought new thinking to the Brewers after being acquired from the Cardinals after the 1980 season.
"Ted was the best I've seen at leading off second base and stealing the signs of the catcher,'' Molitor said. "He could decipher the sequence of the catcher's signs, put the information in his computer of a brain and determine what pitch -- fastball or breaking ball -- was coming. Then, he'd tap his helmet, or lean in one direction, to let the hitter know what was coming, and where.''
The Brewers were not loaded in starting pitching in 1982, but Mike Caldwell was named the Game 1 starter for the World Series.
He threw a three-hit shutout in Game 1, which the Brewers won 10-0. The Cardinals won Game 2 on a bases-loaded walk to Steve Braun in the eighth inning, then took the first World Series game in Milwaukee in Game 3 behind Joaquin Andujar. The Brewers won Game 4 with six runs in the seventh inning, then Game 5 behind Caldwell, who gave up 14 hits (what?) in 8⅓ innings (he finished the series 2-0 with 2.04 ERA in two starts, three appearances overall). But the Cardinals won Game 6 in St. Louis 13-1 in a game started and completed by John Stupor, who went to college with thoughts of being a sportswriter (what?), then won Game 7 behind Audujar.
As Andujar famously said during that incredible World Series: "Baseball can be summed up in one word: youneverknow.''
Indeed. Who knew that the Brewers would take 44 years to make it back to the World Series? But here they are, 9-1 in this postseason, 6-0 at American Family Field. Here they are, headed to Tropicana Field with a 2-0 lead in the World Series. Yount will accompany the team. Molitor might head down, too, if the Brewers have a chance to do what the '82 team came so close to completing: a World Series championship.
"Molly and I are the old guys now, even when we go to Cooperstown, but we love what this team is doing," Yount said with a smile. "Baseball is coming back; the game is getting better. The Brewers are one of the reasons.''
