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For a while it looked like the home stretch of the Brewers' 2008 playoff campaign may also have been the final lap of Ben Sheets' major league career. Sheets had been consistently plagued with injuries over his final four seasons as a Brewer, couldn't finish the year healthy again in 2008 and sat out the entire 2009 season while recovering from surgery.
Three years ago today, though, Sheets got a fresh start when the Athletics signed him to a one-year, $10 million deal. He ended up serving as the A's Opening Day starter and made 20 appearances, posting a 4.53 ERA over 119.1 innings before he once again got injured.
Sheets, of course, bounced back again to make nine starts for the Braves in 2012 and posted a 3.47 ERA before electing to retire following Atlanta's final game. 221 of his 250 career starts came in a Brewer uniform, where he made three All Star appearances and is the franchise's all-time leader with 1206 strikeouts.
With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- 2012 Helena Brewer Andres Martinez, who turns 21.
- 2012 Huntsville Star Josh Prince, who turns 25.
- Bob Uecker, who turns 78. We covered his birthday in this space last year.