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On this day in 1970 the Brewers signed amateur free agent Sixto Lezcano, a kid from Puerto Rico who was still a couple of months away from his 17th birthday. It turned out to be a pretty good investment.
Lezcano eventually made his Brewer debut as a 20-year-old in 1974 and played his first seven major league seasons in Milwaukee, hitting .275/.354/.452 with 102 home runs. He had one of the best offensive seasons in Brewer franchise history in 1979 when he hit .321/.414/.573 and received votes for NL MVP.
Following the 1980 season the Brewers traded Lezcano to the Cardinals in seven-player a deal that brought Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich to Milwaukee and laid the groundwork for the first two postseason runs in franchise history.
Today is also the 23rd anniversary of Robin Yount hitting career home run #208 in 1989 and tying Gorman Thomas for first place on the Brewer all-time list. We covered that event in this space last year.