Without question, the greatest Brewers player in my lifetime is Ryan Braun. He broke into the majors in 2007 and was named NL Rookie of the Year. In 2011, when the Brewers won their division for the first time in my life, Braun was NL MVP. He was runner-up in the MVP vote in 2012. Braun took home 5 consecutive Silver Slugger awards from 2008 to 2012.
After the 2011 season, the news broke that Braun had failed a test for performance enhancing drugs. He very publicly questioned how his urine sample was handled, painting the responsible individual in a horrible light. When the suspension was overturned on a technicality before the 2012 season, Braun gave an infamous and very smug press conference. But in 2013, Braun was connected to Biogenesis, which supplied PEDs to MLB players, and he served a 65-game suspension. Ryan Braun is a liar and a cheater.
If Braun played for any other team, I wouldn't be able to stand him. But he's played his entire career in Milwaukee. He's the only Brewer remaining from that beautiful 2011 team that I loved so very much. I almost feel like Braun is my kid. I'm ashamed of the bad things he's done, but he's still one of my guys, and I love him for that. So much of my love of baseball is tied up in the 2011 divison champion Brewers (and the 2008 wild card Brewers), and Braun was such a big part of that. He was my favorite Brewer long before the whole steroid scandal hit. He played the biggest role in leading the Brewers back to respectability for the first time in decades.
Ryan Braun, like any of us, is a deeply flawed person. He's a villain to many baseball fans, and deservedly so. But even if I'm not always comfortable with it, he's still my baseball hero. He's brought so much joy to Milwaukee fans. So here are my 8 favorite memories involving Ryan Braun, #8:
8. Braun drawing a walk before Prince Fielder hit a walk-off home run in the 14th inning against the Rockies in 2011. (I'm sure there are better Braun moments than this one, but I remember it vivdly—I was listening on the radio.)
7. Braun hitting 3 home runs and a triple against the Padres in 2012.
6. Braun winning Saturday's 18-inning game with his sixth(!) hit, a 2-RBI single. (I was watching on TV.)
5. Braun coming in as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning and launching the winning 2-run home run against the Marlins in 2011. (I was watching on TV.)
4. Braun getting three hits and scoring twice in the Brewers first playoff game in 2011. (I was at this game.)
3. Braun hitting an RBI single in the 8th inning of last year's 163rd game, as the Brewers beat the Cubs to clinch the 2018 NL Central title. (I was watching on TV.)
2. Braun hitting the winning home run in the 8th inning of the 2008 regular season finale, the day the Brewers clinched the wild card. (I was watching on TV.)
1. Braun smashing a home run off the scoreboard at Miller Park on the night the Brewers clinched the 2011 NL Central title. (I was at this game.)
Thanks for the memories, Ryan.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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