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Top 50 Milwaukee Brewers

The city of Milwaukee had a baseball team from 1953 to 1965 when the Braves played there.  Wisconsin did not have to wait a long time to receive another team as the expansion Seattle Pilots moved there after one year of existence in 1970. 

Now named the Milwaukee Brewers, the “Blue Brew Crew” did not have a lot of success in the 1970s but would go to the World Series in 1982 with Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, though they would go down to defeat in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. 

They haven’t been to the World Series since.

Since that time, the Brewers have moved leagues from the American to the National but have yet to win the Pennant in their new league. 

This list is up to the end of the 2023 Season.

Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.  
Richie Sexson was only with the Milwaukee Brewers for three and a half seasons but this was where he had his greatest offensive output.  Sexson had two 45 Home Run seasons as a Brewer and put together three straight seasons accumulating over 100 Runs Batted In.  He would also have a Slugging Percentage over .500 every year in Milwaukee.As a Brewer, Sexson would go deep 133 times with a .536 Slugging Percentage.
The best offense of John Briggs’ career occurred in the four seasons and change he played with the Milwaukee Brewers.  He would have two seasons where he would hammer 20 Home Runs, and his lowest production in that metric (for a full season anyway) was 17.  He would finish his run with the Brewers with 492 Hits and 80 Home Runs.
An All-Star in 1978, Lary Sorenen would go 18 and 12 and finish 2nd in BB/9.  Sorensen was a very good control pitcher who would have two more seasons with 12 Wins or more and two more top ten finishes in BB/9.  Overall, he gave Milwaukee three good seasons as a Starting Pitcher, which was the first team he played for.  Sorensen had a Brewers record of 52-46.
The first Pitcher to ever win 20 Games for the Brewers, Jim Colborn easily had his best year in Major League Baseball when he accomplished that feat.  That year Colborn was named to the All Star Team and finished 6th in Cy Young Voting.  He would have four other seasons with Milwaukee, but did not approach his accomplishments from 1973.
The story of Dave Nilsson cannot be told without specifying that he left MLB to represent Australia in the 2000 Olympics.  This was right after Nilsson was named to his first (and only) All-Star Game. 
While Pete Vuckovich would win the Cy Young Award in 1982 and finish fourth in voting the year before that, he probably shouldn’t have.  Vuckovich won on the strength of am 18-6 record but had a WHIP over 1.5 and did not finish in the top ten in bWAR for Pitchers.  Actually, he really wasn’t close.
Darrell Porter is far more known for his work with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, but he would get his start in Milwaukee.  As a Brewer he would finish third in Rookie of the Year voting in 1973 and would make the All-Star Game in 1974.
Arguably, Darryl Hamilton would have better seasons outside of Milwaukee, but the first half of his career was with the Brewers where he did offer some valuable contributions.  Hamilton would bat over .310 in two of Brewers campaigns and would also have a 41 Stolen Base season.  Overall, Hamilton 637 Hits with a .290 Batting Average as a Milwaukee Brewer.

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Although Jose Valentin showed better seasons with the Chicago White Sox later in his career, he did produce good power numbers for the Brewers.  He would exceed 15 Home Runs three times as a Brewer and collected 577 Hits for the team.
Ken Sanders has to be considered the first real reliever in franchise history and was one of the few bright spots for the team in the early 1970’s.  Sanders would lead the American League in Saves in 1971 with 31, a very high number for those days.  He would also lead in Games Played and Games Finished that year.  He would actually finish 16th in MVP voting.
A Milwaukee Brewer for the first five years of his Major League career, J.J. Hardy represented Milwaukee in the All Star Game in 2007.  That season, and in the 2008 campaign, Hardy would have over 160 Hits with 20 Home Runs and always provided good defensive skills.
A Starting Pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers from the mid 70’s to the decade’s end, Bill Travers would have four seasons where he would have 12 Wins or more.  In his All-Star Season (1976) he would finish 8th in ERA and 9th in bWAR for Pitchers.  Travers had a 65-67 record with a 3.99 ERA.