This multi-part series talks about how the Brewers got to their (so far) one and only World Series, and offers a chronological timeline of the 1982 campaign—including player profiles, game recaps, and other events that affected the season.
Part 1
Part 2
Spring Training
Disaster struck in mid-March when ace closer Rollie Fingers was injured while wrestling with fellow pitcher Randy Lerch on a wet field in Sun City, Arizona. Fingers suffered a slight separation of his left (non-throwing) shoulder, but was expected to be healthy for the start of the season.
“We were just messing around,” Fingers said, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. “That was the kid in me coming out.”
Before spring training, backup catcher Charlie Moore voiced his displeasure over the lack of playing time behind Ted Simmons. General manager Harry Dalton and the Brewers management offered him a compromise: they would give Moore the right fielder’s job. The new right fielder worked hard during the spring with outfield instructor Sam Suplizio, learning how to play the new position.
“You get to that point in your career when you are satisfied to play anywhere,” Moore said. “I know I’m not going to catch unless something happens to Simmons.”
While the Brewers were finishing their spring camp in Arizona, Milwaukee was hit by a pair of storms that dumped a foot of snow two days before the home opener against Cleveland on April 6. Milwaukee finished Cactus League action with a record of 9-13-1.
Snowy Days
The opening series, which was scheduled for Tues., Apr. 6 and Thurs., Apr. 8, was canceled. The Brewers headed to the Astrodome in Houston for two days of workouts before traveling to Toronto for the season opener on April 9.
“Having snow blowing all over the seats and piling up in the parking lot is no way to entertain 50,000 people,” Dalton told The Capitol Times.
Moore needn’t have worried about whether he’d ever don the tools of ignorance again. Simmons suffered a pulled calf muscle during the last days of spring training and missed the first two games of the regular season. Moore took over behind the plate, batting second, and went 2-for-6 with four runs scored and an RBI. The Brewers scored six runs in the first inning against the Blue Jays on the way to a 15-4 rout on a 40-degree day in Toronto. Simmons missed the first three games but returned with a bang, stroking three hits in five trips (including a double and an RBI) in a 9-8 win in 10 innings at Cleveland, as the Brewers improved to 3-1.
Team Streak
The 1987 team was known as ‘Team Streak,’ but they had nothing on the early-season Brewers of 1982. After winning three of their first four contests, the Brewers promptly lost five straight games to drop to 3-6, falling from first to sixth in the AL East. Fingers struggled in the early going, allowing 11 hits, four walks, three stolen bases and a wild pitch in his first three appearances. He allowed the only runner he inherited to score, and in the two games in which he entered with the game tied, he took the loss.
After waiting 10 days for their home opener, the team was swept by the Texas Rangers in a three-game series at County Stadium, including a disappointing 4-1 loss in which the Rangers scored three runs in the 10th before an Opening Day crowd of 49,887.
The Brewers then won five in a row, however, with Fingers earning three saves in that stretch. Milwaukee won one of their final three games in April to finish the month with a mark of 9-8, good for third place in the AL East, 2 ½ games behind Boston with Detroit in second place.
First baseman Cecil Cooper led the team in that first month, hitting .394/.421/.549. Eventual 1982 MVP Robin Yount was right behind him, with a batting line of .375/.409/.575. However, the team that would become ‘Harvey’s Wallbangers’ got off to a slow start with their power numbers, hitting only 13 home runs in the first month. Ben Oglivie led the team with five.
Coming next, part 3: Sluggish May and the Demise of Buck.
Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!