The Hall of Brewers We Won’t Miss: Second Inductee

It is with great shame that I induct this man into our inaugural class of the “Hall of Brewers We Won’t Miss”.  This guy sucked.  Jeff Suppan was bad, but I doubt there is a player in the past 20 years who elicits more ill will then our final nominee for 2012. 

For those of you coming in late, here is what started all of this:

This is a 5 week project, in which 5 select individuals will nominate two former Brewers as candidates for “The Hall”. At the end of those 5 weeks, RtB will put up a poll in order to induct 2 players in to the first ever class of the “Hall of Brewers We Won’t Miss”.

In my humble opinion, there was never a doubt that he would be a first ballot Hall of Won’t Misser, either.

So, as we discussed yesterday, rather than a speech I just wrote a little obituary for his career as a Brewer.  Enjoy.

Eric Gagne

"This French-speaking, Looney spending, steroid abusing, baseball journeyman, was lucky enough to end his major league career as a Milwaukee Brewer.  Luckily for Brewers fans, he did not “retire” wearing our jersey.  Rather, his career simply ended due to horrific play and absurd contract demands, which the Brewers met for one heinous season. December 9, 2007 was the day that the Brewers lit $10 million dollars on fire and called it an acquisition.  Gagne was brought in to close games after the complete breakdown of Derrick Turnbow, and the departure of Francisco Cordero.  Eric lasted about 3 weeks as the Brewers closer, blowing 3 of his first 6 save opportunities. 4 days after signing Gagne to this absurd contract, the infamous Mitchell report was released.  In that report, Eric Gagne was listed as a user of Human Growth Hormone going all the way back to 2002 (coincidentally the highest points of his career were from ’02-’04).  This is something he has never admitted to, or denied.  But the timing of the report and his signing with the Brewers, cast a dark shadow over his time in Milwaukee before it had even begun.When you pay a man $10 million dollars to close out games, you expect results.  Gagne was given 17 save opportunities and converted 10 of those, which means he only saved 60% of the games he was brought in to save.  If I only did 60% of my job, I would be fired without my boss even giving it a second thought.  But, the Brewers had not inflicted enough pain on themselves, so following the 2008 season they re-signed him to a minor league deal.  Luckily for us, he injured his shoulder, and he was immediately released. What can you say about Eric Gagne that hasn’t already been said about Milli Vanilli; he cheated to get to the top, he came crashing down with a thud, and now he is only spoken about in the past tense. If the Hall of Brewers We Won’t Miss was created for Jeff Suppan, Eric Gagne was not far behind.  He is another shining beacon of the Brewers continued efforts to piss away money on mediocre talent. Eric Gagne will not be missed by Brewers fans, so we lay him in his final resting place.  He will always be revered as on of the great “Won’t Misser’s” of all-time. His family should be proud, this is the only award he earned without steroids as a baseball player."

And with that, we shut the door on “The Hall of Brewers We Won’t Miss” for 2012.  One last time I would like to thank Colin Bennett, Steve over at Brewers Keep Turning Up The Heat, Steve Sievwright, and Justin Hull from the Home Stretch on WSCO Radio.

Be sure and tune in next year for 10 more nominees, and 2 more Brewers…We Won’t Miss!