The Milwaukee Brewers switched from the American League to the National League before the 1998 season. Eleven seasons is a long baseball career, so I figured there couldn't be that many pitchers around this year that were in MLB when the Brewers were an AL team. Of those active pitchers, even fewer had a chance to pitch against the AL Brewers since interleague play was around for only one year of the Brewers' AL tenure.
I starting thinking about this, of course, after learning that Tanyon Sturtze is back in the major leagues. Sturtze started the first game of a doubleheader against the AL Brewers on August 18, 1997, losing to a lineup including Julio Franco, Brian Banks, and Gerald Williams. He later made two appearances against the NL Brewers in 2005, as a member of the Yankees.
Below is the list of pitchers who pitched against the AL Brewers and have appeared in the majors in 2008. I've noted the guys who faced the Crew only in 1997 interleague play:
- Armando Benitez
- Joe Borowski
- Doug Brocail
- Chris Carpenter
- Bartolo Colon
- Alan Embree
- Kelvim Escobar (injured this year)
- Scott Eyre
- Keith Foulke
- Tom Gordon
- Eddie Guardado
- LaTroy Hawkins
- Randy Johnson
- Todd Jones
- Jon Lieber (1997 interleague play)
- Esteban Loaiza (1997 interleague play)
- Derek Lowe
- Ron Mahay
- Kent Mercker
- Brian Moehler
- Jamie Moyer
- Mike Mussina
- Darren Oliver
- Andy Pettitte
- Troy Percival
- Arthur Rhodes
- Mariano Rivera
- Kenny Rogers
- Glendon Rusch
- Curt Schilling
- Jason Schmidt (1997 interleague play - injured this year)
- Rudy Seanez
- Russ Springer
- Tanyon Sturtze (yet to pitch in 2008)
- Jeff Suppan
- Julian Tavarez
- Mike Timlin
- Brett Tomko (1997 interleague play)
- Salomon Torres
- Steve Trachsel (1997 interleague play)
- Billy Wagner (1997 interleague play)
- Tim Wakefield
- Jamie Walker
- Dave Weathers
So, 44 pitchers that got to pitch against the AL Brewers are still around in 2008. That's more than I thought there would be. Not all of these guys are still on 2008 rosters and some of them probably shouldn't have been in the first place, but there they are. There's even some current and ex-Brewers on the list.
Here's some fun trivia for you. Name the four players (two position players, two pitchers) to appear in a 2008 MLB game that played for the Brewers when they were in the American League. Click here for the answer.
