Pat Murphy: Why This Team is Special, Clubhouse Pranks & What a World Series Would Mean to the Brewers & Milwaukee

SPEAKER_02
0:00

Last year you get swept by the Dodgers.

SPEAKER_00
0:02

We had an emotional series against the Cubs. This year we had just this memory in our mind, like, hey, we're gonna believe and we're gonna do this. And sure enough, they did it.

SPEAKER_02
0:14

What is the best prank that you have played or seen in the Brewers Clubhouse?

SPEAKER_00
0:21

Oh god. Please just always understand the context. There's no ill intent. So we had this intern. His last name was Schart. Do you like the Brewer's hype song? I listen to him like you gotta be kidding me, right?

SPEAKER_02
0:37

How much pressure do you feel going into this week?

SPEAKER_00
0:41

It's not about me. I want it to happen for the people of Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02
0:46

In this 2026 Brewer Squad.

SPEAKER_00
0:48

Yeah, the best is yet to come.

SPEAKER_02
0:50

Hey everyone, thank you for tuning into Milwaukee Uncut. We've got the manager of your World Series Brewers, Pat Murphy, on the show today, and it's a great one. He pulls back the curtain and gives you an inside look to the Brewers this season. And we look ahead to the World Series. He also answers some questions like the best prank he's been a part of in the Brewers Clubhouse, his favorite spots around Milwaukee. What he thinks of the viral Brewers hype song and what a World Series would mean to him in the city. Before diving in, I want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncle possible. We'll kick it off with Nikola, the Midwest Law from Injured. Get Nikola and Russ, and the team will take great care of you. They've got an office right here in the third ward and all across the Midwest. That is Nikola. Annex, know the difference. Three Sheeps brewing their chaos pattern IPA, my personal favorite, is on absolute fire right now. And whether you are relaxing with one watching the game or having about 10 in the MFM parking lot, like our good friend Nate Moody, three sheeps, the beer Wisconsin drinks. And last but not least, drink Wisconsinably beverage company best vodka brandy and canned cocktails in the game. Enjoyed a drink Wisconsin Blue Canned Old Fashion this past weekend. Available at bars and liquor stores across the state. And if you're at the games this weekend, available at the corner bar in Rightfield, the damn fame, they'll be serving up old fashions on Friday and Saturday. Go Brewers and let's dive in with Pat Murphy. We've got the man who has led Milwaukee to its first World Series in 44 years. The first brewer to win NL manager of the year he's done in the last two seasons. Um likely three, but we won't get too far ahead of ourselves. He brought the pocket pancake, mainstream, was the proud owner of a pet turtle for a bit earlier this year. Quick stint on that. Proud father of four.

unknown
3:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_02
3:12

And legendary coach at Notre Dame and ASU and once led the Netherlands national team to a historic win over Cuba in the 2000 Olympics. We'll talk rumors today. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00
3:27

If you're trying to establish I'm old, you you've done it.

SPEAKER_02
3:30

You got better hair than me. You're looking good. You're looking good. Congrats on the on the run that you guys are on. It's it's remarkable.

SPEAKER_00
3:38

Thank you, man. We got special dudes, man. They're special guys. And um I'm just really grateful that they come to play every day. And um yeah, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

SPEAKER_02
3:49

You've had a lot of good runs since you came to Milwaukee. Was there a um is there a specific moment that you can point to with this group where you're like, son something's different? This is the team that could break through and make it to the World Series.

SPEAKER_00
4:06

There's a couple different moments that that make sense, but um it seemed like whenever our backs were against the wall, and I think back we got swept in San Diego um uh three games and we were really banged up. Uh a lot of guys injured. Pratt was out, Tarang was out, um Bowers was out. Um, and then we went to LA right after the sweep and we had to face the Dodgers, and we won three out of four. And I just said to myself, God, this group might they they kind of in that good mode right now where, hey, let's just play ball one-on-one, me and you. And um, when that happened, that was one of the moments, you know, the the Lara walk-off with the comeback against the Cubs was a was kind of a telling moment that we've got something special. But there's been a lot of little moments, but I never felt ever that like, oh, this is the greatest team. We are the best team in baseball. I've always felt like uh, not sure about this group, but they're consistent. They just they do show up every game.

SPEAKER_02
5:12

Were there any main learning lessons from last year? Last year you get swept by the Dodgers. This year you you sweep the Dodgers. Were there any takeaways that you think benefited the squad this year?

SPEAKER_00
5:23

Yeah, I mean, people people talk like that. Like we had an emotional series against the Cubs. We win the division. We have the most wins in baseball last year. Um, we we win the division, then we got to play the Cubs who know us very well, and we have an emotional five-game series. We win the three here, they win the two down there, and it's really close. And then we got one day off, and we got to play the Dodgers. And the Dodgers were playing unbelievable. They were the at the time they were the best team ever assembled, and they were playing great, and their starting pitching was great. We lose the first game by a run, and if that doesn't happen, it might have been a different series. But they and then O'Tani has the game of his life, hitting three home runs and pitching six shutout, whatever, striking out ten. Like that doesn't happen normally. So it's not like we got swept like they crushed us. I mean, they played way better. We didn't put our best foot forward, but we faced a great team. And when you faced a hot team like that, sometimes there's nothing you can do. The playoffs can be a crapshoot. This year we followed up with the best record in baseball again, beat the Padres in a really tough series, but then we went into LA and said, we ain't gonna let that happen again. We're ready. And they that was a difference.

SPEAKER_02
6:42

I think I think Bowers was quoted saying when you lost to the Dodgers last year, they kind of acted like it was a it was a handshake line in spring training. And when you beat the Cubs, it was a big celebration. And from a fan standpoint, I mean it always feels good to good to beat Chicago. We were celebrating like we won the Super Bowl, even though there was a couple round rounds, rounds left to go. Was there some truth to truth to that?

SPEAKER_00
7:05

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think we we uh it was such an emotional series, and we wanted so badly to do well in the postseason. Um and and we're doing it with guys that that aren't haven't been to a lot of postseasons and haven't uh some of them hadn't played in Major League Baseball ever, you know. So it was their first go-round with playoff baseball. Um but this year we had just this memory in our mind like, hey, we're gonna believe and we're gonna do this. And sure enough, they did it.

SPEAKER_02
7:35

Speaking of uh one guy who's been to a number of postseasons, Christian Yelits, you named him first captain ever in in Brewer's history in late September. He's only, I believe, one of three active captains in the MLB right now. Why why make that decision at that point in time and well as well? And what was that conversation?

SPEAKER_00
7:55

I think Yeah, I mean, that was um something that's been on my mind for a while, but um you know, everyone knows him as our leader. He had been around the most. And then the unique thing is the way he leads would never draw attention to himself. And the way he, you know, um advises people, he doesn't force himself on anybody, he doesn't use power, you know, he's just well respected. And it's funny, a guy in the locker room that doesn't even he isn't part of the staff, the coaching staff, he isn't part of the uh he's part of the clubhouse staff, suggest it. So if I listen to all your interviews, I listen to the players respond, he is the leader. Did you ever think about naming him captain? And it just hit me in the right way. And I actually called the general manager and said, Hey Matt, this is an idea. What do you think? He said, I'll meet you on it. And then I call the owner. I said, Hey, you got any problem with this? He said, No, I think it's a great idea. And they asked me my reasons and all that kind of stuff. And again, it's like I thought it was a positive thing to officially name him. And I think he takes on responsibility very, very well. And he wears his performance. He he feels indebted to this community. He's not a r a guy getting paid a lot of money thinking, hey, I deserve this. He's a guy that's saying, I am thankful, I'm grateful, and he he cares about the brewer so much. When he doesn't perform the way he wants to, and baseball's a hard game to do it in, he takes it really serious. So um I called him in the next day and I say, Hey Christian, I gotta tell you something. Um this is what I want to do, but I want you, I want to know what you think about it. And he was he was choked up. I mean, it it was emotional. He said, This is the biggest honor I've ever had. And it to me, when I saw that response, I knew it was I knew it was right. And I said, Hey man, that means wearing that C on the jersey. He said, you know, it's a huge honor. Um he said, but I think we should ask Robin Yao being the the really the captain of the brewers from how many years? And I called Robin and Robin said, Absolutely, man, it's if you believe it's good for the club, it's uh I'm on board and it's just clicked.

SPEAKER_02
10:19

How rare is it to have a superstar vet like Yelich with as low of an ego as he has?

SPEAKER_00
10:28

I mean, I again uh I've been with Yeli now 11 years, uh 10 year, 10 seasons, maybe nine seasons. Been with Yeli nine seasons, and um yeah, even when he was the best player on the on the planet, he was still uh very, very humble, uh, the same person he's always been. And that make that mean that makes it fun, you know?

SPEAKER_02
10:49

There's uh there's a lot of really good storylines to this group, whether it whether it's Bowers kind of coming back, you know, almost breaking out at a young or at an older age, Yelich being captain. Is there a single storyline on this team that stands out to you, whether it's one that we are aware of or maybe one that the fans aren't really aware of?

SPEAKER_00
11:10

Well, the thing about the team that stands out, I think, the most is like we were never on a long winning streak, and we've never been on a long losing streak. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know, our longest losing streak is like four games or something like that.

SPEAKER_02
11:23

And uh your longest winning streak is right now, too. Six or so, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00
11:28

So it's like the team has just stayed pretty steady all year. And um, they don't get down for very long. You know, they hold held uh hold themselves to high standards. It's really a unique group, man. We got some great we do have some great stories. If you know the story of William Cotreris, I mean our pit bull, it's um he's been on a roll. He's beautiful, man. He's beautiful. You gotta keep him in a cage, you let him out, you know. You might scratch or nip at a few children, and then you gotta deal with the damage and then put them back in the cage. But while he's out, he does a lot of good. He does a lot of good. And uh he's a unique because a lot of what Williams does, it's it's the part of baseball that can't be measured, except if you're in the game, you know it. And if you're against him, you know it. Um so he's a great story. Jack Jack. Jack Jack is just um for 22, you just never know it. You want to talk about a cool customer, um Bryce Tarang, what he's done, Mitchell being hurt for four years. Um for four seasons. He's been out most of those four seasons, and he's played more games this year than he played in all four of the seasons. And he's doing well.

SPEAKER_02
12:50

Like seeing him hit that homer in game four.

SPEAKER_00
12:53

Yeah, he's been good for us, man. He's had a good good postseason. Um yeah, it's been fun. It's been fun watching these guys, you know, come into their own, believe in themselves. You talked about Bowers, you know, to see these guys really believe, you know. I mean, like I'm you know, and to go against all the big boys. I mean, we went against you know, San Diego and LA and uh took them down. So that's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02
13:17

Um you were around you for I believe eight years in this organization. What's what's one favorite you story?

SPEAKER_00
13:26

Oh, I got a lot of them, man, but um I got a lot of them. I mean, he's um he's the the thing about you, you know, instead of instead of one story, let me just describe every day with you, he'd come in the clubhouse, howdy boys, he'd come in there, and you just knew this is his home. You know, 90 years old, walking in that clubhouse, you'd think he was 50. Knew all every player, and if there was a new player, he'd be lying over to him. Hey, put her in the vice, son, you know, and he'd stick his hand out and shake his hand.

SPEAKER_01
14:03

I knew your dad when your dad played at so-and-so, and I knew your cousin, and you're like, holy sh.

SPEAKER_00
14:09

I mean, it was amazing the way this guy, I'm just related to people, and you could just tell he was in his element. He wasn't, there was no cameras or nothing. He just wanted to be there. And then I'd get the lucky uh uh opportunity to sit with him for like an hour every day. We'd do our radio show three or four minutes and we'd just sit there. And the media'd be the the the media uh our media guy would be knocking on my door saying, Hey, you guys done, you guys done, and we'd be like, ah, shut the door, you know. And he'd sit there and talk. And then he would we got to the point where he we'd get into everything, everything but baseball. You know what I mean? We'd we'd get into everything. And um, yeah, I feel blessed that I had that time with him and the guy's done so much, but he loves Milwaukee, he loves the brewers. You know what I mean? He had many opportunities to make his life elsewhere a lot more lucrative. And the give back that he gave, you know, to different organizations. And there I mean, the guy was incredible. And what he endured, like you think of the surgeries he's had, open heart surgery on two occasions, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer, and I mean the guy diabetic. I mean, the guy did so much, you know. Yeah, and he was in pain at the end, and you knew it. Um but he didn't want anybody to know. You know, you'd never know it in that locker room. You'd never know. And then you know, I get the chance to sit with him and I could tell he was in pain, I could tell he was tired. But uh yeah. He was thoughtful, you know. He cared about other people and never thought of himself as better than any common man, you know what I mean? He just I really respected that, you know. Yeah, special, special dude, man.

SPEAKER_02
15:58

Mm-hmm. Um, you talk about him loving Milwaukee. You came here about 10 years ago. Were you excited to come to Milwaukee? And what were your first impressions of the city? And did did anything surprise you?

SPEAKER_00
16:10

Yeah, it's interesting. You know, I I uh have a little history, like a small amount of history with with Milwaukee. So in 87 or 88, um, my athletic director at Notre Dame told me, hey, John Counsel used to coach at Notre Dame. His son uh is gonna work out in Milwaukee County Stadium with Sal Bandeau Jr. Um why don't you take a you know uh why don't you go take a look at him? Uh they're gonna they're gonna um work out pregame of a major league game. And um, you know, he's a kid. I think he can eat in school, blah, blah, blah, blah. So sure. My athletic director tells me to do that. It's one of my first days on the job. I drive up whatever number of hours and see uh get to uh County Stadium and uh Sal Bando's the general manager at the time, and I get to sit with him and uh I mean, just an incredible man, you know. But for a 28-year-old college coach, I'm intimidated. I'm sitting with a Hall of Famer. I remember when he played third base for for for Oakland and sitting there, and now his son and another skinny little kid named Craig Council is gonna work out in the field. So sure enough, we have a little dinner or whatever, and um I watch these kids work out in the field and like yeah, you know, and uh I'd love to recruit these guys. So I meet I meet uh all the parents and talk to them like, yeah, I'll be in touch. And that's how we got Craig Counsel to come to Notre Dame. So I had this little that was my first time in Milwaukee. Fast forward probably 20 years, and I became friendly with a guy named Rick Majoris. So Majaris was a basketball coach. Yeah, it was at Marquette, Marquette, and him and I through through college sports, uh, there was a certain contact, a guy named McBride, who was his head football coach at Utah when he was coaching in Utah. His uh McBride's son worked at ASU, got us together about some job openings with with uh college basketball that Rick might be interested in, and we just hit it off. So then Rick, fast forward a couple months, he says, Hey, come to Milwaukee. There's a 1957, this must have been 07, there's a 50-year reunion of the of the 57 team, the Milwaukee Braves. Come to this thing, please. Well, Counts was playing for the, you know, fast forward, Counts comes to play for me at Notre Dame, and then, you know, he goes to the big leagues and now he's gonna play for the Brewers or whatever. And um Rick says, Come on, you can see Counts and go to this thing. You can meet Hank Aaron someday, maybe. And because Majaris loved Hank Aaron, sure enough, I I uh I come up for it. I was on the end of a trip and I happened to be in Chicago speaking at something. And uh I was the head coach at ASU at the time. And uh I come up here to Milwaukee, stay in some hotel downtown, I don't know which one, and meet Majoris, meet Counts and uh the manager of the Pirates at the time was Jim Tracy. We met after the game, sat outside the fister till like 4 30 in the morning and had the greatest time. You know what I mean? And I'm like, God, this is a great place. Weather was perfect, didn't know anything about it. And then you know, Counts gets the job with the brewers, he calls me up and says, Hey man, come and be my bench coach. So the rest is history.

SPEAKER_02
19:28

Just came full circle. And you still you have a very close relationship with them to the other day, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00
19:34

I mean, we're like family.

SPEAKER_02
19:35

You guys talk a lot still.

SPEAKER_00
19:37

Uh, you know, it's fun. Yeah, you you can't there's not much to talk about. Um I mean, when Counts and I when he was going through his pro career and and even you know, uh when we worked together, I mean we were together, talked every day, you know, and then we'd have these long baseball conversations. I know his family, I'm very close to his family. And um yeah, but now since he he's there and and and and I have this same position here, yeah, it's just tougher to have uh conversations except about the family or things that are going on or joking with each other. I just text her, we texted each other the other day, um and we just laughing with each other, telling you know, telling each other funny things. But um yeah, we're we are we're like family.

SPEAKER_02
20:24

What is the best prank that you have played or seen in the Brewer's Clubhouse?

SPEAKER_00
20:30

Oh god. There's so many. Can you give us one? That's part of it's part of life. Uh so you please just always understand the context. There's no ill intent of the case. Of course not. Of course not. Oh, let's see which one I'll give you. So we had this intern. His last name was Schartz.

SPEAKER_02
20:56

Oh, that's rough for him.

SPEAKER_00
20:57

Yeah. Yeah. Last name was Schartz. And he was he was a great young man, still is, I'm sure. Um Schartz. Um let's just say he doesn't have a lot of baseball experience, but he was a he was an intern in the strength, strength and conditioning. And uh he wanted to impress everybody any way he could. So we're about to go on a road trip and he's gonna go. And I'm like, Scharty, um Miley's pitching tomorrow, and if he doesn't have that box of sliders, I think we left him in the bullpen. I'm not sure. You go out there and get them. He goes, Okay, okay. So he's sprinting to the to the to the bullpen to find the box of sliders. And um hamburger sliders or sliders like the breaking ball, the chair, fastball sliders is box of sliders, which I hope I don't have to play this on you too, but there is no such thing as a box of sliders. That's why you manipulate the baseball that way. So, anyways, he's like he comes running back. I can't find them. I said, Well, here's the thing. You first have to get the key to the batter's box. Once you get the key to the batter's box, that'll open that up, and then you can get the box of sliders or the box of curveballs. And Miley happened to be sitting there. He goes, Yeah, I'll take the curveballs too. But I need them for tomorrow. If I'm going to pitch tomorrow, I need them. I mean, you want Miley to pitch without a curveball? So sure as hell he uh he is frantic going all around. Can't find the key to the batter's box. Where is it? I think it's in the dugout somewhere on the top shelf. Just check up there if there's a key. And he's running. We're all getting ready to leave on the flight. And he's trying to get dressed. He's frantic. So then I tell him, look, if you text the general manager, David Stearns at the time, you text David Stearns and ask him where the key to the batter's box is so you can get the box of sliders. I said, and it's a good way of showing, identify who you are, tell him you're an intern and say, This is, you know, this is I'm I've been instructed to do this. So he goes and he does it. Stearns picks up on it, of course, and says, Here's the here's the owner's number. I think only the owner would be able to tell you where it is. And this kept going. He texts the owner, the owner, Mark, Mark's in on it, and he's like, ask him a few questions, thanks him for introducing himself, realizes what's going on, and he says, I really think in order to get him, you're gonna have to call a commissioner of baseball. He gives him the commissioner's name and email and all this general email. And um finally his boss, the Sharts guy's boss, um Jason Meredith, had to tell him, like, okay, bro, you've been punked. He was so embarrassed. I mean, but we've had a lot of good ones, man. We've we've it's it's a constant, it's it's nonstop. We had Sal where you know, Sal does crosswords every day. And I told Sal, like, hey man, you're wasting your time doing those crosswords every day. You should be working on graduate applications. You know, I said, You're not gonna be in the league very long, you're not very good. So he'd always shake his head, whatever. I said, go to some school up in he's from Boston, you know, go to some school up there, Brandeis University. I heard they got a business school. So I let it sit. Like a month and a half later, I get the dean of stud dean of the business school at Brandeis to write him a formal letter saying, We're really interested in you, we hear great things, and blah, blah, blah. There's a few little things in there. When is this? What's that? When is this? Right during the season. Yeah, a few years ago. Uh last year. Oh, now okay. And um, so he gets a letter in the mail. Now, fast forward, I had said this to him months ago. He gets a letter in the mail from Brandeis to his parents' house. And the parents read it to him like, hey, this is a great opportunity and all this kind of stuff. And he's like, This doesn't feel right. And he goes, I can't believe it. So he comes, he brings the letter, his parents sent it to him, he brings it, he slams it on my desk. He said, Is this you? I'm like, No. He goes, You're not gonna believe this. I did get a letter from Brandeis Business School saying they they think I'd be a good candidate. I'm like, so we do that kind of stuff. It becomes you're good.

SPEAKER_02
25:21

I'm guessing you're good at keeping the straight face, too. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. That's that's a prerequisite. Yeah. Um, we'll get into some more Milwaukee questions as well. Uh do you have any favorite restaurants or spots around the city? Where do you where do you enjoy going? I do. We can extend it if we need to go down near a scene, we could do that too. But um spots in the area.

SPEAKER_00
25:41

Well, I mean, uh I've been to two unbelievable dinners at a place called Dorsey. That's a good spot. Yeah. Um Brady Street. Yeah. But I'm not uh see, you gotta remember we play at night, usually, right? So I don't get to go out that very often here, you know. And uh there's a couple other little hole-in-the-wall spots that I've found that I really like, but um I know there's great restaurants here, and I any any good breakfast spots or whole hole-in-the-wall spots you want to give a shout out to? Yeah, I I'd say the Mad Rooster Cafe is a pretty darn good place for breakfast. Service was incredible. Um yeah, it was a good place.

SPEAKER_02
26:21

Um, other other than pancakes, do you have any favorite snack items? Are you are you a grazer like where if I get I get pissed if Bree Bit brings home a bag of chips because I just eat the whole thing if it's in front of me?

SPEAKER_00
26:34

Yeah, I do too. Yeah, that's pretty much me. I I like whatever's there I eat. Okay. And um, yeah. I have like this one bar I have every morning. It's called a perfect bar. Peanut butter perfect bar. You gotta keep them in the fridge. Some people don't like them, they think it's a little dry. I love them. I have one every single morning. It can't be healthy. If you like it that much, it can't be healthy.

SPEAKER_02
27:02

It's helped it's helped you get the team to the World Series. It's gotta be healthy. Let's just in that in that way. Let's call it healthy. Um do you like the Brewer's hype song?

unknown
27:14

You know.

SPEAKER_00
27:17

Yes, I like it. You do. I'm just gonna say I like it because I'm not gonna cause problems.

SPEAKER_02
27:23

I thought it was very annoying, and then and then a few days later I found myself like is almost singing it in my car, and it was like in my head, and then I was like, He got me.

SPEAKER_00
27:31

All right, so I don't follow the media, okay, so I have no idea what's being said or what's going on. So I didn't even know about it. And then somebody brought it to my attention and said, Hey, they you know, they got this song going, or whatever. I said, Hey, let me hear it. So somebody pulled it up on their phone, started listening. I'm like, You gotta be kidding me, right? Like, you know, they said that you know it's kind of this rap song, whatever. And I'm like, all right, let me hear it. Well, I'm expecting Biggie or Tupac or something, you know what I mean? And no offense, this guy seems great, but um well different than Biggie or Tupac. So I was like, oh, great, you know, but then I keep seeing how people are listening to it and talking about it, so I can see its value.

SPEAKER_02
28:16

You've one piece of advice to younger athletes. You got you got two kids that play baseball.

SPEAKER_00
28:23

Yeah. Yeah, I think you it depends how old, you know what I mean? You know, you can say, Oh, make sure you have fun and all that kind of stuff. I think you you let them know like if you're gonna if you love this, you're gonna have to deal with uncomfortable. It's okay to get uncomfortable. It's okay to fail. It's okay to miss a ball. It's okay, it's all about responding. You know, how quickly can you get punched in the face and bounce back? That's what it's about. If you really love this thing, you will love the failures, even though that's hard to stomach, it's uncomfortable, but then you start being way more comfortable with uncomfortable. And if you continue to do that, I think you can um you can start to really build a little edge in the game, a resiliency, it uh and understand that I create the attitude, I create the fun because of the way I approach it. I forgot the last pitch, I don't know what happened. I I'm worried about this pitch. And I think if you can get them understanding that, especially in our game, you know, that response as quickly as I can respond, the better, the better.

SPEAKER_02
29:30

And how what what would a World Series mean to to you personally and how much uh pressure do you feel going into this week?

SPEAKER_00
29:39

Yeah, you know, it's funny. So so first thing I do every single morning, first thing I do, my kids are with me, you know, and but the first thing I do is I go to my little desk out there and my little table in my house. The kids are still sleeping. I'm up way earlier than them. And um first thing I do is I open up my book and I have a thing called nine ball. I make my own little mantras, nine ball mantras, right? First thing it says on every list I make is it's not about me. So when I think of the World Series, I don't think of me. You know, I think of I'm just grateful to be part of it, but I think of the guys, you know what I mean? That's my responsibility. And so it becomes about them. So what would it mean to me? I'm already I'm already filled up, man. I don't need anything more. You know, if they if they take me, if it's my time's done, my time's done, uh, my my plate's full. It's not about achievement, it's not about that's just not what floats my boat. My floats my boat is impacting people and and and meeting people, you know, meeting people that are just like super special and and um, you know, I uh this life I live now, manager of the brewers, I get to go all these places and I see all these people I haven't seen since my childhood, or some other coaching job, or one of my former players, or you know, teammates or whatever, and it's like a living funeral, but it's beautiful. You know what I mean? I get to do that. Like how many people don't ever get to rekindle relationships or see people again? It happens every day in my life, and uh so I have nothing more uh meaning to me. I think I want it to happen and I wanted it to happen for the people of Milwaukee. You know, really, truly. I mean, you just see the passion, you see how much it means to them, you see their reaction. It wasn't like, yeah, we better win this year, we got this, and you know, we deserve this. It was just no, please, somehow, and what better way to do it than taking on the Dodgers, the greatest team ever assembled by far, and hit him right between the eyes with it and beat him with good old-fashioned uh Milwaukee Brewers baseball. Um, to me, that's what makes it special for our people of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. To me, that's that's the greatest achievement.

SPEAKER_02
32:01

Can can you touch on the fan base here and the uniqueness of it? I mean, just even looking at these ticket prices to get in almost signals like ticket prices? I think 2400 to get in the door right now. 2400? I think so. Last time I checked. Okay, excuse me, 2600 standing room only for game one. Which if you compare it, I think the bucks during their title run was 800 to get in, and the city went crazy, and Amphim has two and a half times the seats as Pfizer, which is wild though.

SPEAKER_00
32:37

The baseball community, and and you was a huge part of this, you know, like it connects with the past easily. You know, it's a game of history, you know, it's very, very historic game. This the way our game is, you know, monitored and kept and the statistics and the stuff that is, believe it or not, it's not as pertinent as you think, but people know this kind of stuff, you know? And there's there's uh you know, just a way of tracking it so much easier. And our sport is played throughout six months every single night. I I just think that uh you know the fan base just relates to that and the voices uh like Bob Euchre. And um, yeah, I think it it just means so much to those people. And when when they're in the stadium, we had 26, 27 sellouts this year. When they're in the stadium and it's rocking, it's like they're part of their community, they're proud of their community. They're not they're not mad at their team because they didn't win, they're not mad at their team or complain about their team because they didn't reach a certain pinnacle. They're just supportive. You know, they're the true support, they're true fans, you know, and I I think it's gonna remain that way regardless. You know, they they understand what goes on. I hope they understand how rare this is for a team with again, we got under a hundred million dollars on the field, and to to slay the dragons we've slayed, and and to to be a team that has achieved the last two years the best record in baseball. Like that's special. They're watching the special brand of winning baseball. Um four division titles in a row. It's never happened in the central. You know, you you think about those things and you're like, wow, I'm part of something really special. And the fan base is a big part of it because the guys just love playing in front of these fans. They just they love it.

SPEAKER_02
34:36

Speaking of final question, what what do you want people to remember in this city when they look back on this 2026 Brewer Squad and 10, 20 years down the road?

SPEAKER_00
34:47

Yeah, I think it marks, I think it represents. That's the biggest thing I think about is like it it's congruent. You know, it it represents what Milwaukee, what Wisconsin is as a community, as a state, it represents it well. You know what I mean? It's like straight up, no frills, here we are, take it or leave it, and there's something really, really special about us. And the stories that they can remember, the Churio walk-off. Um, if that picture isn't up in 10,000 households of Sal diving into the plate, Contreras on the ground, Yelich on the ground, who else was there? Tarang on the ground, signaling them down. If that picture isn't famous in Milwaukee, I'll I'll be shocked because it's one of the greatest moments in brewer history. It really is. And um, yeah, it wasn't the game that got us to the World Series, but it's the indication of how special 2026 is. And um yeah, the best is yet to come.

SPEAKER_02
35:56

Well, then thank you so much for coming down here and all you've done for the team and the community. It was great having you. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_00
36:04

Good luck this week. Thank you, man. I really appreciate that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02
36:08

Thank you so much to Pat for coming on the show. Go Brewers, and before signing off, just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee on Cup possible. NX Wealth Management, Nicola, Three Sheeps, and Drink Wisconsin Bleed Beverage Company.