Sitting and watching CC Sabathia and Dave Parker being inducted into the Brewers’ Wall of Fame got me thinking: When will the Brewers retire their next number?
The last person to have a jersey number retired was a man who never played baseball for the team but rather was born, raised, and brought baseball back to Milwaukee after a five-year hiatus: Bud Selig. This came back in 2015 after he finished serving the last 22 years as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Taking a look at some of the other players who have had their jerseys retired, it comes mainly from the 1980s teams, the core players of those squads, such as Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, and Rollie Fingers. Now, as phenomenal as those players were, only one of them played their entire career with the Brewers, and it was Yount.
Spending 20 years with the Brewers, Yount was the first-round pick back in 1973. Similar to the trend we’re seeing today in baseball, he was on the big league club less than a year later, and the rest is history. Of course, Yount was a part of the first-ever playoff team, collected over 3,000 hits, played in over 2,800 games, among other standout stats. If you look at the Career Top 10 Leaders on Baseball Reference for the Brewers, you see Yount leading the way in several categories, and rightfully so.
This isn’t to discredit what his teammates, Molitor and Fingers, did back in the day, despite not playing their entire careers with the Brewers. Molitor spent 15 years with the Brewers before becoming one of the first baseball players to leave their longtime club for a nice paycheck. More often than not, Molitor batted above .300 in a season with the Brewers, not to mention the numerous times he led the league in a statistical category. Molitor was the man.
Fingers was a bit of a journeyman throughout his Major League career. However, this didn’t stop him from having a Hall of Fame career. Of his seven total All-Star appearances, two of them were in Milwaukee. He was a part of the team that led the Brewers to their first and only World Series appearance in 1982 and sits fourth all-time in the franchise’s all-time saves category.
Now that we have reviewed who hangs up high, it’s time to look at who could be the next number to be retired.
The first name that comes to mind is Ryan Braun. No one has worn No. 8 since he played his last game in September 2020. Could that be a sign of things to come, or just respect for the Hebrew Hammer? Like Yount, Braun was drafted in the first round of the draft. The only difference is that Yount was No. 3 overall, and Braun was No. 5.
Braun only played for 14 seasons, but following the steroid accusations, he never quite played a full season again. Following the 2012 season, Braun only played more than 140 games twice, once in 2015 (when he was an All-Star) and in 2019. While injuries riddling the back half of his career certainly didn’t help his case, Braun was a key part of two teams that fell shy of the World Series. Most importantly, on three separate occasions, he was a part of the team that brought Milwaukee back to the postseason.
What gets my vote is where he ranks among the all-time career hitters in a Brewers uniform. For many of the main categories, he’s in the top three.
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5th in Batting Average (.296)
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4th in games played (1,766)
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3rd in hits (1,963)
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2nd in doubles (408)
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2nd in RBIs (1,154)
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1st in home runs (352)
Had Braun been able to stay healthy throughout his playing career, I’m sure we’d see those numbers a little bit more inflated, but that’s with anyone at the end of the day.
Looking at this current roster of players, it feels like the only ones that would have a chance at history would be those who sign the long, lucrative deals, which, as we know, are few and far between. If you talked to me after the 2019 season, I would’ve told you Christian Yelich would be the next guy, though consistent injuries in recent seasons make it hard for him to see the field regularly.
Jackson Chourio, assuming he can stay healthy and play at the pace he’s been playing at, perhaps we could see his number retired in 20-30 years from now. Chourio plays both sides of the game well and is guaranteed to be on the team through the 2033 season, giving way to the possibility of No. 11 hanging high up one day.
As of right now, it’s hard to see who else might join some of the Brewers’ greats. Brice Turang has four years left on his contract, and already with a platinum glove under his belt, it’s going to be hard to get an extension done to keep him around. He’s a player, though, who has only gotten better as his career has gone on.
When it comes to the pitching staff, early frontrunners, if they can stay around, would be guys like Jacob Misiorowski and perhaps Brandon Woodruff. If we had this discussion a few years ago, before some of the big pieces were traded away, I would’ve loved to mention guys like Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, or even Josh Hader.
All in all, it’s hard to imagine a number being retired anytime soon, as it feels like we’re splitting hairs. Of all the names above, Braun’s case might be the lone legitimate case we have on hand; otherwise, we might be waiting another 20-30 years to see what comes of this core of players.
