All-Brewers Team: Utility Guys

So, after weeks of work, it has come to this: the final addition to the All-Time Brewers team. It has been a while, so feel free to take in the Positional and Pitching teams before diving in to this section of the roster. We’ll wait.

The utility team was an idea I cooked up during the debates we were having about our positional team, as I realized that there were way too many players we wanted to mention, but simply couldn’t fit on the roster. So rather than simply a team filled with also-rans, the All-Utility team is a celebration of the hometown heroes. These are the players that may have not been the All-Stars or elite players, but without them being a Milwaukee Brewers fan just wouldn’t be the same.

So sit back and page through some of our favorites, and don’t be afraid to add some of your favorites to the comment section, as always discussion is welcomed and encouraged.

We will start with Lou’s selections, a group of five varied and talented players from across the eras of Milwaukee Brewers history.

P- Pete Vuckovich

The two healthy seasons he had in Milwaukee were nothing short of Disney magic.  Vuck came over in the same trade that brought us Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons…maybe the greatest trade ever for this team.

Vuck won the Cy Young in 1982, his 18-6 record was the best in the majors.  In his 5 years with Milwaukee he posted a 40-26 record with a 3.88 ERA.  Sadly, all but 8 of those wins came in ’81 and ’82.  Before the start of the ’83 season, Brewers team doctor’s discovered Vuck had a torn rotator cuff.  That was pretty much the end of Pete Vuckovich’s career.  He started 22 games in 1985, but was no where near the dominator he had been just two season prior.  Let us also remeber his EPIC portrayal of Yakee’s power hitter Clu Heyward in Major League.