A Love Letter to T-Plush

Dear Tony Plush, 

Now that the legendary postgame interview-filled, alter ego-robust, celebratory champagne-included, and national television F Bomb-dropping love saga that existed between yourself and the Milwaukee Brewers came to an end Thursday, it is the proper time to “SHOW YA BOY PLUSH SOME LOVE”.

You–along with your suitcase of alter egos–showed up in that Maryvale clubhouse a man disliked by many a fan, player, and coach around baseball. After these two years in Milwaukee, you are a man disliked by even more fans, players, and coaches in the baseball community; better yet, the Cardinals grew to despise every part of you. But not by a single Brewers fan.

You’ll be missed, Plush. (Image: Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE)

In retrospect, you can’t put a slash line or a cash return to the Washington Nationals on all the T’s chucked up while “Gotta Be Startin’ Something” played at Miller Park, Beast Mode, the memorable postgame interviews, or wall-crashing catches in center. Nothing that Cutter Dykstra, whom Milwaukee gave up, along with cash considerations, to acquire all eight of you, ever does in his baseball career could ever make the baseball community of Milwaukee regret the trade Doug Melvin executed just before the 2011 season.

You gave myself and any Brewers fan born after 1982 the best baseball moment of our lives, then completely made it even exponentially more awesome with the least-surprising F-Bomb in MLB history.

If we had known that “What’s up f——!” were your first introductory words to the Brewers clubhouse, it wouldn’t have taken us so long to get hype over anything and everything Nyjer Morgan-related. Instead, it took a sac bunt, diving catch, and leadoff triple and ensuing collision at the plate to break a 0-4 start to the 2011 season on April 5 to do so. We, as a whole, apologize for being tardy to the party.

Then there were the alter egos. Sure, T. Plush was lived out on the field and on the

Party like it’s 2011!

backs of many fans’ player tee shirts, but that wasn’t the only side to Plush that we got to embrace. Tony Tombstone showed up on a Wild West-themed team plane ride that (who else?) you organized and in Houston; Tony Hush stayed silent on his otherwise-sporadic and Caps Lock-obsessed Twitter account during the majority of the 2011 stretch run and postseason; Tony Crush made seven tater trots around the bases after showing off his brute strength and blasting absolute bombs (Haudricourt, anyone?) and tape measure shots with the Brewers. My 12-year-old brother refers to the basics of the game as “Plushdamentals” and, because of you, actually took time out last winter to practice sliding head first.

Even during a 2012 season that saw your playing time diminish and, consequentially, those alter egos subside, you were still the loudest voice and the star cheerleader in the Brewers dugout. You even dropped Beast Mode on us unsuspectingly a couple times this last season after big hits and scoring clutch runs.

Essentially, you, for these two years, were Cream City’s version of Brian Wilson. Except a lot more awesome. Like, a lot. And less weird. And completely genuine.

There’s always the below tweet to show that genuine dislike for the St. Louis Cardinals that you shared with all of Milwaukee. I’d post more tweets, but there’s only so much @TheRealTPlush one post can handle.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/TheRealTPlush/status/111639582453411840″]

Nyjer, we hope to see you “on the flip side”, as you referenced in your first tweet after the season ended, acknowledging what we all predicted: that 2012 was the last we’d see of Nyjer and T. Plush as a Brewer. And when that time comes, hopefully soon, when you step up to bat at Miller Park, expect the loudest–and first–standing “T”-vation in the history of baseball.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch this on repeat until the first World Series comes to Milwaukee since 1957.

Until then…

“AHHHH GOTTA GO!”