This multi-part series talks about how the Brewers got to the World Series, and offers a timeline of the 1982 campaign, including player profiles, game recaps, and other events that affected the season.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
The Milwaukee Brewers returned to Brew City knowing they had a very tough assignment. They needed to be victorious in each of the final three games of the ALCS if they wanted to claim the first pennant in franchise history. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals squared off to see which squad would perform in the Fall Classic.
Game 3: Sutton, Molitor Star in Brewers Win
As 50,135 fans filed into County Stadium under sunny skies and in 68-degree weather, optimism was in the air. Don Sutton would face southpaw Geoff Zahn, in a win-or-go-home game for Milwaukee.
Both pitchers were on their game early on, but the Brewers struck first in the bottom of the fourth. Robin Yount led off with a walk. Next up was Cecil Cooper, who lined a 3-2 pitch into the right-field corner, easily scoring Yount. Ted Simmons singled Cooper to third, where he stood until Thomas drove him in with a fly ball to center to make it 2-0. Ben Oglivie singled to right, and the lumbering Simmons made it safely to third. He then scored on Don Money’s sacrifice fly to left. Zahn left the game in favor of Mike Witt, who struck out Charlie Moore to end the inning with the score 3-0 Brewers.
The contest was quiet until the top of the seventh, when Doug DeCinces hit a foul ball that bounced off the dirt and rebounded into his face, injuring his nose. The Angels’ trainer and manager Gene Mauch came out and attended to the injured player, but DeCinces refused to come out of the game. The third baseman struck out, but would not miss a single inning the rest of the series, playing with what would be diagnosed as a broken nose.
Money led off the bottom of the seventh by drawing a full-count walk and was promptly replaced by pinch-runner Marshall Edwards. Moore bunted Edwards to second, and then Jim Gantner hit a fly ball to center that moved Edwards to third. With two outs and a 2-2 count, Molitor hit a Witt slider over the ‘362’ sign in left field to increase the Brewers’ lead to 5-0.
In the top of the eighth, Boone lined the first pitch toward the left-field fence, and it appeared that Oglivie would have a chance to make a leaping catch in front of the wall. However, a fan reached over and caught the ball before it got to Oglivie’s glove. Left field umpire Larry Barnett ruled it a home run, and the Angels cut the lead to 5-1. Back in those days, there were no replay challenges, but television replays appeared to show that the fan reached over the fence in the act of catching the ball, which should have been a clear case of fan interference.
Whether it was the home run, the slight delay while Kuenn and Oglivie argued the call, or that he just ran out of gas, Sutton appeared to lose his stuff. He got Brian Downing on a fly ball, but Rod Carew beat out an infield chopper to third. Reggie Jackson struck out, but then Fred Lynn and Don Baylor hit back-to-back doubles to cut the lead to 5-3. Pete Ladd came in and got DeCinces to ground out to end the inning.
After the Brewers were set down in order in the bottom of the eighth by Andy Hassler, Ladd did the same in the top of the ninth, getting Bobby Grich on a groundout and Rob Wilfong and Boone on swinging strikeouts to save the Milwaukee victory.
Sutton gave up eight hits, three runs, and two walks, while striking out nine in 7 2/3 innings. It was the fifth straight win (against one loss) for Sutton since he came over to Milwaukee from Houston a month before.
“We were shut down by one of the best pitchers the game has seen in the last 15 years,” California manager Gene Mauch said.
Game 4: Super-Sub Brouhard Keys Milwaukee Victory
Forty minutes before Game 4 of the ALCS, coach Sal Bando came over to Mark Brouhard and said, ‘You’re in, kid.” Leftfielder Ben Oglivie had suffered bruised ribs while crashing into the fence the day before and wouldn’t be able to go.
“I went over and looked at the lineup card, and there I was,” Brouhard recalled.
The game was delayed nearly two hours by rain, and was paused twice after it began. But Brouhard went to work, stroking a single, double, and home run, scoring four runs and knocking in three while leading the Brewers to a 9-5 victory, knotting the ALCS at two games apiece.
Also starring in the must-win game was pitcher Moose Haas, making his first start in nearly a month. Haas pitched no-hit ball for 5 2/3 innings, and in the meantime, the Brewers had a 6-0 lead before California got on the board.
In the second, Simmons walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Money drew a walk from Tommy John, who was pitching on three days’ rest. Brouhard lined a single to center, scoring Simmons, and when Lynn’s throw to third caromed off a sliding Money, DeCinces grabbed the ball in front of the tarp and made an off-balance throw to home plate that flew over a leaping Bob Boone and into the stands, allowing both Money and Brouhard to score.
The Brewers scored three more times in the fourth, all on John’s tab. The inning went like this: walk, single, wild pitch, intentional walk, wild pitch, single. The score was 5-0 when John was removed in favor of Dave Goltz. Molitor got an RBI groundout to make it a 6-0 lead.
Game over, right? Not so fast.
A brief rain delay stopped things in the fifth, but the game would continue. In the top of the sixth, Lynn doubled for the first Angels hit, knocking in Jackson (who was on second after a fielder’s choice and errant throw by Yount) to cut the lead to 6-1. The Crew responded in the bottom of the sixth when Brouhard reached on a hot smash that bounced off DeCinces at third and got stuck under the tarp behind third base for a ground rule double. He was promptly sent home on a single to right by Gantner, which stretched the lead back to six runs.
Meanwhile, Haas was cruising through seven, having allowed just two hits and one run before disaster struck. In the eighth, Downing singled, Carew doubled, and Lynn walked to load the bases for Baylor. Haas, who had unofficially thrown at least 135 pitches, gave up a grand slam to Baylor, trimming the lead to 7-5. Slaton came in and got the final two outs of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Money singled and was replaced by Edwards at first. Edwards stole second, and then on an 0-2 pitch, Brouhard slammed a two-run homer to extend the lead to 9-5.
Slaton pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth, and just like that, the series came down to Game 5.
“If we win tomorrow, we can get emotional, and we will get emotional,” Gantner said. “But our job isn’t done. We still need to win one game to get in the World Series.”
Game 5: Cooper is Clutch, Big Foot Saves the Day
Nearly 55,000 fanatics showed up on a gloomy Sunday afternoon to watch the Brewers and Angels play one final contest for the right to move on to the World Series, which would have been a first for either club.
The Brewers tried to give it away, committing four errors in the game, but in the end, it was a slumping Cecil Cooper—who came into the game with only two hits in 16 at-bats—who came up with one of the most unforgettable moments in Milwaukee Brewers history.
Bruce Kison and Pete Vuckovich started on the mound for their respective clubs, and both allowed an opening-inning tally. Fred Lynn singled in a run for California, and in the bottom half, Ted Simmons hit a sacrifice fly that scored Paul Molitor. making it 1-1 after one.
Lynn struck again in the top of the third, this time going the opposite way to score Boone and give the Angels a new one-run lead. Boone was at it again an inning later, dropping down a bunt for a single that scored DeCinces, making it 3-1.
Oglivie cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, sending an off-speed pitch from Kison about 10 rows into the right-field bleachers to wake up the Brewers crowd, who were somewhat stunned by the Angels’ early lead.
It was still 3-2 when the Brewers came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Moore reached on an infield single. Gantner followed with a base hit to center, moving Moore to second. Molitor fouled out to the catcher, but then Yount walked to load the bases.
Now with only two hits in his last 19 trips, Cooper came to the plate in a huge situation for Milwaukee. Reliever Luis Sánchez was on the hill for the Angels, pitching in his second inning. On a 1-1 waist-high pitch on the outside corner, Cooper lined the ball to left in front of Brian Downing. Moore scored easily, and Gantner slid in safely headfirst, as the throw was slightly off-line, giving Milwaukee a 4-3 lead and sending the fans into a frenzy. For Brewers fans, the images from that play—Cooper willing the ball to get down as he headed for first, Moore scooping Gantner off the ground in a bear hug after his slide—are indelible memories.
Bob McClure had come in for Vuckovich in the seventh and got a double play to end the inning. He got through the eighth, giving up a two-out single to DeCinces. In the top of the ninth, Ron Jackson pinch-hit and singled to center, and was replaced by pinch-runner Rob Wilfong.
Pete Ladd came in to close out the game for the Brewers. Boone, once again, advanced the runner, with a bunt for the first out. Downing grounded to third for the second out, and then, as the crowd was roaring, Carew hit a one-hopper to Yount, who threw to first for the final out and the first (and to date, only) World Series appearance for the Brewers. In a scene you would never see today, hundreds of Brewers faithful poured onto the field after the final out, mobbing the players. Milwaukee was going to the World Series.
Next up, the St. Louis Cardinals in a World Series that would come to be known as ‘The Suds Series.’
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!