The last time the Brewers made it to the playoffs, I was 8 years old. And, while I was as into it as a little kid could be, the memories are increasingly hazy.
Here's what I remember of that magical postseason. I'd love to hear your recollections, too. Please post them using the Talkback feature below.
My family watched the game against the Orioles that propelled the Brewers into playoffs from the comfort of our Whitefish Bay home. I don't remember the game, really, but I remember watching it.
I remember art and music classes that week at Lydell Elementary School. We learned the words to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and created Brewers-themed collages.
And I remember the night we clinched the American League pennant. It was Oct. 10, the day after my grandma turned 65. We went out for dinner to celebrate at a now-defunct Italian restaurant on Farwell (I can't remember its name, but my mom thinks it was in the building that now houses Shank Hall), and we got updates to the game throughout dinner.
After Robin Yount fielded a grounder and fired it over to Cecil Cooper to send the Crew to the World Series, my parents decided to take us to the action. I remember quite vividly driving down Lincoln Memorial toward Summerfest. This could just be the recollection of a child, but the street was packed with rowdy fans, honking their horns, high fiving each other. I saw a guy standing on a pylon or something, guzzling a beer. Hanging out the car window, I was both terrified and excited.
Hilariously, my mom now tells me that she remembers most that I was concerned that the celebration was past my own self-imposed bedtime. I was a strange kid.
My final recollection of the 1982 postseason was of game seven of the World Series. Before the game started, I gathered all my Brewers memorabilia from my bedroom and came downstairs to watch the game. I walked into the living room wearing wristbands and carrying a tiny Brewers tote bag, I think.
Again, I decided it was time for bed before the end of the game, and I went to sleep hoping I'd wake up to a victory. The first thing I said to my mom when I woke up the next morning was, "Did we win?"
"No, honey, the Brewers lost," she said.
Well, it's taken 26 years to get back to the playoffs. I know that this time around, I'll never forget a single detail of this awesome ride.
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.
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