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Fond du Lac native and UW-Oshkosh alum Jim Gantner is one of the longest tenured and most notable players in the history of Wisconsin-born baseball players. He made his major league debut as a Brewer in 1976 and was still there 17 years later, appearing in 101 games for the Crew in 1992. That all came to an end 20 years ago today, though, as free agency officially ended Gantner's time in Milwaukee.
Gantner was never an offensive powerhouse but his final season was a disappointment even for him, as he hit .246/.278/.313 over 273 plate appearances in 1992. His final hit (a single on September 21) was the 1696th of his major league career. Only Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper had more hits as Brewers. He's also fourth in franchise history with 726 runs scored and 38 triples.
With help from Brewerfan.net, happy birthday today to:
- AZL Brewer Deivi Mejia, who turns 23.
- 2012 Huntsville Star Daniel Meadows, who turns 25.
Today is also the anniversary of both Rollie Fingers and Pete Vuckovich being announced as winners of the 1981 and 1982 American League Cy Young Awards, respectively. We covered those events in this space last year.