The date and preliminary details have been set for Brewers On Deck, the team’s fun annual offseason fan event. The 2017 edition will take place on Sunday, Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Wisconsin Center, with more than 60 Milwaukee players, alumni, coaches, front office executives and broadcasters planning to participate.
Among the big names of current players scheduled to attend are star outfielder and rumored trade candidate Ryan Braun, breakout infielder and 2016 MLB stolen-base leader Jonathan Villar, veteran pitcher Matt Garza, new acquisitions Eric Thames and Travis Shaw, prized rookie Orlando Arcia and highly touted prospects Lewis Brinson and Brett Phillips. Also, player/personality Tim Dillard will be there for laughs.
Brewers On Deck features a number of family-friendly activities. There will be autograph and photo opportunities with Milwaukee players, coaches and alumni; interactive games in the Kids Area; Q&A sessions and Klement’s Main Stage game shows with Brewers players, coaches and broadcasters; assorted vendor booths with baseball memorabilia; the Brewers Community Foundation’s Treasure Hunt Sale, a 50/50 raffle, live auction, food and drink for sale and other activities.
Advance tickets are $15 for adults and $9 for children 14 and under, according to a team press release. Tickets on the day of the event are $20 for adults and $15 for children 14 and under. On the day event, cash is the only accepted form of payment for admittance. A portion of the proceeds from Brewers On Deck will benefit Brewers Community Foundation. Tickets may be purchased at the Miller Park Box Office, by calling the Brewers ticket office at 414-902-4000, or online at Brewers.com/ondeck through January 27 at Noon.
As in previous years, food donations will be accepted for The Hunger Task Force. Donations can be dropped off at two main entrances to the Wisconsin Center, located at 4th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, and 4th Street and Wells Street.
Read about last year's Brewers On Deck event here.
Players, coaches and alumni scheduled to attend include (all subject to change):
Players: Chase Anderson, Keon Broxton, Adrian Houser, Jimmy Nelson, Rob Scahill, Orlando Arcia, Ryan Cordell, Taylor Jungmann, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Travis Shaw, Jett Bandy, Zach Davies, Corey Knebel, Hernan Perez, Andrew Susac, Jacob Barnes, Matt Garza, Jorge Lopez, Brett Phillips, Brent Suter, Michael Blazek, Scooter Gennett, Damien Magnifico, Manny Pina, Eric Thames, Ryan Braun, Junior Guerra, Jhan Marinez, Michael Reed, Carlos Torres, Lewis Brinson, Josh Hader, Tommy Milone, Domingo Santana and Jonathan Villar
Player/personality: Tim Dillard
Manager: Craig Counsell
Coaches: Darnell Coles, Derek Johnson, Pat Murphy, Carlos Subero, Marcus Hanel, Jason Lane, Ed Sedar, Lee Tunnell and Matt Erickson
Alumni: Don August, Cecil Cooper, Jim Gantner, Ken Sanders, Paul Wagner, Jerry Augustine, Rollie Fingers, Larry Hisle, Gorman Thomas and Robin Yount
Executives/broadcasters: Mark Attanasio, Brian Anderson, Lane Grindle, Sophia Minnaert, Bob Uecker, Matt Arnold, Craig Coshun, Jeff Levering and Rick Schlesinger
According to the team, details regarding autographs include the following: Players and select staff/alumni will each sign up to 250 autographs, ranging from free of charge to $25 (proceeds go to Brewers Community Foundation). All autographs this year will be first come, first served, and limited to the first 250 in line per player/staff. A schedule of players signing and their session times will be released in the next week. The autograph opportunities are for signatures on photo cards provided by the team; the Brewers cannot guarantee that any player will sign other memorabilia. For additional information, visit Brewers.com/ondeck.
Please note that cash is the only acceptable form of payment for autographs. The Brewers cannot guarantee that any player will sign other memorabilia, and personalization of items is solely up to the discretion of each player.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
