Brewers 1982

Covering the Milwaukee Brewers throughout the 1982 season, in real-time, as it would have happpened.

Cecil Cooper

Grading the Brewers: Hitters

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Paul Molitor and Robin Yount
Robin Yount and Paul Molitor led a potent Brewers offense in 1982

It would be easy to give every Brewer a grade of A for the 1982 season because they came within one win of a World Series title. But while the team will receive an A (whoops, did I ruin the surprise?), like the Brewers season, nothing is easy, not even grading this team.

[View the Pitching Grades]

It will come as no surprise that Robin Yount received the highest grade while others such as the injured Larry Hisle bottomed out.

INFIELDERS

Cecil Cooper, 1B
Is there a better first baseman in the American League? Nope. He’s a legit Triple Crown threat each season. For the third consecutive full season, Coop hit at least .300 (.313), he slammed 32 homers and was second in the AL with 121 RBI. He added 38 doubles as a part of his 205 hits and scored a career-high 104 runs. He committed only five errors.
Grade: A

Jim Gantner, 2B
Played in 132 games, the fewest of all the regular Brewers infielders, which isn’t surprising, considering his hard-charging style and his ability to hang in when runners are bearing down on him. For a guy who hit from the nine-hole, a .295 average wasn’t too shabby. He’s not a masher (four homers), but a good bottom of the order guy.
Grade: B

Paul Molitor, 3B
The Ignitor lived up to his name as he provided the spark for the American League’s most potent offense. Led the league in AB (666), plate appearances (751) and runs scored. Hit .302 and had career highs in homers (19), RBI (71) and stolen bases (41). One of the best baserunners you’ll ever see. Adequate in the field.
Grade: A

Robin Yount, SS
Simply one of the finest seasons ever by a shortstop. His 129 runs, most ever by a shortstop. His 114 RBI, third all-time. Add to that a .331 batting average with 29 taters, 46 doubles, 12 triples and you get a .578 slugging percentage, which was .001 behind Ernie Banks for best ever. But Banks hit .285. Yount hit for power and average. Would have won the AL batting title if Willie Wilson had been man enough to play the last day of the season. He led the league in hits (210), doubles, slugging percentage and total bases with 367. And to think, he’s only 26. He was the clear MVP.
Grade: A+

Don Money, DH, INF
A damn good season for the 35-year-old Money, who platooned with Roy Howell at DH. In 275 ABs, Money slugged .891 as 33 of his 78 hits went for extra bases, including 16 home runs, the third highest total of his career.
Grade: B+

Roy Howell, DH INF
The Brewers had plenty of power, but only four taters? That’s Gantner territory (no offense, Gumby). Howell hit .260 and managed to drive in 38 runs. Other than that, the Crew may need to find another left-handed bat at DH.
Grade: C

Ed Romero, 2B
Backed up Gantner at second and played in 52 games and hit .250. He didn’t walk much, didn’t steal a base and hit one homer. He’s a typical light-hitting middle infielder.
Grade: C-

Rob Piccolo, INF
Came over from Oakland in a midseason deal, hit .286 in 21 ABs in 22 games.
Grade: Inc.

CATCHERS

Ted Simmons, C
Simba’s slower than the orbit of Pluto, but few backstops call a better game. He also’s a switch hitter and the Crew doesn’t need to sit him depending on who is pitching. His 97 RBI were the most since he drove in 100 with the Cardinals in 1975 and his 23 homers were the most since he hit 26 in 1979. His 29 doubles were fourth on the team. At 32, Simmons is what he is.
Grade: B

Ned Yost, C
His homer in Boston proved to be one of the biggest hits of the season, as it helped the Crew get a four-game lead with five to play. Other than that, he played in 40 games, hit. 276 and was OK as Simmons’ backup. He’s 27, but he’s not starter material.
Grade: C+

OUTFIELDERS

Ben Oglivie, LF
Benji, with Coop, provided the left-handed pop in the lineup smashing 34 homers and driving in 102 runs. He won’t hit for average, but his .244 followed the 1981 season where he hit .243. This from a guy who hit .282 or better in his first three seasons with the Crew.
Grade: B

Gorman Thomas, CF
Stormin’s 39 homers and 112 RBI were beautiful. His .245 average and 143 strikeouts were not. Gorman’s not gonna hit for average, ever, but his 29 doubles were third on the team, even ahead of Molly, who had 26 doubles. With Gorman, what you see is what you get: a gritty dude who’ll swing for the fences.
Grade: B

Charlie Moore, RF
A converted catcher, Moore’s hose accounted for 23 outfield assists. And who can forget the throw that nailed Reggie Jackson in Game 5 of the ALCS? Like the rest of the Crew outfield, Moore didn’t hit for average (.254), but he had 22 doubles. Other than that, he hit like a catcher.
Grade: B-

Mark Brouhard, RF
Brouhard saved the Crew’s bacon in Game 4 of the ALCS, his finest moment of the season. His worst moment, losing the job in right field to Moore after being injured. Brouhard played in 40 games and had four homers and 10 RBI.
Grade: C

Marshall Edwards, OF
The only outfielder on the Brewers with any speed, but he suffered from the same affliction of the other Crew outfielders: low batting average. Edwards hit .247 and worse yet, walked only four times. For a team that drove in runs by the bunches, Edwards didn’t distinguish himself in any fashion.
Grade: C-

Larry Hisle, OF-DH
It was sad to see the man who helped the Crew’s renaissance in ’78 succumb to injury. He hit .129 in what will likely be his last season.
Grade: D

Bob Skube, OF, UTL
Never saw enough time to make an impact, compiling 12 ABs between them.
Grade: Inc.

OVERALL

Stats don’t lie: They hit a major-league leading 216 home runs, drove in an MLB-high 843 RBI, led the majors in total bases (2606), runs (891), slugging percentage (.455) and at bats (5733). Wait, we’re not done yet. The Crew was second in hits (1599, four behind the Royals), doubles (277, also behind the Royals), batting average (.279, six points behind the Royals) and second-last in strikeouts (714). They didn’t walk much (484, 14th in the majors) and they don’t steal bases (84), but when you pound the ball like the Crew did this season, you don’t need to go station-to-station.

There is no other grade for this team. It was second to none at the plate.

GRADE: A

Cooper, Yount are Silver Sluggers

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Cecil Cooper
Cecil Cooper proved that he is the top hitting first baseman in the AL.

NL Award Winners

The votes are in from the American League managers and coaches, and the Brewers’ Robin Yount and Cecil Cooper were named the best offensive players at their respective positions.

Yount is being recognized seemingly every day for another award following his historic 1982 season. It is the second time he has been a Silver Slugger, winning it first in 1980.

Cecil Cooper is a three time Silver Slugger winner, taking the honors in each of the last three seasons. Often overshadowed by Yount this year, Cooper was spectacular. Second only to his amazing 1980 season, Cooper hit .313 with 32 homers and 121 RBI.

It’s not surprising that multiple Brewers would make the list. And not to get greedy, but you could make an argument for Paul Molitor, Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie and Ted Simmons as well. Though to be fair, all winners were deserving, and are probably more deserving than the Brewers just mentioned.

What do you think? Were any Brewers snubbed?

Pos: Player, Tm AVG HR RBI H 2B 3B SB
C: Lance Parrish, DET .284 32 87 138 19   2   3
1B: Cecil Cooper, MIL .313 32 121 205 38   3   2
2B: Damaso Garcia, TOR .310 5 42 185 32   3   54
3B: Doug DeCinces, CAL .301 30 97 173 42 5 7
SS: Robin Yount, MIL .331 29 114 210 46   12   14
OF: Reggie Jackson, CAL .275 39 101 146 17 1 4
OF: Willie Wilson, KCR .332 3 46 194 19 15 37
OF: Dave Winfield, NYY .280 37 106 151 24 8 5
DH: Hal McRae, KCR .308 27 133 189 46   8   4

Yount Named TSN AL Player of the Year

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1982 Donruss Robin Yount
Robin is recognized again!

The Sporting News announced their AL and NL teams today and named Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers as their pick for the 1982 TSN American League Player of the Year Award.

Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves won the award in the National League while TSN named Steve Carlton of the Phillies and Dave Stieb of the Blue Jays their pitchers of the year.

Yount was joined by teammates Cecil Cooper at first base and Gorman Thomas in the outfield. So… how in the world is Dave Stieb the AL Pitcher of the Year? And how is Geoff Zahn on the team but not Pete Vuckovich? Vuke was named the best right-handed pitcher — not only in the American League, but in all of baseball — by the Associated Press. Vuke was also named to the UPI AL All-Star Team along with Baltimore’s Jim Palmer.

So while it’s certainly exciting (if not unexpected) that Yount won the Player of the Year Award, the fact that Vuke wasn’t recognized — not only as the best pitcher in the AL, but one of the two best pitchers — is a bit of a head-scratcher. And it also raises concerns that he may not win the AL Cy Young award.

Following are the entire AL and NL rosters, as named by The Sporting News:

American League

Catcher: Lance Parrish (DET)
1st Base: Cecil Cooper (MIL)
2nd Base: Damaso Garcia (TOR)
Shortstop: Robin Yount (MIL)
3rd Base: Doug DeCinces (CAL)
Outfield: Dave Winfield (NYY), Gorman Thomas (MIL) and Dwight Evans (BOS)
Designated Hitter: Hal McRae (KC)
Pitchers: Dave Stieb (TOR) and Geoff Zahn (CAL)

National League

Catcher: Gary Carter (MON)
1st Base: Al Oliver (MON)
2nd Base: Manny Trillo (PHI)
Shortstop: Ozzie Smith (STL)
3rd Base: Mike Schmidt (PHI)
Outfield: Dale Murphy (ATL), Pedro Guerrero (LA) and Lonnie Smith (STL)
Pitchers: Steve Carlton (PHI) and Steve Rogers (MON)

The St. Louis Massacre

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Cardinals 13, Brewers 1
World Series now tied 3-3
Box Score | Season Schedule

ST. LOUIS — There was rain. There was mud. The only thing missing from this one-sided battle was blood.

After two stoppages totaling two hours and 39 minutes in rain delays, the St. Louis Cardinals finally put the Brewers out of their Game 6 misery by winning 13-1. It was torture to watch.

Here’s hoping the Brewers pull out Game 7 to win the World Series. Then, and only then, will I be able to forget this debacle.

If the Brewers win Game 7, Tuesday’s game will be something we smile and laugh about. It’ll even be a game pushed entirely out of our memories. “Remember Game 6 when the Brewers embarrassed themselves and their fans with an all-around pathetic display in the midst of more than two hours of rain delays?” Nope. Don’t remember it. I just remember running naked around the neighborhood after the big Game 7 win.

It shouldn’t have been this way. The Brewers were coming off of two emotional victories that gave them a 3-2 series lead. They had a day off to rest their weary. They had Don Sutton on the mound, the man who so many times during the past month and change has saved their season.

For the first time since his acquisition, Don Sutton was awful. In a game that the Brewers desperately needed a complete or nearly complete effort, Sutton went only 4 1/3 innings before turning it over to the bullpen. By the time he handed the ball to Harvey, his team had a seven-run deficit.

“I have no excuse,” said Sutton. “I was sitting in the clubhouse icing my arm trying to think of one but there are none.”

We don’t care about excuses, Don. We just want wins.

Meanwhile, rookie John Stuper pitched a complete game, allowing only four hits. The only run scored on a wild pitch in the ninth inning. The performance was all the more impressive given that it covered nearly five hours, including the rain delays.

Jim Slaton and Dwight Bernard were solid in relief for the Brewers, as they and the rest of the bullpen have been all postseason. But Doc Medich, who is more accustomed to the work of an ineffective starter, gave up the remaining six runs in two innings of work.

In Game 5, Mike Caldwell and the Brewers held the Cardinals to four runs even though they mashed out 15 hits. St. Louis was much more efficient in Game 6, scoring 13 on 12 hits. Of course, four Brewers errors tended to help. Robin Yount and Jim Gantner each committed two, and Gantner tied a World Series record (also held by Honus Wagner) with at least one error in four straight games.

Those four Brewers errors led to four unearned runs. The Brewers defense has committed at least one error in all but the first game of this World Series, flubbing 11 over the remaining five games. Going back to Game 4 of the ALCS, the Brewers have committed 17 errors in eight games.

You want to prevent the opposition from scoring 13 runs, and the pitching and defense were not up to that challenge. But when your offense is set down in order five times and reaches on only four hits, you’re not going to win many games. Actually, you shouldn’t win any games.

The cowardly retort would be to blame the rain. Don’t blame the rain. The Brewers were already down 7-0, the game well out of reach, when the tarp first touched the infield. No, this was a full team effort. A colossal failure in every respect.

Paul Molitor (1-for-4) and Robin Yount (0-for-4 and two errors) didn’t contribute much in this game. But it’s tough to blame two players who are batting .326 and .366 respectively in the playoffs. And Charlie Moore is hitting a surprising .389 while Jim Gantner hits a respectable .270 (though his defense certainly isn’t helping).

It’s everyone else in between. It’s amazing we’re still in the position to win a World Series title when Cecil Cooper is hitting .222, Ted Simmons is hitting .189, Ben Oglivie is hitting .184 and Gorman Thomas is “hitting” .108. Essentially, the Crew’s only chance of scoring starts at the bottom of the order. Not how they drew it up.

And Harvey. Please, Harvey. Don’t play Roy Howell in Game 7. The bearded wonder has yet to collect a postseason hit.

“Everybody always wants to see the World Series go 7 games,” claims manager Harvey Kuenn. “So now everybody should be happy.” I don’t know who these people are who want a Game 7, Harvey, but they aren’t Brewers fans.

We’ll have Vuke on the mound for that seventh game, and I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse. He’s the possible AL Cy Young winner for the regular season, but Pete Vuckovich hasn’t won a big game since Sept. 20 in Boston.

Maybe he’s due? Oh, is he ever.

I tend to overreact. What are your feelings about this loss and the prospects for another final game win?

Brewers Lose, Down 2-1

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Cardinals 6, Brewers 2
Cardinals now lead World Series 2-1
Box Score | Season Schedule

Joaquin Andujar dominated the Brewers

MILWAUKEE — I should have felt good about the fact that the Brewers were leaving St. Louis tied at a game apiece. After all, they say that all you need is one in that situation. But there was something about losing a game that should have been won that bothered me. I had a bad feeling that, even though the Brewers had stolen home field advantage, losing that second game would haunt them.

Exhibit A is tonight’s game. Back in Milwaukee, in front of the home crowd, you’d expect the Brewers to go up two games to one. Particularly with the leading American League Cy Young candidate, Pete Vuckovich, on the mound.

But things didn’t go as planned in this 6-2 loss to the Cardinals. Vuke only allowed six hits in 8 2/3 innings. He didn’t allow a single hit to the first three batters in the Cardinals’ lineup, and the top five went a combined 1-for-19. You’d expect that this would be the reflection of a win, in a typical game. But this game was not typical.

First and foremost, Joaquin Andujar owned Brewers batters. While Harvey’s Wallbangers haven’t been owned consistently of late, they certainly haven’t been banging walls with regularity either. But Andujar kept the bats silent all night long.

It wasn’t until a Ted Simmons liner knocked Andujar out of the game in the seventh that the Brewers’ offense started to see life. His rocket struck Andujar in the right knee, and the pitcher writhed in pain on the ground until he was finally replaced.

“I was just glad it didn’t get Andujar in the head or some place where it would hurt him real bad,” said Simmons. “You don’t say, ‘Wow, I knocked him out of the game. Oh goody for us.’ It’s not like that at all. You hope the guy isn’t hurt.”

It certainly wasn’t “goody for us.” The Brewers squandered a major opportunity that inning, loading the bases on four Cardinals pitchers before closer Bruce Sutter ended the inning on a Charlie Moore pop-out caught on the top dugout step.

The Brewers would finally break through on a two-out, two-run homer by Cecil Cooper in the eighth. But other than that, nothing.

That doesn’t mean we let Vuke off the hook. He’s supposed to be our Cy Young candidate, after all. And when you are supposedly one of the best pitchers in the American League, you should be up to any challenge. Well, he lost his last big game of the regular season to the Orioles. He lost one game to the Angels in the ALCS and got no decision in the other. And today, he lost again.

But it wasn’t the top of the order that got to Vuke. It was the bottom. And most specifically, it was rookie Willie McGee. In a scoreless game in the fifth, McGee hit a three run homer. McGee, if you did not know, had four regular season home runs. But because of his bomb, the Brewers were down 3-0.

McGee then came to bat again in the seventh. The result? Another homer to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. It’s tough to explain.

“A guy hits four home runs all year,” Vuke would say, “you won’t expect him to hit two in a game. But he did.”

McGee wasn’t done torturing the Brewers. With Oglivie on first after an error by Keith Hernandez, Gorman Thomas launched what appeared to be a home run to center field. But McGee raced back, leaped at the wall, and pulled it back in.

Ridiculous.

The Cardinals scored their last run when Vuke pitched around light-hitting Ozzie Smith with the bases loaded and walked in a run in the ninth.

“I tried to get him to fish inside. He didn’t fish,” explained Vuke.

Unacceptable. Why in the world do you need to get a guy with no bat like Smith to fish? Just throw him a strike, Vuke. He can’t hurt you. It’s painful.

Honestly, I don’t know who needs to pay for this loss. Pete Vuckovich is certainly at the top of the list. I’m tired of defending him as a Cy Young caliber pitcher when he can’t pitch close to that caliber in the postseason. That said, we’ve been drooling over this offense all season long, and they are giving us little to be excited about of late.

Paul Molitor, who had five hits in Game 1, went 0-for-4 in Game 3. Robin Yount, the likely regular season MVP, went 0-for-3. Ben Oglivie went 0-for-4 to lower his postseason average to .111. Gorman Thomas went 1-for-4 and actually raised his postseason average to .115.

Oh, and the defense committed three more errors leading to two unearned runs.

It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating to know how fortunate this team is to be in the World Series right now considering how poorly they’ve played overall. And it’s frustrating to sense that if they’d play even average baseball, they’d be up three games to none. But instead, they’re down two to one.

But I’m just a passionate, overreacting fan. Sure, it’s just one game. And they may win the next three. But it’s painful to watch the Brewers under perform, and they did so in every facet of the game on this night.

What do you think? Is it too early to panic?

Brewers Blow Lead, Game 2

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Cardinals 5, Brewers 4
World Series now tied 1-1
Box Score | Season Schedule

Don Sutton allowed four runs with two outs.

ST. LOUIS — Up one game to none on the Cardinals, the Brewers had a chance to stomp on their opponents’ throats with a win before going back to Milwaukee for two, maybe three games. Instead, they blew such an opportunity by blowing a three-run lead and falling to the Cardinals 5-4 tonight.

With the series tied at 1-1, now it will be three games in Milwaukee.

Early on, it appeared the Brewers would continue the dominance that led to a 10-0 opening win on Tuesday by whooping on starter John Stuper. Charlie Moore hit an RBI double in the second inning, and two more runs were scored in the third on a Robin Yount groundout and Ted Simmons‘ second homer of the series.

All was going the Brewers’ way. After two and a half innings, Milwaukee had scored three runs, and the Cardinals had yet to touch home plate in the series. Don Sutton had yet to allow a baserunner. But then, with two down in the third, Tommy Herr smacked an RBI double and Ken Oberkfell laced a single to right just out of reach of a diving Jim Gantner to make it a 3-2 game.

There are moments in a series that immediately strike you as pivotal. This was one of those such moments. If Sutton gets that third out, the Brewers hold a 3-0 lead and maintain their stranglehold of the series. Instead, the Cardinals score their first runs and gain confidence.

The Brewers would score one more run on a Cecil Cooper single in the fifth to make it a 4-2 Brewers lead. But the Cardinals kept battling.

Porter’s two-out, two-run double in the sixth was a crushing blow.

Again with two down, former Brewer Darrell Porter hit a two-run double down the left field line that tied the game in the sixth. Why was the third out so difficult to secure? It cost the Brewers this game.

By all accounts, Pete Ladd was the Brewers’ MVP of the ALCS, and they needed him in a key spot of a tie game in the eighth. With one down, Bob McClure had put two Cardinals runners on. To this point, Ladd had retired all 10 batters he had faced in the playoffs.

The World Series may be a different story. Ladd delivered a letters-high fastball on a 3-2 count to NL MVP candidate Lonnie Smith, the first batter he faced, that was called a ball to load the bases.

“Did you see the big smile on my face heading down to first?” a knowing Smith asked after the game.

Ladd then walked the second batter, journeyman Steve Braun, on four pitches to bring in the go-ahead and eventual winning run.

“It rattled me,” Ladd admitted. “It shouldn’t have. This is not the time to get rattled. But it did rattle me. I was upset, not at myself but at the umpire.”

Inexplicable. But understandable, considering Ladd is an untested young pitcher. Rollie Fingers would have been perfect in this position.

Oh, yeah. So wasn’t Rollie available?

“Rollie was well enough to pitch,” said Kuenn, “and no, I didn’t consider using him. I’ve used Rollie when we’re ahead, not in tie situations or when we’re losing.”

It’s starting to sound like a bluff, Harvey. This is when the Brewers needed their best pitcher on the mound. And Rollie’s comments didn’t help verify Harvey’s claim.

“I couldn’t have pitched today,” said Fingers. “I’m a little stiff from not pitching for a month, not from the injury. It’s like the fifth or sixth day of Spring Training.”

I came into this hoping the Brewers would win one of two in St. Louis. After yesterday’s win, I wanted two but didn’t need it. I was fine with a loss here.

But not like this. The Brewers had this game. The Cardinals scored four with two outs and the final was a gift. The Cardinals didn’t win Game 2, the Brewers lost it. And that’s not how you win a World Series.

“Of course we would have liked to have won two,” said Kuenn, “but I’m not worried.”

Apparently not. Or you would have used Fingers.

On the bright side, Cecil Cooper had three hits to break out of his playoff funk. Gorman Thomas, however, went hitless to drop his playoff batting average below .100.

At some point, we may need to accept that Gorman simply isn’t himself on one leg. If Thomas isn’t going to hit, you don’t lose anything by putting Marshall Edwards out there. Or you can roll the dice by putting Moore or Oglivie in center and Mark Brouhard in one of the corners. I love Gorman, but he’s half of a player right now.

What do you think? Should the Brewers bench Gorman Thomas? And how big was this loss?