{image1} Had Brewers catcher Chad Moeller hit for the cycle one year ago instead of Tuesday night, he'd be sitting pretty on a brand new Harley right now. But the motorcycle manufacturer and the Brewers ended that pitching change promotion after last season. Now, the only present Mohler received - other than the admiration of his coach and teammates -- was a gag gift in the form of a police officer's bike ... and he had to give it back.
Tuesday night, Moeller became the first Brewer since Paul Molitor to hit for the cycle (single, double, triple and a home run in one game) and only the second player to accomplish the feat in Milwaukee (Minnesota Twin Gary Ward did it at County Stadium in 1980). It's been 13 years since Molitor hit for the cycle, and because the game was in Minneapolis, he didn't win a Harley, either.
But Brewers manager Ned Yost didn't want Moeller to feel too left out. So after the come from behind win, Yost found a bike cop's Trek and presented it to his catcher during the post-game news conference.
"He got a good laugh," says Brewers Assistant Director of Media Relations Jason Parry. "Chad walked back into the clubhouse, and the bicycle stayed behind."
Unfortunately for Moeller, the Harley sponsorship, which had been in place for more than a decade, has been replaced by Chevy trucks, but the deal doesn't include a free car for hitting for the cycle. Harley is still a Brewers sponsor, but not for that promotion.
But for Moeller, who entered the game with a .200 average and a nasty case of the flu, the biggest reward was helping his team beat the Reds.
"I really do feel under the weather," Moeller told the Associated Press after the game. "My whole today was really just getting through nine innings behind the plate somehow, some way ... If we would have gone extra, it would have been a real battle for me."
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
