1989 Milwaukee Brewers season

The Milwaukee Brewers' 1989 season involved the Brewers' finishing 4th in the American League East with a record of 81 wins and 81 losses. The Brewers led MLB with 165 stolen bases.^[1]

1989 Milwaukee Brewers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969) East Division (since 1972)
Location
Milwaukee County Stadium (since 1970) Milwaukee (since 1970)
Other information
Owners	Bud Selig
General managers	Harry Dalton
Managers	Tom Trebelhorn
Local television	WCGV-TV (Jim Paschke, Pete Vuckovich)
Local radio	WTMJ (AM) (Bob Uecker, Pat Hughes)
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Offseason

• October 26, 1988: Steve Stanicek was released by the Brewers.^[2]
• December 20, 1988: Jim Gantner was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[3]
• March 30, 1989: Terry Francona was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[4]
• March 30, 1989: Dave Engel was signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers.^[5]

Regular season

• During the season, Robin Yount had a 19-game hitting streak. Yount finished the season leading the Brewers in RBIs for the third straight season.

Notable transactions

• June 5, 1989: Jason Giambi was drafted by the Brewers in the 43rd round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[6]
• August 2, 1989: Dave Engel was released by the Milwaukee Brewers.^[5]
• August 23, 1989: The Milwaukee Brewers traded a player to be named later to the Atlanta Braves for Ed Romero. The Brewers completed the deal by sending Jay Aldrich to the Braves on September 1.^[7]

Season standings

v t e AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Toronto Blue Jays	89	73	0.549	—	46–35	43–38
Baltimore Orioles	87	75	0.537	2	47–34	40–41
Boston Red Sox	83	79	0.512	6	46–35	37–44
Milwaukee Brewers	81	81	0.500	8	45–36	36–45
New York Yankees	74	87	0.460	14½	41–40	33–47
Cleveland Indians	73	89	0.451	16	41–40	32–49
Detroit Tigers	59	103	0.364	30	38–43	21–60

Record vs. opponents

1989 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	6–7	6–6	6–6	7–6	10–3	6–6	7–6	4–8	8–5	5–7	6–6	9–3	7–6
Boston	7–6	—	4–8	7–5	8–5	11–2	4–8	6–7	6–6	7–6	7–5	5–7	6–6	5–8
California	6–6	8–4	—	8–5	5–7	11–1	4–9	7–5	11–2	6–6	5–8	7–6	6–7	7–5
Chicago	6–6	5–7	5–8	—	7–5	4–8	6–7	10–2	5–8	5–6	5–8	7–6	3–10	1–11
Cleveland	6–7	5–8	7–5	5–7	—	5–8	8–4	3–10	5–7	9–4	2–10	6–6	7–5	5–8
Detroit	3–10	2–11	1–11	8–4	8–5	—	6–6	6–7	5–7	6–7	4–8	4–8	4–8	2–11
Kansas City	6–6	8–4	9–4	7–6	4–8	6–6	—	8–4	7–6	6–6	7–6	9–4	8–5	7–5
Milwaukee	6–7	7–6	5–7	2–10	10–3	7–6	4–8	—	9–3	8–5	5–7	7–5	5–7	6–7
Minnesota	8–4	6–6	2–11	8–5	7–5	7–5	6–7	3–9	—	6–6	6–7	7–6	5–8	9–3
New York	5–8	6–7	6–6	6–5	4–9	7–6	6–6	5–8	6–6	—	3–9	8–4	5–7	7–6
Oakland	7–5	5–7	8–5	8–5	10–2	8–4	6–7	7–5	7–6	9–3	—	9–4	8–5	7–5
Seattle	6–6	7–5	6–7	6–7	6–6	8–4	4–9	5–7	6–7	4–8	4–9	—	6–7	5–7
Texas	3–9	6–6	7–6	10–3	5–7	8–4	5–8	7–5	8–5	7–5	5–8	7–6	—	5–7
Toronto	6–7	8–5	5–7	11–1	8–5	11–2	5–7	7–6	3–9	6–7	5–7	7–5	7–5	—

First SkyDome Game

The Brewers played in the first baseball game at the SkyDome. The game was played on June 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Brewers won by a score of 5-3. Don August was the winning pitcher as he won his 5th game of the season, while Toronto's Jimmy Key lost his 4th game of the season. The attendance at SkyDome was 48,378.

Linescore

June 5, SkyDome, Toronto, Canada

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Milwaukee	1	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	5	9	0
Toronto	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	8	0
W: Don August (5-6)  L: Jimmy Key (6-4)   SV: Dan Plesac (13)
Home Runs: Braggs (10), McGriff (13), Bell (8) Attendance: 48,378 Time: 2:43

^[8]

Roster

Milwaukee Brewers
Roster
Pitchers 33 Jay Aldrich 38 Don August 40 Mike Birkbeck 29 Chris Bosio 48 Bryan Clutterbuck 32 Chuck Crim 39 Tom Filer 36 Tony Fossas 49 Teddy Higuera 41 Mark Knudson 36 Ray Krawczyk 47 Bill Kreuger 27 Paul Mirabella 31 Jaime Navarro 28 Jeff Peterek 37 Dan Plesac 21 Jerry Reuss 43 Randy Veres 46 Bill Wegman		Catchers 22 Charlie O'Brien  5 B. J. Surhoff Infielders 34 Billy Bates  9 Greg Brock 33 George Canale  3 Juan Castillo 25 Dave Engle 30 Terry Francona 17 Jim Gantner 23 Joey Meyer  4 Paul Molitor 14 Gus Polidor 15 Ed Romero 1,11 Gary Sheffield  6 Bill Spiers		Outfielders 26 Glenn Braggs 45 Rob Deer 16 Mike Felder 11 La Vel Freeman 25 Greg Vaughn 19 Robin Yount		Manager 42 Tom Trebelhorn Coaches 31 Duffy Dyer  8 Andy Etchebarren 12 Larry Haney 24 Chuck Hartenstein 35 Tony Muser

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	B. J. Surhoff	126	436	108	.248	5	55
1B	Greg Brock	107	373	99	.265	12	52
2B	Jim Gantner	116	409	112	.274	0	34
3B	Paul Molitor	155	615	194	.315	11	56
SS	Bill Spiers	114	345	88	.255	4	33
LF	Glenn Braggs	144	514	127	.247	15	66
CF	Robin Yount	160	614	195	.318	21	103
RF	Rob Deer	130	466	98	.210	26	65
DH	Joey Meyer	53	147	33	.224	7	29

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Gary Sheffield	95	368	91	.247	5	32
Mike Felder	117	315	76	.241	3	23
Terry Francona	89	233	54	.232	3	23
Gus Polidor	79	175	34	.194	0	14
Charlie O'Brien	40	118	26	.220	2	9
Greg Vaughn	38	113	30	.265	5	23
Dave Engle	27	65	14	.215	2	8
Ed Romero	15	50	10	.200	0	3
George Canale	13	26	5	.192	1	3
Billy Bates	7	14	3	.214	0	0
Juan Castillo	3	4	0	.000	0	3
LaVel Freeman	2	3	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Chris Bosio	33	235.0	15	10	2.95	173
Don August	31	142.1	12	12	5.31	51
Teddy Higuera	22	135.1	9	6	3.46	91
Jaime Navarro	19	109.2	7	8	3.12	56
Tom Filer	13	72.1	7	3	3.61	20
Bryan Clutterbuck	14	67.1	2	5	4.14	29
Bill Wegman	11	51.0	2	6	6.71	27
Mike Birkbeck	9	44.2	0	4	5.44	31
Jerry Reuss	7	33.2	1	4	5.35	13

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mark Knudson	40	123.2	8	5	3.35	47
Bill Krueger	34	93.2	3	2	3.84	72
Jeff Peterek	7	31.1	0	2	4.02	16
Randy Veres	3	8.1	0	1	4.32	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Dan Plesac	52	3	4	33	2.35	52
Chuck Crim	76	9	7	7	2.83	59
Tony Fossas	51	2	2	1	3.54	42
Jay Aldrich	16	1	0	1	3.81	12
Paul Mirabella	13	0	0	0	7.63	6
Ray Krawczyk	1	0	0	0	13.50	6
Terry Francona	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Awards and honors

• Robin Yount – American League Most Valuable Player

All-Star Game

• Dan Plesac, pitcher, reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

The Brewers' farm system consisted of seven minor league affiliates in 1989.^[9][10] The Brewers operated a Dominican Summer League team as a co-op with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.^[10] The AZL Brewers won the Arizona League championship.^[11]

Level	Team	League	Manager
Triple-A	Denver Zephyrs	American Association	Dave Machemer
Double-A	El Paso Diablos	Texas League	Marc Bombard
Class A	Stockton Ports	California League	Dave Huppert
Class A	Beloit Brewers	Midwest League	Alex Taveras
Rookie	Helena Brewers	Pioneer League	Dusty Rhodes
Rookie	AZL Brewers	Arizona League	Jeff Nate
Rookie	DSL Red Sox/Orioles/Brewers	Dominican Summer League	—

References

1. "1989 MLB Team Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
2. Steve Stanicek at Baseball-Reference
3. Jim Gantner at Baseball-Reference
4. Terry Francona at Baseball-Reference
5. "Dave Engle Stats".
6. Jason Giambi at Baseball-Reference
7. Ed Romero at Baseball-Reference
8. Box Score of Game played on Monday, June 5, 1989 at Skydome
9. "1989 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
10. . Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on March 29, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
11. "1989 Arizona League Standings". Stats Crew. Retrieved December 9, 2020.

• 1989 Milwaukee Brewers team at Baseball-Reference
• 1989 Milwaukee Brewers at Baseball Almanac